Given the response I have received from my last post, Becoming a Keyboard Warrior – The Command Alias Editor, I thought I’d do a little mini-series on using the keyboard more efficiently in AutoCAD. So now that you have created a dozen new command aliases, what else can you do with all those buttons sitting between you and your monitor? In this post we’ll take a look at how to take “control” of AutoCAD using the [Ctrl] key. Something else, this post comes with an added bonus, as many of the shortcuts I’ll highlight work with many Windows applications. These bonus shortcuts are marked below with an asterisk (*)
Drawing Navigation
| Ctrl + Tab * | Cycle Through Multiple Drawings: Much like Alt + Tab let’s you cycle through different applications, Ctrl + Tab lets you cycle through your open drawings. |
| Ctrl + Pg Up * Ctrl + Pg Dn |
Cycle Through Tabs: Want to switch between layout tabs without ever touching the mouse? Use Ctrl + Page Up or Ctrl + Page Down to cycle through the layout tabs in your drawing. Use in Microsoft Excel to cycle through worksheets. |
| Ctrl + Directional Arrow | Move Drawing Cursor |
Drawing File Tools
| Ctrl + N * | Create New Drawing: Like running the QNEW command. |
| Ctrl + S * | Save Drawing: aka the QSAVE command |
| Ctrl + Shift + S | Save Drawing As: aka the SAVEAS command |
| Ctrl + O * | Open Drawing |
| Ctrl + P * | Plot the current drawing |
| Ctrl + Q | Quit/Exit AutoCAD |
AutoCAD Palettes & Palette Sets
| Ctrl + 1 | Properties Palette Set |
| Ctrl + 2 | Design Center |
| Ctrl + 3 | Tool Palettes |
| Ctrl + 4 | Sheet Set Manager Palette Set |
| Ctrl + 6 | db Connect Manager |
| Ctrl + 7 | Markup Set Manager: For working with DWF markup sets |
| Ctrl + 8 | Quick Calc |
| Ctrl + 9 | Command Line: Toggles On/Off |
| Ctrl + 0 | Clean Screen: AutoCAD for the true Keyboard Warrior |
Drawing Editing Tools
| Ctrl + C * | Copy Uses arbitrary insertion point. |
| Ctrl + Shift + C | Copy with Base Point Lets you enter or select an insertion point (this is my preferred method) |
| Ctrl + V * | Paste |
| Ctrl + X * | Cut Deletes from the drawing, but places items on your Windows clipboard. |
| Ctrl + Z * | Undo Perfectly placed in the lower left corner of the keyboard, I hardly use U for undo anymore. |
| Ctrl + Y * | Redo |
Drawing Aids
| Ctrl + A * | Select All Selects every object in the drawing. Warning, do not combine with Delete key. |
| Ctrl + D | Dynamic UCS [On/Off] |
| Ctrl + F | OSNAP [On/Off] Or you can press F3 |
| Ctrl + G | Grid [On/Off] |
| Ctrl + L | ORTHO [On/Off] |
| Ctrl + B | Snap [On/Off] |
| Ctrl + W | Object Snap Tracking [On/Off] |
| Ctrl + E | Isoplane Used for 2D isometric drawings. |
| Ctrl + U | Polar Tracking [On/Off] |
| Ctrl + M | Repeat Last Command |
MTEXT Editor
| Ctrl + F | Insert Field |
| Ctrl + R | Find / Replace |
| Ctrl + Shift + Space | Insert a Non-Breaking Space |
| Ctrl + Shift + U | Change Text Case – Uppercase |
| Ctrl + Shift + L | Change Text Case – Lowercase |
| Ctrl + Enter | Exit MTEXT Editor and save changes. |
On a side note, Microsoft has a KB article listing the standard keyboard shortcuts for Windows.
Edit (5/12/09): Corrected Ctrl + L listing from OSNAP to the correct ORTHO toggle. Added Ctrl + Enter to Mtext category.
CTRL + M = Move face
for 3d model editing
In general I like to avoid using the function keys except F8 ortho.
It would be nice to attach the function keys to some custom macros or scripts. In general I prefer using the menus but I have customized some key strokes for my favorite commands that I may not want to fish for in the menus.
Jim
Twitter @JAMCAD
There is also Ctrl-R to cycle through active Viewports, in a Layout with multiple Viewports.
Tim – Good tip, thanks for the comment.
[...] Becoming a Keyboard Warrior – Getting Ctrl of CAD [...]
Drawing Aids COMMANDS : THE ONE FUNCTIONAL KEYS WILL DO BETTER THAN CTRL+…
FOR EXAMBLE CTRL+G = F7, CTRL+L=F8, Ctrl + B=F9,
ANY WAY LOT OF THANKS FOR THE REST OF ALL SHORT CUTS
@ SENTHILKUMAR – I totally agree with your opinion on the function keys, as that’s what I generally use myself. Some of the keyboard warriors I work with have actually remapped the function keys to their OSNAPS. It’s not my cup of tea, but it works for them. So who am I to complain? Thanks for your comment.
isn’t Ctrl + L toggle Ortho, not OSNAP?
@Ben – Yes it is, thanks for the catch! I’ve corrected the blog entry.
Also:
Ctrl + Shift + V = Paste as block
and for Mtext editing:
Ctrl + Enter = save changes ad exit editer
=)
@ Nathan – Thanks for the additional shortcuts!