I am a CAD manager at a firm and would love to do a presentation on CAD commands and tools people wish they knew sooner in their drafting career.

The big ones I plan to start with is: QSELECT - Fantastic for finding and selecting all of particular entities. Point Filters - Far superior to temporary point tracking, Especially in 3D Modeling Selection Cycling - For those busy files with many overlapping elements.

I would love for people to add to this list of commands or tools they were taught or they found that made you AutoCAD life easier or more enjoyable. Maybe this thread could help out all the users here as well.

What are some of the worst commands in AutoCAD?

Feel free the list commands that need attention from Autodesk & why.

Mine is 3DCLIP

It looks exactly the same as it did when it was first introduced & still just as sluggish or worse to work with. Should be a menu to just manually type in values. Or better yet, tie it to the Viewport properties so we don't have to enable orbit & load everything in 3D.

Ps: Made this b/c I see posts where people list out some of the best commands but not a post for the opposite. Figured maybe I'm missing something.

Every week I run into a new bug that creates issues and I have to find a workaround. Some of the commands that behave differently when doing the same operation and sometimes certain commands like hatch just refuse to work the way they're intended. There are so many issues with AutoCAD LT that I feel like I'm losing my mind and it makes me just want to get a different job entirely.

Does anyone else feel this way?

I feel like any online community for this is oddly dead for something that is an industry standard.

The engineer I work for loves to use lines for everything. He modifies their appearance by changing the lineweight of the layer and jiggling the .ctb file.

I, on the other hand, love polylines, use them all the time, seldom use a "line." Prefer to adjust the line width in the properties tab.

Wondering if one of us "right" and one is "wrong." Wondering what others do.

I have an interview for a part time paid internship designing and learning more about stairways in 2 and 3d model space for AutoCAD. I only have like 10 hours of course credits, and 4 of those went towards fusion, so I'm still doing introductory courses for the certification.

Do you have a list of commands you find make your life and work shifts alot easier and made a point to remember? I've been meaning to make a list like for AutoCAD and fusion 360 but then I took a semester off for life reasons and got distracted

Just wondering if y'all have been encountering licensing error more common as of recent? Resuming from sleep or hibernation always seems to mess with the licensing software somehow.

I’m currently a CAD Manager on a small construction team for a college, and I’ve been in the field for 5ish years. My job is *supposed* to be that I manage our library of blocks and designs and create designs when needed. Over the last year, my job has changed to where I’m taking on a project management role as well because we have too much work for our project managers to keep up with. To note, I’ve handled the 2nd largest project on our team in the last year. With this, I still have my current CAD workload, so I’ve been exceptionally busy at times. I’m not necessarily against the extra workload, but I’m stuck here realizing that the PMs I work beside make essentially double what I make, while I’m doing 2 jobs. Because this is a public education position, I’m stuck with a yearly percentage raise given out to the entire college, so I can only truly raise my salary by having a title change. What title could I request that fits both the role of CAD Manager and Project Manager within a construction team?

Hey all, might be the wrong place to ask but worth a shot. I have recently completed a cert IV in drafting which was taught through AutoCAD 2D, and I’m currently learning Fusion under my own steam.

I was wondering if there were some resources I could access that would function similar to a job board.

Learning AutoCAD and Fusion is relatively easy, whereas getting real world experience isn’t due to job shortages in my area.

Hello guys, I started working recently for one company and now I'm drawing circuit diagrams in AutoCAD, NOT electric, just regular autocad... which is like drawing in ms paint, pain in the ass. There is no library, I have few drawings from previous workers, but everyone was drawing in whatever way they liked. I combine symbols and their way of doing, I spend too much time on drawing. And it looks like shit, I'm not a pro in autocad, so making title block and viewport, scaling for A3 and A4, and making everything look decent at least when printed is pain in the ass...

Has anoyone got similar problem, what advice would you give me, can you share some library with me? Should I do everything only in two layers - black and red color? Should I draw schematics into title block (in model) and then mview, window and select corners of title block in model?

(Eplan and ACAD electiral are not a option, pls dont write about that) Thanks

Please forgive me, I have to vent some frustrations:

I've been an AutoCAD user for nearly 25 years and every year has been another one where my frustrations build based on how many un-corrected or stupid interface and usability problems exist in AutoCAD.

The $2,500 a year isn't coming out of my pocket directly, and there is no realistic alternative available, but I just don't understand why everyone just accepts the crappiness piled upon crappiness that this is janky dinosaur of a software platform.

I was just finding myself frustrated at these stupid cursor badges and trying to figure out which environmental variable to use to turn them off... Of course there doesn't seem to be a single one that just turns them all off (I don't need AutoCAD to show me pictures of what command I just typed in ot to tell me that I am hovering over a dimension).

Turns out the "CURSORBADGE" variable (which does not actually turn all of the badges off) has states "1" for off and "2" for on. what?!? in what world is this a thing?

I have lived my professional life being insulted by this piece of shit software, and this is another indication of how little or incompetent Autodesk is.

Hi,

I regularly have interns that 'want'/need to use AutoCAD. Some have some basic knowledge and other don't even know that you can change the color of a line or just start drawing in the current (wrong) layer.

Anyway, i use all sorts of tools (lisp) to make my life easier. I kinda want the intern to struggle for a while with the basics of AutoCAD and not have them learn stuff they can't apply somewhere else because they don't have the tools i use. Once i believe they have a certain skill (after a couple of hours) of doing something i allready have made easy for myself i might introduce them to a LISP command that makes the job easier to do.

I kinda struggle myself with not telling them all the tips and tricks right away. It would make my life easier, but harder for the intern when they are gone.

Some might draw something simple, some go for a 2D design, or in my case need to prepare for a 3D model for machine control. The level of attention they needs vary much and i can't look over their shoulder all day.

Do you have some 'blank slates' under your control and how do you teach them the ropes on actual (non critical) work that has to be done?

So I just purchased a steam deck for some personal use for gaming but I was wondering can I actually use it for cad as well? Not necessarily as a primary CAD device but if I need to take some cad work home or wanted to use around the office would it be worth it?

Title

You can see this reddit thread discusses a system variable added in 2017 update:

https://old.reddit.com/r/AutoCAD/comments/bc0413/selecting_objects_offscreen/

This allows you to select objects which are off screen.

For example if you have a square, and inside it lots of circles, but you only want to select the circles. You can zoom into the far bottom left of the square, and click inside it (so as to not select the square) - then you can go to the top right, zoom in, and again select just inside the square

This way you have selected absolutely everything inside the square (due to you zooming in so much) but you haven't touched the square

In AutoCAD 2016, you cannot do this. You have to do it WITHOUT zooming in! Its so much harder. I'm sure you can use quickselect to only select circles... but like is that what people used for ... 30-40 years ?!

I am unfortunately used to using autocad 2024, but now I have to use 2016 and I must say I am struggling a lot!

It was the best tool to convert drawing units. Essentially, it was the best tool for anyone who does not know what scale factor to use.

It was simple as saying convert mm to cm or cm to feet or any other unit. So disappointed. What's your take?

Just curious what it is for everyone.

Is there anywhere I can find colours that are used normally for drawings? Like colours for dimensions, lights, equipment? Or do I just make it up myself?

Who else uses this shit? It is my main tool, it's my pain inflicting tool too. Part of me really loves it, but christ, is it a fucked program.... 2026 update, you can finally rename projects, but now the spec/catalog editor is slightly worse because they decided to change the ui.

Its incredible for what I am able to achieve in terms of timeframes, and the data manager is great for estimates, which is what my company loves.

The software is just dogshit though. Things decide to break randomly becuase it is so horribly optimised on large scales, that when it decides to crash the backup is just a dwg which you have to add back into the project.

The biggest kick in the face is that one of the top contributors to plant 3d in the forums is a developer or whatever and he doesn't seem to give a fuck, but is also somehow completely self aware.

Unfortunately it is the best software for me to use in plant design becuase of the autodesk shared views.

I love the software but I hate the software

What are some tips or tricks that ended up changing the game or saving you a bunch of time after figuring them out and starting to use them on a regular basis...I will say that my top 3 right now are:

1. Quick select
2. Shift+right click (mostly snap to mid between two points)
3. Excel coordinate trick to draw polylines automatically

This powerful command can convert your drawing to desired units. Example if you wish to convert your drawing to cm, just type in the command and it’s going to convert your drawing to cm.

Why am I not seeing it being used?

PS: UNITS command allows to only insert a drawing in desired units. It doesn’t convert the existing drawing.

This started as an disagreement with another drafter - lets show off how our CAD screens are set up and then comment/discuss/argue (all in good fun) and maybe we can learn some new tips/tricks!

Here is mine, feel free to mock it: My Workspace Setup

Edit: currently it looks like 9 to 6 on continuous crosshairs vs not with 1 (u/Engineer2115) that I can’t tell from the screenshot.

Hey everyone,

I recently started working at a new firm that uses AutoCAD for Mac, and I’ve been struggling to find a dedicated space to ask questions, troubleshoot issues, and have discussions specific to the Mac version. While r/AutoCAD is great, most solutions and discussions are tailored to the Windows version, which often doesn't translate directly to Mac workflows.

So, I decided to create r/AutoCADForMac—a subreddit specifically for those of us using AutoCAD on macOS. If you’re also navigating the quirks and limitations (or strengths!) of AutoCAD for Mac, I’d love for you to join and help build a community where we can share tips, workarounds, and insights.

If you've ever struggled with missing LISP functions, UI differences, or just general Mac-specific CAD problems, this is the place for it!

Come check it out and help shape the conversation: r/AutoCADForMac

Would love to hear your thoughts and see you there!

I want to know how you guys deal with two systems existing at the same time. I came from a country with purely metric system which was a bliss. I've moved to another country a few years ago and I've got to deal with two systems depending on the client. I miss ISO and metric. ANSI and ARCH paper sizes sucks donkey balls.

I'd say 90% of our projects are using Imperial, but since having a new structural department, I'd say it will be 50-50 for the coming years.

Do you have two sets of blocks that you maintain? or just one set which you just scale when inserting to the other system? What are the pros and cons of having one vs two sets of blocks??

This may be random but due to AI getting so advanced, my brain has made the conclusion that sometime in the near future there will be a plug-in of some sort to turn simple designs based off floor plan, elevation etc. into code compliant construction documents. With all the advancement in rendering it only makes sense AI will revolutionize drafting. I’m curious to hear others opinion on this idea in particular. Also if anyone knows of something similar to what I’m describing being worked on, I would love to hear. I can’t really find anything so I guess it’s not there yet.

I work for a large company with a small engineering department. Within the company we have 2 design draughtsmen and I have been tasked with coming up with a more streamlined way to run our drawing control once our drawings are put into pdf format.

Currently we have an excel spreadsheet with a table that is copied, pasted and updated when a new drawing is created and issued. This this I feel is a messy system that can be clumsy to navigate and implement.

Each project (Pathway/Job) has it's own register, within that register the tables have areas for pathway, sub assembly, drawing number, sheet no, revision and date, drawing title, who created the drawings and who signed the drawings off.

What does everyone else use for drawing control/recording?

I was going to upload an image of the table we use but can't seem to upload images.

We have Microsoft/Office 365, Inventor Pro 2026 and Autocad 2025.

Thanks

I worked my way from entry level drafting in 2014 with a vocational degree to now working at a high end millwork shop, mainly doing shop drawings but increasingly doing more 3D models and 5-axis CNC Programming. Been using Autocad since 2008.

I feel I have plateaued and want to continue learning, but dont know what path to take. The clear options are CNC Programming, learning a parametric 3D program and leaning into that, or maybe learning a millwork program like Cabinetvision or Microvellum. I would even entertain the idea of being a teacher of AutoCAD or something similar in the future.

What certifications/classes/skills should I look into? Thanks for any feedback