How to bring up the old screen menu?

[Anonymous]

Ok, here is a question for you old-school users of AutoCAD. 

Does anyone remember the old screen menu that you used to have in AutoCAD 11 and prior?  It was a black vertical menu that always stayed on screen,  and allowed you to scroll through commands.  I just wanted to show it to a workmate, since he and I were talking about old commands in AutoCAD (he just learned AutoCAD in the last few years).

It used to be that it was still shown as a choice in the Options menu in AutoCAD, but I'm not seeing it there now. Does anyone know if you can still bring that up?  

Thanks in advance!!

[dmfrazier]

It was deprecated several releases ago (can't remember when, though).

[Patchy]

That side menu bar with a scroll bar was DOS days.

Then it went to icons

and Ribbons killed the side menu bars.

[imadHabash · Accepted solution]

Hi,

>>  here is a question for you old-school users of AutoCAD.

 if you mean the SCREENMENU , you can get it back by REDIFINE command.

Command: REDEFINE
Enter command name: screenmenu

Command: SCREENMENU

Enter new value for SCREENMENU <0>: 1

[cadffm]

@Anonymous 

It's hidden since few versions..

;; copy&paste it into your commandline[CTRL+9] or textscrren[F2]

(progn
   (if (and
	 (setq obj(vla-get-Display (vla-get-Preferences (vlax-get-acad-object))))
	 (= :vlax-true (vla-get-DisplayScreenMenu obj))
       )
       (vla-put-DisplayScreenMenu obj :vlax-false)
       (vla-put-DisplayScreenMenu obj :vlax-true)
   )
   (vlax-release-object obj)
)

;; +++++++++++++++++++++++++

;; Or as Lisp command/toggle, command: SCREENMENU
(defun c:SCREENMENU (/ obj)
   (vl-load-com)
   (setq obj (vla-get-Display (vla-get-Preferences (vlax-get-acad-object))))
   (if (= :vlax-true (vla-get-DisplayScreenMenu obj))
     (vla-put-DisplayScreenMenu obj :vlax-false)
     (vla-put-DisplayScreenMenu obj :vlax-true)
     )
   (vlax-release-object obj)
)

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm….

Doing that makes mine pop up, but it doesn't show the commands in it.  Interesting.

[dmfrazier]

That just means you have no screen menu content defined in the CUI(s) that are loaded, or if they are defined in one of the CUIs, then your workspace doesn't have any turned on.

[Anonymous]

If you have it working, can you show me what your CUI has under it?

[dmfrazier]

Sure.

Running AutoCAD 2018 with an out-of-the-box (default) profile.

First, I REDEFINEd the SCREENMENU command, and then I ran it to turn it on (set to 1).

In CUI, under the ACAD CUI, at the Legacy node, this is what I see:

In the editor, this is what I see (because apparently the screen menu is on by default in the default workspace):

Ahhh... the good old days! 😉

[Anonymous]

Thanks!  😛

[elucas_KWS]

This still works in AutoCAD 2024 🤣

[paullimapa]

Curious if there’s a way to change the text color on the screen menu from the default of black to say white?

[dmfrazier]

My guess (no time to investigate right now) is that it follows the color assigned in Options, Display tab, Colors button (Drawing Window Colors), Command line, Command History Text:

[ruslin]

I have the same question too,

[paullimapa]

Unfortunately doesn’t seem to follow any of those options on the Color selections. I wonder if it’s based on the overall Windows color theme which controls foreground and background color of dialogue boxes 

[dacatalanV4FK6]

How does it work in AUTOCAD 2024? The command REDEFINE does not exist, so I cannot show the SCREENMENU

[pendean]

---

@dacatalanV4FK6 wrote:

How does it work in AUTOCAD 2024? The command REDEFINE does not exist, so I cannot show the SCREENMENU

---

Are you an LT2024 user by chance? REDEFINE has never been a function in any LT variant to date.

or are you perhaps using an OEM version of 2024?

REDEFINE works fine in R2024.1.2 here for me

https://help.autodesk.com/view/ACD/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-E2B53E4D-28AE-4F6E-96E4-6FABE3FF823C 

[dacatalanV4FK6]

I am in LT2024, I do not know that REDEFINE does not work in that version.

Thanks for the answer!

[sjxyz]

Hi,

I have managed to keep the screen menu going through many upgrades, but sadly I can't see it in the CUI under the legacy tab. Is there anyone who would be able and prepared to transfer their Legacy Screen Menu to a new file and share it as I would really likely to change the commands that my menu offers.
Thanks