Getting Started in AutoCAD 2023
In this introduction to AutoCAD 2023, award-winning CAD instructor and author James Bethune covers basics such as using the Application menu, starting new drawings, making settings and entering data in dialog boxes, and saving your work.
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
1-1 Introduction
This chapter introduces you to AutoCAD 2023. It covers basics such as using the Application menu, starting new drawings, making settings and entering data in dialog boxes, and saving your work.
Figure 1-1 shows the initial AutoCAD drawing screen, which appears when the program is first started.
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Starting a New Drawing
Click the down arrow beside the New button on AutoCAD’s opening screen.
A list of recently used templates appears in the drop-down menu (Figure 1-2). You will use various templates throughout the text, but for a start, you will use the acad.dwt template. The acad.dwt template defines inches as its primary units. If the acad.dwt template does not appear in the drop-down, click Browse templates... and select it from there.
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Click acad.dwt on the Templates list.
The drawing screen appears (Figure 1-3).
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An Alternative Method to Starting a New Drawing
Click the Application Menu button in the upper-left corner of the drawing screen to display the Application menu.
A list of drawing commands and utilities appears (Figure 1-4).
Click New.
The Select Template dialog box appears (Figure 1-5).
Select the acad template and click Open.
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The AutoCAD drawing screen appears (Figure 1-6). The Ribbon appears at the top of the screen, showing a group of tabs and panels. Select different tabs to access other groups of panels. Panels contain commands.
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The command line is located at the bottom of the screen, as are other tools (icons) for commands such as Grid and Snap. Use the command line to enter inputs for the commands, among other uses.
The drawing’s name appears at the top of the screen. In Figure 1-4, for example, the drawing name is Drawing1.dwg. This is a default name created by AutoCAD. If a drawing name had been entered, it would appear where the Drawing1.dwg title currently appears.
The large open area in the center of the screen is the drawing area or drawing editor. You create drawings in this area.
The symbol at the bottom-left corner of the drawing area is called the User Coordinate System (UCS) icon. It shows the direction of positive X and Y coordinates.