Datasheet

You can lock the position of toolbars and windows (palettes). On the right side of the status

bar, at the bottom of the screen, is a lock icon. Click this icon to open a menu allowing you to

individually lock floating toolbars, docked toolbars, floating windows (palettes), and docked windows

(palettes). You can also choose the All option and lock or unlock all your toolbars and palettes. Locking these

interface components prevents you from moving them inadvertently.

The command line and dynamic input tooltip

At the bottom of the screen, you see a separate window showing approximately three lines of text. (You can

change it to show as many lines as you like by dragging the top edge of the window up or down.) Notice

the word

Command:. This is the command line. All commands can be executed by typing them on the com-

mand line.

Even if you use a menu item or toolbar button to execute a command, you may see a response on the com-

mand line. AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT often provide options that must be typed in from the keyboard. Text

that you type appears on the command line. For example, when you type coordinates specifying a point,

they appear on the command line.

The Dynamic Input tooltip allows you to see the text that you type at the cursor. This tooltip doesn’t appear

until you start typing a command. You can also choose options near the tooltip. (For more information, see

the section “The Command Line and Dynamic Input” in Chapter 3.)

To see more of the command line, press F2 to open the AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT Text Window. You can

scroll back through previous commands. Press F2 again to close the window. You can also simply hide the

Text window by clicking in the AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT window for easy access to the Text window later

from the Windows taskbar.

The status bar

At the very bottom of the screen is the status bar (refer to Figure 1.2). At the left are the X,Y coordinates. As

you move your mouse, these coordinates change. (If they don’t change, click them and move your mouse

again.) The status bar also contains several buttons that I explain later in this book.

At the right side of the status bar is a small down arrow. Click it to open the status bar menu. This menu

determines which buttons appear on the status bar. If you don’t use a certain button, choose it on the menu

to remove its checkmark and make it disappear. You can always go back and choose the item again to redis-

play the button.

Creating a New Folder

For your work with this book, you should create a new folder so that you can save your exercise drawings

where they won’t get mixed up with other drawings. The following directions leave it up to you where to

create this new folder. Each computer system is organized differently. If you aren’t sure what to do, choose

the drive (not the folder) where AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT is installed and create a new folder there.

I do not recommend creating a subfolder in the AutoCAD 2008 or AutoCAD LT 2008 folder.

This folder contains the files that make up the program. If you keep your drawings here, it is

too easy to make a mistake and delete necessary program files. Some people create a subfolder in the

My Documents or Documents folder.

CAUTION

TIP

Starting to Draw

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