Where oh where has my groupcommand gone?

[TRP]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I've been using 2006 LT in the office and use the Group command (right click menu) to keep certain items together when I place and remove them over other objects.

I now have 2010 full version and I cannot find a similar function. Now before you all point out the group command by typing "g", I have explored this option and find the need to name it etc annoying and time consuming. I may as well create a block.

Does anyone know of a suitable replacement in 2010?

[ReMark]

Why don't you try adding it to the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) at the top of your screen or investigate the possibility of adding it to your Shortcut menu?

[TRP]

Thanks ReMark for your reply. I don't think I explained my situation very well.

 

The group command I use in the office simply groups the selected items together, immediately, without the requirement to name the group (similar to the way the group command works for shapes in Microsoft Word).

 

The group command I've just put into my shortcut menu brings up the Object Grouping dialog box which creates more hurdles for the simple task I'm trying to achive.

 

Is there a command that can group items without the need to name them?

[Cad64]

How do you create a group without naming it? That would be like creating a block without naming it. It has to have a name in order for Autocad to keep track of it. I'm not sure how you were getting away with this in 2006LT? Were you using some kind of custom macro?

[TRP]

No Macro that I know of, they were both there (group and ungroup) in the right click menu. There was no need to name it at all. When you group a selection, and subsequently hover your cursour over one of the items, they would all highlight... just like a normal block.

It didn't require a name as it is only used to temporarily group objects, not store them for later use.

[Cad64]

Group and Ungroup are not part of the default right click menu, so someone in your organization probably added a custom macro that creates the group and gives it a default name so you don't have to name it. Not really a good idea in my opinion, but, to each his own.

[TRP]

I haven't been in the office for very long at all so I guess someone may have created the macro but no-one is admitting to it.

Cad 64, you said that it is not really a good idea, what would be you're suggested alternative?

[Cad64]

This "no name" grouping may work well for temporarily naming them, as long as you explode the group when you're done. But if you get in the habit of creating all groups this way, it could cause problems down the road if you get a whole bunch of them in your drawing with default names like group1, group2, etc. There would be no way to figure out which is which. I would just use the normal Group command and name your groups appropriately. Or use blocks. I use blocks exclusively. Never really found a use for groups.

[TRP]

Ah, I see where I might be misleading you. I'm not leaving the groups in the drawing, I create them to teporarily lay over another part of the drawing. I group them to easily remove and usually delete them once I have finished the required comparisons. I usually don't want to store them with a name. I'll guess I'll have to get into the habbit of naming them all the time.

Thanks for the replies, it helps when us forum newbies feel welcome.

[SPARKY77]

I don't use the group command so I cannot help here but someone I know was using an older autocad lt and them up grade to full cad and asked me the same question, as I didn't use the command I couldn't help him.

The matter of naming/not naming the group I thought that Cad would give the group a name as it does when you do a COPY and PASTE AS A BLOCK

[SEANT]

I posted a “Quick Group” command macro in this thread. The CUI should be able to make that an addition to a right click menu.

 

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=29216

 

 

Ungrouping was a bit of an issue, but it doesn’t sound like that would be a problem for you. If it was a problem, I seem to recall an automated ungroup lisp routine posted somewhere.

[TRP]

Seant, you're a legend, I'll give it a go.

[SEANT]

Seant, you're a legend, I'll give it a go.

 

Cool. I used to be just a rumor.

[bonehead411]

Group and Ungroup are not part of the default right click menu.........

 

They are in LT, or at least they were in 2005.

 

TRP, have you tried right-clicking on a toolbar and ticking the group option?

 

[Cad64]

They are in LT, or at least they were in 2005.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Amended previous statement: Group and Ungroup are not part of the default right click menu in the full version.

 

But I still don't understand how you can create a group without naming it. Bonehead, are you able to do this in LT?

[bonehead411]

Absolutely. Either via the right-click shortcut menu, or by using the toolbar shown above. No naming required, for which I am thankful. I often draw multiple objects which will require moving/copying as a whole at some point in the drawings creation, but may be difficult to select individually. If the shape is something I will probably never use again, I use groups to make later selection easier, rather than adding unnecessary blocks to the drawing and increasing the filesize. They're a strictly temporary measure for me.

[Cad64]

It's interesting to hear that you can create groups without naming them in LT, because this is not possible in the full version. At least it's not in 2008 and later. I don't remember if it was possible in earlier versions.

[merdrignac]

I use LT at work and use the group command a lot. It's an extremly useful tool for moving and copying related objects. However in full AutoCAD the command is not present in it's quick form. A quick "fix" is to select the object to group so that grips show, then right click on a grip and without releasing pull sideways then release. A small menu pops up giving you the opertunity to "move here, copy here, paste as block, cancel." choose "paste as block" and it makes a nameless block of the chosen objects. Just explode when finished.

[MikeScott]

Early CAD had it that way at least until the first LT version.. I can't recall what version was the last version to do it.

 

It actually gave generic auto-names that you could either manually go through a list of "hidden group names" and remove, or get rid of with the purge command after ungrouping them.

 

As soon as ACAD required you to name them and go to that window regarding naming them and all that, they lost their appeal to me. Though I confess I had used them as a habit and convenience. I didn't really notice the loss all that much..

 

I guess I moved over to blocks, though when I first started doing that, I did it without triggering the dialog box so it was just a few keystrokes away.

 

Then, rather than ungroup, I'd explode it, and forget about it.. leaving the block definition in the file until I purged it.

 

Merdrignac's idea sounds like a good way to go..

[TRP]

Thanks for all the responses. I was beginning to think I was the only one loves this command.

 

Merdrignac's fix is quite a good solution. It gets me around what I am trying to do however it still doesn't give me the option to edit grips but I can live with that.