Best way to learn AutoCad Electrical

[Anonymous]

So I've scoured YouTube and auto-desk and I cannot find any good start to finish tutorials on autocad electrical. Seems like everyone wants it on someone's CV but how do people learn it other than trial and error on their own.

Do anyone have any recommendations on online self-directed class?

[jseefdrumr]

This question pops up a lot here. It has been answered many times with many suggestions. Did you try a forum search?

Beyond that: Start with the F1 key, it's literally the most valuable tool available to you. It has the Hitchhiker's Guide to AutoCAD Electrical which might be one of the easiest to understand overviews of how the software is intended to work.

From there it's up to you. The best way to learn, is to fail. Just go draw stuff. It'll get messed up, and your search for fixes will teach you not just how to correct that one mistake, but also how to prevent others. And, doing things that way means all of your learning is focused only on the things you need to know, rather than spending an entire day reading up on something you'll never use in the future (looking at you, Conduit Tools).

It's really hard for us on the forum to tell someone how to train on ACADE, when we are never told how much they already know (or don't know) to start with.

[Icemanau]

You get what you pay for...

I would recommend talking to your local Autodesk reseller and asking about any training courses they run as a start.

Normally there are three levels of courses.

First, you have the Beginners which is for people who haven't used CAD before.

Next is the Intermediate which is more focussed on the actual usage of electrical.

Finally there is Advanced which goes in to the esoteric functions.

If they are to expensive or not deemed as covid safe, look for other courses.

There are several companies that goes to the workplace and teaches users how to use ACADE.

One of those may be better than a structured classroom environment.

Finally, there should be online pay courses on electrical.

All of these would be covered by consumer protection laws and as such, should be fairly ok.

Then you get the 'free' tutorials on youtube and similar. The quality of these will vary greatly depending on who does them, their knowledge base and so on.

Just do a Google search using 'free online autocad electrical tutorial' as the search term and you will get a list of links to youtube, free courses and so on.

Again, You get what you pay for and some of these will be good and some will be horrendous and none of them will be covered by consumer laws.

Regards Brad

[testsubject]

If you have access to Linkedin Learning you can try here.

Working with AutoCAD Electrical (linkedin.com)

[jallenDBQ7U]

There is no free easy way to learn it other than working with others at a company where it is used. The best way to self learn is to do it in pieces and not overwhelm yourself with how to do too many things at once. The full power of the package is huge and isn't all needed immediately to gain benefits. Use the help files, this forum, videos, and searches on the internet to find answers where you get stuck.

Here is a simplified form of the steps I used to learn it.
1) I first learned regular AutoCAD and know it really well. You did not state if you already know regular AutoCAD. Knowing how to do stuff manually is a fall back. It can be done while learning AE.
2) I learned how to set up a project with my drawings automatically updated on title blocks and page numbers only. I did not use any wire numbering or symbols from AE at this point.
3) I then implemented wire numbers but continued to use standard AutoCAD Blocks.
4) I then converted my Blocks to Symbols and expanded into reports, panel layouts, and everything else over time. I now use almost all features in the package, but it took a long time to learn all of it.