DWT Format and Drawing Versions

It may come as an awful surprise, to find that the DWT format is independent of the DWG format mid-upgrade. This means if you save your template files as a 2010 DWT, older versions won't get it. You may have your options set to save as 2004, but that will not affect DWTs they will remain 2010.

If you find yourself in this situation, the best way I know to set things back (if you have mixed versions being used) is to open the template in 2010 and export it to AutoCAD. Pick the oldest version you need, but I go back to 2004 because it predates most AEC problems you might encounter otherwise. If you don't, you might get the error below when opened or used in older versions.

The Export to AutoCAD command creates a DWG file. You can now rename this file to a DWT in Windows Explorer or use the Save as function to create the new (old) DWT file you need.

I'm not sure any of that made sense.

Layer Search

Do you ever find yourself in the situation where you are searching for a layer to control?

Sha-yeah.

It can be like finding a needle in a stack of needle shaped hay. Give this a shot next time. Tucked away in the upper right-hand corner of the Layer Properties palette is the layer search tool.

You can use a combination of characters and wild-cards (the asterisk represents any group of characters and the question mark represents any single character) to find just about any layer quick and easy. Say you are looking for a specific wall layer. type *wall* in the search box and hit your enter key, now the only layers listed have the word wall in them. Nice.

Publishing Changes in AutoCAD 2010

In older versions of AutoCAD when adding sheets to be published you could specify to only import the layout tabs and leave model space out of it directly in the publish dialog (see image below).

To do the same in AutoCAD 2010 you must first select the sheets button (see image below).

Then see the "Include" drop down menu to only add layouts (yet another image below).

Object Snap - Quick Tip

In AutoCAD 2010 you can quickly add or remove a running object snap by right clicking on the object snap icon at the bottom of your drawing area and picking the snap to add or remove.

Hidden Gem - Multiple

Here's one that maybe you don't use everyday, but you should. Some commands work better in rapid succession. I place receptacles in building 30 at a time. In the old days I would select the duplex tool from my palette, place a receptacle, select the tool again and place another one, and so on and so on. These days I invoke a little known beauty call Multiple.

Multiple is a command that will repeat any other command until the user escapes out of it. You type in Multiple on the command line and AutoCAD asks which command you would like to repeat. I have a lisp to insert a receptacle at the proper rotation, scale and layer. I combine this with the multiple command in a macro to machine gun in as many receptacles as I want.

Just in case you were wondering, if you invoke multiple and ask it to multiple multiple times, the universal does not explode. AutoCAD will not allow you to invoke a multiple in a multiple.

Yeah... I tried it.