Getting Started with AutoCAD

Icons, Keystrokes and Menus

There are many ways to do things in most windows programs. AutoCAD is no exception. Everyone will develop a way that works best for him or her. In this course, we will primarily be working with the keystroke commands. The reason for this is because they will work in most AutoCAD versions (including DOS versions), and in some other CAD programs. The icons work well, but as you will see, icons can be placed anywhere on the screen and can be difficult to find quickly. The pull-down menus will access almost all commands, but are a slower way of doing things.

Example: If you want to draw a line, you can do it a few ways:

• At the command line type: LINE (or) L and press the ENTER key.

• Select the line icon from the DRAW toolbar.

• Select Draw > Line from the pull-down menu.

All three approaches will do the same thing: prepare AutoCAD to draw a line where you tell it.

AutoCAD is a popular program because it can be customized to suit an individual's needs. The toolbars are a good example of this. You can have the toolbars you use most often on the screen all the time. You can easily make them go away so that you have more drawing space. You can also customize them so you have the most common commands on one toolbar. For example, the dimensioning toolbar is one that you will not want taking up space on your screen while drawing, but is very handy when you're dimensioning your drawing.