Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published February 2004

Template Fundamentals

This month's article on AutoCAD 2004's Qnew feature requires that you have a template. So just in case you've never created one, this should help.

The following is a list of things you may want to consider setting up in your template:

Units AutoCAD's default is decimal, so this is your first stop if you're using feet-inches.

Limits You probably need an area bigger than the default 12" x 9" most of the time.

Layers What layers would you like have available as you begin every new AutoCAD drawing?

Linetypes What linetypes would you like to have pre-loaded for each new drawing?

Dimension Style Set 'em up in the template and they’ll be there every time.

Text Style Create as many text styles as you will need in your drawings.

Blocks If you insert a block, then Erase it, the block definition will still be there. [See May, 2003]

Typically, I recommend that you leave out predefined Layouts from the template. A more efficient approach to accessing predefined Layouts would be to use DesignCenter and bring in the desired Layout(s) from a specific .dwg in which you have created several Layout tabs for your various output devices and sheet sizes.

Creating the .dwt file

Once you have configured the drawing, go to File/Save As and change the Files of type setting to AutoCAD Drawing Template file (*.dwt). AutoCAD automatically jumps to the default \Template folder at which point you can name the file (.dwt).

To test what you did, close the template and those of you with AutoCAD2004, follow the procedures mentioned above in the Qnew review. Those of you with virtually any other version, including LT, when you launch a new drawing, click on the Use a Template button from the Create New Drawing dialog and select your template from the list.

That should save all kinds of time!

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