AutoCad Shortcuts for an Architect

Posted by: Architect Tags: autocad, cheatsheet, shortcuts, tips Posted date: November 14, 2011 | No comment

November 14, 2011

These are a list of must know AutoCAD commands and shortcuts for and Architect/Interior Designer/Draughtsman. We have filtered these few commands out of the hundreds of options that we have in AutoCAD. Hope this walkthrough is useful. You may also call this a “Cheat Sheet” for designers. Hope it helps.

Please comment here if there are any more interesting pointers/tips that you feel we should include here.

COMMON COMMANDS

SHORTCUT	COMMAND	COMMENT
A	ARC	Draw an arc
B	BLOCK	Opens block dialogue box
C	CIRCLE	Draw a circle
CO	COPY	Copy an object
D	DIMSTYLE	Opens dimstyle manager
DIV	DIVIDE	Inserts point node a set division
E	ERASE	Erase a selection
EX	EXTEND	Extend a selection
F	FILLET	Draw an arc between 2 intersecting lines
H	HATCH	Opens hatch and gradient dialogue box
I	INSERT	Insert a block
J	JOIN	Joins 2 objects to form single object

L	LINE	Draw a line
LA	LAYER	Opens layer manager
M	MOVE	Move a selection
MA	MATCHPROPERTIES	Match properties of an object
O	OFFSET	Offset a selection
PL	PLINE	Draw a polyline
RE	REGEN	Regenerate the display
REC	RECTANG	Draw a rectangle
REN	RENAME	Opens rename dialogue box to rename blocks, layers, etc
RO	ROTATE	Rotate a selection
SP	SPELL	Spell check a selection – ALL to check entire drawing
T	MTEXT	Insert multiline text
TB	TABLE	Opens insert a table dialogue box
TP	TOOLPALETTES	Displays toolpalette
TR	TRIM	Trim a selection
U	UNDO	Undo last command
UN	UNITS	Opens units dialogue box
V	VIEW	Opens view dialogue box
W	WBLOCK	Write a block

H	HATCH	Opens hatch and gradient dialogue box
O	OFFSET	Offset an object by distance
REC	RECTANG	Draw a rectangle
REG	REGION	Region – for shading for example

SHORTCUT	COMMAND	COMMENT
LA	LAYER	Opens layer manager
LAYCUR	LAYERCURRENT	Change objects to current layer
LAYDEL	LAYERDELETE	Delete a layer by selecting object
LAYFRZ	LAYERFREEZE	Freeze a layer by selecting object
LAYISO	LAYERISOLATE	Isolates a layer by selecting object
LAYLCK	LAYERLOCK	Lock a layer by selecting object
LAYMCH	LAYERMATCH	Match properties of a layer
LAYMRG	LAYERMERGE	Moves objects from first layer to second and deletes first
LAYOFF	LAYEROFF	Switches a layer off
LAYON	LAYERON	Switches all layers on except frozen layers
LAYERP	LAYERPREVIOUS	Restores previous layer state
LAYTHW	LAYTHW	Thaws all layers
LAYWALK	LAYERWALK	Walk through layers
LMAN	LMAN	Access Layer manager to save and restore layer states

FORMATTING

FUNCTION KEYS

SHORTCUT	COMMAND	COMMENT
F1	HELP	Opens Autocad help
F2	TEXTSCR GRAPHSCR	Switches between text screen and graphic area
F3	OSNAP	Switches osnap on/off
F5 or CTRL+E	ISOPLANE	Cycles through isoplanes
F6 or CTRL+D	COORDS	Turns coordinate display on/off
F7 or CTRL+G	GRID	Turns grid on/off
F8 or CTRL+L	ORTHO	Turns ortho on/off
F9 or CTRL+B	SNAP	Turns snap on/off
F10 or CTRL+U	POLAR	Turns polar on/off
F11 orCTRL+W	OSNAP TRACK	Turns object snap tracking on/off
F12	DYNMODE	Turns dynamic input on/off

INQUIRY

SHORTCUT	COMMAND	COMMENT
AA	AREA	Calculate the area
DI	DIST	Calculate a distance and angle
DDPTYPE	DDPTYPE	Opens point style dialogue box
ID	ID	Display the co-ordinate values of a point
LI or LS	LIST	Display information about objects in a text window
MASSPROP	MASSPROP	Calculate the region/mass properties of a solid
PR	PROPERTIES	Opens properties dialogue box
WHOHAS	WHOHAS	Displays who has a drawing open
XLIST	XLIST	Lists type/block name/layer name/color/linetype of a nested object in a block or an xref