Datasheet

CHAPTER 1 Exploring thE AutoCAD AnD AutoCAD lt intErfACE

As you work though this book, occasionally you’ll be asked to open other toolbars. To get

familiar with the process, try opening and closing one now.

1. Right-click in a blank area of the Quick Access toolbar and select Toolbars  AutoCAD 

Dimension. The Dimension toolbar appears in the drawing area (see Figure 1.11).

2. You won’t need the Dimension toolbar right now, so go ahead and close it by clicking the

X in the upper-right corner of the toolbar.

AutoCAD remembers your toolbar arrangement between sessions. When you exit and then

reopen AutoCAD later, the AutoCAD window appears just as you left it.

Tools versus the Keyboard

Throughout this book, you’ll be told to select tools from the Ribbon panels to invoke commands. For

new and experienced users alike, the Ribbon panels offer an easy-to-remember method for accessing

commands. If you’re an experienced AutoCAD user, you can type commands directly from the key-

board. Most of the keyboard commands you know and love still work as they did before.

Another method for accessing commands is to use accelerator keys, which are special keystrokes that

open and activate drop-down menu options. You may have noticed that the commands in the menu

bar and the items in the drop-down menus all have an underlined character. By pressing the Alt key

followed by the key corresponding to the underlined character, you activate that command or option

without having to engage the mouse. For example, to choose File  Open, press Alt, then F, and then

ﬁnally O (Alt+F+O).

Many tools and commands have keyboard shortcuts. Shortcuts are one-, two-, or three-letter abbrevia-

tions of a command name. As you become more proﬁcient with AutoCAD, you may ﬁnd these shortcuts

helpful. As you work through this book, the shortcuts will be identiﬁed for your reference.

Finally, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can create your own accelerator keys and keyboard shortcuts

for executing commands by adding them to the AutoCAD support ﬁles. Chapter 26 discusses how to

customize menus, Ribbon panels, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts.

Figure 1.11

The Quick Access

toolbar

The Dimension toolbar appears.

Right-click the Quick Access toolbar

to open the context-sensitive menu

and then select Toolbars � AutoCAD � Dimension.

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