But pause for more than a few seconds, and that tip expands to show a more detailed explanation. When you hover the cursor over a command, AutoCAD displays a brief tool tip describing its function. There are also a host of other subtle interface changes. And again, users can easily customize this toolbar via drag and drop. Users can organize recently used files by name, date, or title, and even pin-specific files so that they don’t move off the list as additional files are opened.Īll AutoCAD commands remain accessible via the new menu browser, which can also display recently accessed drawings and actions as well as help search for commands by name, description, or synonym.Īnd what about important commands such as file open, save, print, and undo? These now appear in a Quick Access Toolbar that resides on the program title bar, so they take up no additional space within the interface. Clicking on the bright red “A” in the upper-left corner of the AutoCAD window reveals all of the pull-down menus - now arranged vertically - as well as new tools for previewing and opening recently edited documents, recalling recent actions, or searching for commands. You can rearrange ribbon tabs, float individual ribbon panels by dragging them into the drawing area (so they behave a lot like toolbars), and even reduce the ribbon to a single row until you need to access it, so that it takes up a minimum amount of space.īut where did AutoCAD’s pull-down menus go? They’ve been moved to another new interface component called the menu browser. Unlike the ribbon UI in Microsoft Office, AutoCAD’s ribbon interface is completely user customizable. The new ribbon interface can be changed to a vertical orientation so that it functions much like the now-defunct dashboard, but it makes more sense to keep it positioned horizontally across the top of the screen. The dashboard worked OK, but it took up space on screen and was in addition to the menus and toolbars. The ribbon replaces the dashboard first introduced in AutoCAD 2007. Tool tips expand to display additional information about each command and the new View Cube and Steering Wheels make it easier to orient models in both 2D and 3D.īut with the new ribbon bars, most functions are just one click away. The ribbon bar replaces the pull-down menus and toolbars in previous versions of AutoCAD. Also, in previous versions, command options were often buried in secondary dialog boxes or flyouts. In past releases, draw tools were on the Draw toolbar and Draw pull-down menu editing tools were on one of several Modify toolbars or within the Edit menu and view control tools were spread out across several other toolbars and pull-down menus. For example, commands for creating, modifying, and adjusting the display of objects now appear in the Home panel.
The new ribbon interface is certainly the first thing people notice, and one’s first reaction might be, “where did my commands go?” The ribbon interface replaces AutoCAD’s familiar pull-down menus and toolbars with a series of tabbed panels organized by tasks, rather than by function as in the past. But first impressions can sometimes be deceiving and so I’m happy to report that there is more in AutoCAD 2009’s new functionality than meets the eye. Topping that list is a new user interface based on a ribbon bar similar to the one found - and disliked by many - in Microsoft Office 2007, and the list itself appeared shorter than in the past. This time around, however, the list of new functions initially seemed pale in comparison. And last year, annotation scaling led the list of new features, solving a problem that plagued users for 25 years. In AutoCAD 2007, the company added new tools for 3D modeling and conceptual design. In 2006, the main focus was on 2D drafting, with the biggest addition being dynamic blocks. AutoCAD LT 2009 offers the same new user interface as AutoCAD 2009, providing many 2D drafting functions at a fraction of the cost of AutoCAD.įor each of the past five annual releases, Autodesk has managed to surprise its customers with a wealth of new features that have made each successive release of AutoCAD more powerful and easier to use.