Restoring Hatch double-click in AutoCAD 2011

41 Replies

In AutoCAD 2011, the default action when double-clicking on a hatch object is to invoke the Properties palette for that object. In previous releases, it would invoke the Hatch Edit dialog box. In my AutoCAD 2011 – Putting things back to “normal” post, I briefly described how to restore the old double-click action. I have since seen some incorrect advice being given out about how to do this, so this post describes the correct process in full detail.

What to do

  1. Invoke the CUI command.
  2. In the top left pane, find the [+] next to Double Click Actions and left-click on it.
    Double Click Actions
  3. Scroll down that top left pane a little until you can see Hatch.
    Hatch
  4. In the bottom left pane (Command list), click on any command and type H. This should take you down to the Hatch Edit command. If not, just scroll down a little more until you can see it.
    Hatch Edit
  5. Left-click on the Hatch Edit command in the bottom left pane, hold down the mouse button and drag the command up onto the top right pane until it hovers over the Hatch item you exposed in step 3. When the little blue triangle is pointing to Hatch, let go of the mouse button, thereby dropping the Hatch Edit command onto Hatch.
    Drag and Drop
    Hint: you may find that the top left pane scrolls crazily while you attempt this step. Unfortunately, this is a “feature” of the CUI interface. If this happens, keep your mouse button held down and move your cursor up and down in the left pane until the scrolling comes under control and you are hovering over the right spot. You can avoid this if instead of dragging the command directly upwards, you move in a curcuitous route to the left or right, moving on to the top left pane from the side rather than the bottom.
  6. Pick OK and that should be it. Double-click on a hatch object and see what happens.

What not to do

You may see some advice telling you to find the Hatch double-click action (step 3 above) and then edit the macro of the Properties command found therein from “^C^C_properties” to “^C^C_hatchedit”. Do not do this.

Why not to do it

If you edit the macro then try it out, it works fine. Why, then, does it matter which method you use? Because if you edit the macro, you are changing the action that occurs not just for the Hatch double-click, but for every place the Properties command is used. This means it will have undesirable side-effects in many places. For example, double-click on a circle after changing the macro and you will see something like this:
Command: _hatchedit
Selected object must be a hatch object or associative hatch block.
HATCHEDIT does not support old-format non-associative hatch blocks.
Select hatch object:

What to do if you’ve already done it

If you have already changed the Properties macro, go back into CUI and reverse the process, changing the macro back to “^C^C_properties” (without the quotes). When you are happy that you’ve fixed that up, use the click-and-drag method described above.

Screen captures created and modified using SnagIt 8 by TechSmith. Disclosure: Shaan Hurley gave me a free copy of this software (and Camtasia Studio 4, and a long-sleeved T-shirt which I promptly ruined by spilling red wine on it) at Autodesk University 2006.

41 thoughts on “Restoring Hatch double-click in AutoCAD 2011”

  2. dave ea

    great content as always Steve. as much as we love the new toys, most of us have to ‘get back to work’ after a new release is installed on our systems and we don’t always have the luxury of playtime and figuring new stuff out when we’re under the gun to meet project deadlines. these tips on how to get things back to what we already know are really valuable. thanks for taking the time to post them.

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  3. bec

    thank you so much for your help. autocads ‘improvements’ were driving me a bit crazy. its good to have things working normally again. cheers!

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  4. Steve Smyres

    When I open double click actions all my little mouse icons have a yellow triangle with an ‘!’ inside. I’m able to preform the action discribed above but properties is still activated when I’m done. Thanks for any help.

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  5. Steve Johnson Post author

    I’ve never seen that, but I suspect a broken CUIx file. I can only suggest carefully backing up your CUIx files and then attempting a restore or reset of ACAD.CUIx (right-click on ACAD at the top of the tree to see these options).

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  11. Leo

    Thank you! Very helpful. I just do not understand why the people at Autodesk insist on changing things that work, make our lives easier, and simplify tasks. Only to force us to find a work around to the way it USED to be! Maybe all those programmers have to justify their salaries and Autodesk has to justify the ABSURD cost of a decades old program!

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  19. Ernesto Tantao

    Thanks so much! I’ve no idea why autodesk tries so hard to make things harder with every new version.

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  24. ArchDynamics

    Steve – thank you again for an impeccably detailed ‘hot-to’ on fixing this. Please know that your attentiveness to detail is greatly appreciated by those of us in the training community as well as regular users. It’s also nice to read the ‘color commentary’, re: the jumpiness of the scrolling in the CUI, as we’ve all experienced that. Keep up the great work! S.-

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  26. Tim

    Great work! But when I click on an associative hatch it automatically selects the associated polyline – is there anyway of stopping this? (therefore i can only double click on non-associative hatches to bring up the hatch edit box)

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  27. Tim 2

    @ Steve Smyres…

    I had the same issue.

    I found it was because I was using the acad.cuix file, but the drop down tab at the top listed “All Customization Files”. I simply made sure I chose the “acad.cuix” and then there were no ‘!’ in the Double Click Actions list.

    I know that’s an old question, but I hope it helps someone – and Thanks Steve!

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  34. Steph

    I know this is an old entry but I’m hoping someone sees this. This is awesome and I used it back in 2011 when I first set everything up. I had to reinstall my OS last weekend and this is not working this time. I went though all the steps but still not working. I can change any of the other double click actions just fine but this one still brings up properties. Ideas?

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  35. Steph

    Ok deleting the boundary worked for me. I need the boundary so that was a clue. Options>Selection tab. Under “Selection modes” unclick “Associative Hatch.” I can still make the hatch associative every time I hatch in the actual hatch command but can’t have this clicked. I clicked it thinking it would just default my hatches to associative without me having to tell it to make it associative every time. It will but apparently it makes this issue. Probably some bug or I’m misunderstanding what the button in Options/ Selection tab is for. When I hover over the “Associative Hatch” setting under “Selection Modes” it says “Determines which objects are selected when you select an associative hatch. If this option is selected, boundary objects are also selected when you select an associative hatch. (PICKSTYLE system variable = 2)

    I don’t exactly know what this means other than it’s messing with the pickstyle. Just thought I’d put it here so someone else won’t spend hours like I did ready to chunk the thing out the window!

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  36. K125zm

    when enter command LAYER.suddenly they crased..i dunno why it happen…its just say this ==>FATAL ERROR:unhandled e06d7363h exeption at 767842dh….please help me ASAP…leave at my Gmail plese…..thx for your commitment

    Reply ↓

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