Five More Simple Tips for AutoCAD

More simple AutoCAD tips, as promised:

  1. If you erase some objects, draw a few things and then want your erased objects back without losing the things you drew in the meantime, enter OOPS rather than undoing the commands.
  2. At any Select objects: prompt, you can select using a triangle, non-orthogonal rectangle or other odd shapes, by entering the WPolygon (WP) or CPolygon (CP) options.
  3. If you have a paper space viewport entirely inside another one, it can be hard to make that viewport current just by picking in it. Try Ctrl+R to cycle through viewports instead.
  4. Move some objects, rotate them to match something and optionally even scale them to match too, all with the ALIGN command (Modify > 3D Operations > Align). Despite the menu location, this command is great for both 2D and 3D work.
  5. The ID command tells you where a point lies in space. In many cases you can do that without a command. Select the object, hover over a grip, look at the coordinate display in the bottom left corner. For this to work, the coordinate display can’t be frozen. If it is, double-click on it to free it up.
This entry was posted in AutoCAD, Tip and tagged , on by .

About Steve Johnson

Steve is the owner of cad nauseam, has been a CAD specialist since 1985. His roles have included CAD management, development, consulting and technical writing. Steve has also been a contributing editor for Cadalyst magazine, President of the Western Australian AutoCAD User Group, and a Vice President of CADLock, Inc. He is also an international veteran fencing champion.

7 thoughts on “Five More Simple Tips for AutoCAD

  1. Tim

    Align is one of my favorites! Maybe the most under-rated and least used hidden gem in AutoCAD! You would not believe how often I use it!

    Reply
  2. Jeremy Pope

    Howdy..

    Question…Trying your oops tip…..I have noticed with in AutoCAD sometimes (and when I try oops) and hit enter it just gives me a command: prompt again. If it wasn’t recognized as an AutoCAD command it would say unknown command. So it is not working….Same thing when I type in OP and hit enter for options, I get another command: ???? Any Ideas…I’ve noticed it with a few command that should work but don’t…..

    I want my guys to be able to use this oops command because it will come in handy…..

    Reply
  3. Tiffany

    Aloha, I tried this ‘oops’ command and have the same problem. I get a command prompt and nothing happens. I am running version 2004.

    Reply

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