Datasheet

21
Chapter 1: Starting to Draw
small, medium, or large images. However, even if you display just icons, if you hover the cursor over
any drawing name, an image of the drawing appears.
Tip
Click the Open Documents button to show open drawings rather than recently used drawings.
n
The Options button, at the bottom of the Application menu, opens the Options dialog box where you
can specify many settings that affect how AutoCAD works. I explain the Options dialog box in detail in
Appendix A.
Using the command line and dynamic input tooltip
At the bottom of the drawing area, 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. You can execute any command by
typing it on the command line.
Even if you use a menu item or the Ribbon to execute a command, you may see a response on the
command line. AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT often provide options that you must type on 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 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 task bar.
Exploring the status bar
At the very bottom of the screen is the status bar (refer to Figure 1.1). At the left are the X,Y coordi-
nates. 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 a number of 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 redisplay 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.
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