Datasheet

G↵ at any selection prompt followed by the name of the group you created (make the
names short and memorable). However, the group must be selectable. You can change
whether a group is selectable using the Group dialog box.
PICKSTYLE The settings of the AutoCAD variable PICKSTYLE determine how other
members of a group are treated, including associated hatch patterns, whenever any mem-
ber of the group is selected. PICKSTYLE has four settings that you can toggle using the
Ctrl-H keys (the Ctrl-A keys in AutoCAD 2000 and AutoCAD 2000i).
• PICKSTYLE = 0 allows selection of individual members of the group.
• PICKSTYLE = 1 allows the selection of the whole group but not boundaries.
• PICKSTYLE = 2 groups the selection of hatches with boundary objects.
• PICKSTYLE = 3 allows the selection of whole groups and group selection of asso-
ciated hatches with their boundaries.
Edit Commands
One of the most underused editing functions in AutoCAD is the Properties palette. Some
editing functions can be used in ways they weren’t necessarily designed for, and there are
other options that a surprising number of people overlook—most notably the Through
option of the OFFSET command and the Reference option of the SCALE and ROTATE
commands.
PROPERTIES
This command displays the Properties palette of selected entities. If more than one object
is selected, the properties common to all are displayed. Properties of similar objects can be
changed simultaneously.
Using the Quick Select button, you can filter out objects based on multiple criteria by
applying each criterion once and then selecting the current selection set for the next appli-
cation. This is a great way to clean up problem drawings that you get from someone else.
You can change the layer of all text, for example, or the style used for all text with a height
less than 3. This is a powerful function that you should absolutely understand how to use.
Let’s walk through an example. Let’s say you have a drawing that has a lot of text. Every
text entity must stay in its current location, but the height must change for all. At one
time, that was a difficult problem, but not any more. Open the Properties palette, and
click the Quick Select icon (the button with the funnel icon in the upper-right corner).
Select text in the window, and all the text entities are highlighted (but not the MText
entities). Now, change the text height in the Properties palette; the height of all the text
If you find that a hatch boundary is erased when you erase the hatch, check your PICKSTYLE
setting. It’s probably set to 3.
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