Your workflow and efficiency will increase tenfold by using keyboard shortcuts when working in Autocad. As well as showing you a range of commonly used tools, we also show you how to use shortcuts in our Autocad 2d courses.
There are always two or three methods of performing any task in Autocad, but using keyboard shortcuts is the fastest and most efficient. There are shortcuts for both tools and for major operations.
Many keyboard commands are the same whether you’re on Windows or the Mac platform. For example, hit L and Enter for the Line tool. Hit C and Enter for the Circle tool, or A for Arc tool. Rec is for rectangles. And among the various modifier shortcuts hit M for the Move tool, CP for Copy, AR for the Array tool. RO is Rotate, SC is Scale, O for Offset and TR for Trim. F is to Fillet a corner, MI for Mirroring, PL for Polylines. You can also measure distances by hitting DI, and to bring in External Referenced drawings (X-refs) hit XR.
And there are various F function button commands: F8 for Ortho (on a PC), F7 for Grid visibility, and F9 for Snap to Grid.
Whilst most are common to both Macs and PCs, there are some (rather odd) shortcuts specific to Macs, such as Command + L for Ortho. Object Snap is F3 and Grid visibility is ^G. Snap to Grid is Command plus B and Layers is Command plus 4. Dynamic Input is Shift plus Command plus D.
It takes a bit of time to get used to using shortcuts, but once learned and put into practice they will save you lots of time. More information on all features of the program can be found at the AutoDesk website. And see many examples of our clients’ work on our Facebook page.
Other related Autocad 2d Blog Posts:
- Autocad 2d basics
- Autocad 2d introduction
- Autocad 2d drawing
- Autocad 2d workspace
- Autocad 2d isometric