topic Re: seeing all layout tabs at once in AutoCAD Forum

seeing all layout tabs at once

barry2104 — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 08:36:44 GMT

I have a drawing with 30 different layouts plus Model-tab, so 31 "Tabs" at the bottom

I often have to switch between the sheets e.g. switch from sheet 1 to 30 however because i have so many, I have to first scroll the tabs across to the right to find layout 30 before clicking on it to see the layout.

Is there a way to somehow add an extra row(s) of layout tabs so that all 30 are visible, all the time? Or do I have to keep scrolling left/right to find the tab I want to click on/open?

See the attached jpg for clarity

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

h_s_walker — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 09:25:06 GMT

Look to the left of your image. Do you see the black right facing arrow? Click on the black right facing arrow WITH THE VERTICAL LINE to the right of the arrow I just mentioned. That arrow will take you to the last layout tab in your document.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

barry2104 — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 09:55:59 GMT

yes, thanks, I'm aware of that, however I was asking if it's possible to have two (or more) rows of layout tabs to avoid having to click left/right as you mention, like my new attachment:

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

Imui — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 11:06:47 GMT

Don't think you can get 2 or more rows.

You might want to use

qvlayout

or,

if you right click a layout "activate previous layout" will get you close to what you whant

or,

ctab and then write your layout name

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 11:38:22 GMT

As far as I know, two rows of layout tabs are not possible in AutoCAD.

You could make far more tabs fit in the single row on one page if you shorten the layout names, for instance from TEH301-blatt 7 to 301-7
Another appraoch would be to write a LISP-routine with a dialoge box showing all thirty layout names at once in a vertically arranged listing to pick from.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

cadwomen — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 12:39:33 GMT

Hy just anthor way to go a round use SSM if you get 2 monitor´s it will be easy cu cw

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 21:54:55 GMT

I just discovered that it's possible (at least in ACAD 2017) to right-click one of the tabs and select "dock above status bar" which will allow the tabs to extend all the way across the screen. It still cuts them off beyond that, but it's much better than having to share half the screen width with the status bar. Hope that helps some!

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

GrantsPirate — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 22:45:28 GMT

If I hover over the drawing tab near just above the grapics screen a list of all layouts will display allowing me to pick from that list.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 23:36:59 GMT

30 layouts in one file?? You're not worried about one corrupt file killing an entire project?? We'd never risk that much exposure to catastrophe.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 18:11:30 GMT

This is what I think you're meaning. been able to see all tabs in 1 page view:

This forum post helped me:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-for-mac-forum/layout-tabs-revert-to-dropdown-menu-autocad-for-mac-2017/td-p/7015011

Its a button just left of "+" for new drawing. or "⌘." as a shortcut. See top left of my screenshot.

show drawings and layouts

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

pendean — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 12:25:34 GMT

You're on a MAC, using AutoCAD for Mac, correct? Might not help everyone in this Windows forum.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

TerryDotson — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 13:47:18 GMT

So if a dialog like the one above existed, ideally it would automatically increase the number of columns when resized (wider), and the size of the thumbnails be optionally scale-able (like 50%) to show more. The question is, should it be a floating palette or should it only appear on demand then disappear when a layout is chosen?

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

dpattersonnz — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 01:40:56 GMT

Hi Terry

Yes automatic columns and scale-able thumbnails would be ideal (e.g. small | medium | large, or use a slider bar).

A similar dialogue already exists with the QVLAYOUT command, which has a good interface, so I would suggest building on that.

QVLAYOUT lets you scroll horizontally across the full rolodex of layouts (not possible with the conventional tab viewer), and as a bonus it lets you loop back to the first layout. It spans multiple displays which is good for making the most of the available screen real estate, but if the viewer is restricted to a single display only that is OK too because of the ability to scroll horizontally (ideal when there are hundreds of tabs in the drawing).

Currently you can pin the viewer to the bottom tray so that it floats on top. And, like you suggest, it disappears once a layout is selected. Making the command available from a right-click on the layout tray would also be very helpful. Right now it's set up as "QV" in my keyboard shortcuts.

One suggestion to the developers would be to make it possible to select multiple layouts within the QVLAYOUT command. With the conventional tab setup, you can shift+left-click to select multiple layout tabs, and ctrl+left-click to toggle selection on/off for individual tabs. It would be a helpful addition if this was also possible for QVLAYOUT, because then you could then cycle through all the tabs and pinpoint exactly which ones you want to batch plot/publish.

Keen to hear your thoughts

Many thanks

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

JTBWorld — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 18:36:30 GMT

If you work with many layouts you may find our JTB Layout Palette app useful.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

gotphish001 — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 13:56:35 GMT

Looks like a handy add on.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 18:11:11 GMT

You might try looking at or modifying the Design Center (Control+2). If you go to the open drawing tab and click layouts it will list all layouts and resize columns when the dialog box is resized. It needs a right click "open" command in addition to the "add layout" and "copy" commands. It would be great if the preview button on top would show a preview of the layout. For some reason on my computer the preview button doesn't do anything.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

dpattersonnz — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:53:19 GMT

Agreed - the design center is a good interface but could definitely use some beefed up functionality e.g. opening, renaming, and plotting layouts.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

joesalveson — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 22:56:31 GMT

Barry - I saw your post from 2016 on multiple layouts - I have the same problem - I am currently working in a drawing that has 132 layouts - I found that if I name the layout tabs with unique text that also shows up in the paperspace of that layout, then when I need to find a particular layout, I can type "find" in the command line and the program finds the paperspace text. Double clicking on the entry in the found list will bring up the layout I need fairly quickly.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 14:57:44 GMT

132 layouts in ONE file??? Not only dangerous but also sounds inefficient.

Re: seeing all layout tabs at once

barry2104 — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 15:13:13 GMT

the above Image Shows that I have about 12 Layouts, each with a layout/tab Name the same as the drawing Name (to make renaming files after Batch plotting easier). These 12 Layouts/Tabs don't all fit next to the "Model" tab. I have to click the double-down-arrow (highlighted in red here) to view all layouts, then pick the one I want to Switch to.

Ideally I would want an OPTION to enable all the Tabs to be shown permanently, so that if they don't fit on the Standard row next to "Model", then a 2nd (or more) row(s) gets stacked on top of this / below the command line, as shown above in green.

This could obviously cause Problems if you're crazy enough to have 136 layouts or extremely Long layout names, so this Option would ideally be "capped" at say 5 stacked rows.