How to enable layout tabs left and right scroll arrows, instead of new default?

[Jonathan.Gray68UQW]

Hey all,

How can I restore the layout tab left and right scroll option instead of the new down arrow option as shown in the attached image? I liked the way it use to be better. 

[injineri]

right click on layout and choose "dock above status bar"

 

[Jonathan.Gray68UQW]

That helped me out A LOT, but still not exactly what I was looking for, but thank you :). I am going to leave this open for a while before I hit "Accept Solution" just in case somebody knows how to make it exactly how it used to be in older versions of Autocad. But again thank you so much, because this might be the best option!!

[Cadologist · Accepted solution]

What version of AutoCAD are you using? Assuming 2016+? 

The functionality of the new status bar (bottom ribbon area) changed in AutoCAD 2015 (became more compact and limits the number of layout tabs visible on-screen). I do not believe there is a way to change back to the how layout tabs 'scrolled' prior to AutoCAD 2015. Since AutoCAD 2015, you can only display a set number of layout tabs on screen, with a 'down arrow' to manually pick/select a layout tab from the ones not displayed.

The suggestion to right-click and select 'dock above status bar' will display a few more layout tabs, but if you have more than 13 (as an example) layout tabs in a single drawing, your only option (that I am aware of) is to use the down arrow/layout tab selection interface.

[Anonymous]

Is so uncomfortable to work with these down arrows. If you have 300+ layouts, and have to change something in all of them one by one, then have to click 2 times each time instead 1.

[Cadologist]

Sorry for the delayed response - I didn't notice the notification of a reply to this thread. When you said 300+ layouts, do you mean you have over 300 layouts in a single AutoCAD drawing?

[rlaycock]

Does an Expert Elite leave the problem totally unanswered?  

[rlaycock]

This didn't address the issue in ANY WAY. This guy's pretty easy to please.

[Kent1Cooper]

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@rlaycock wrote:

Does an Expert Elite leave the problem totally unanswered?

This didn't address the issue in ANY WAY. This guy's pretty easy to please.

---

No, the Expert Elite answered it in Message 4.  If there's no way to do what the OP is looking for [and I assume you are?], no amount of elite expertise can "answer" it any better than that.  The OP was apparently satisfied with the information that there isn't a way, which certainly qualifies as addressing the issue, even if it's not the answer you might hope for.  Is there a point to your reviving this topic?  If you're expecting something different, this is a strange way to express that.  How about something more like "I realize this is a couple of years old.  Is anyone aware of a change in newer versions, such that what the OP asks for is now possible?"

[rlaycock]

I didn't ask as you suggest since in 2020 there's nothing improved on this matter. 

Actually the worst part isn't the scrolling but that ACAD for God knows what reason pins the current layout to the first tab all the way left if you dive into Tiled Model Space.  This is extremely irritating! I assume this is a "feature" but it's a Bug as far as I'm concerned.  Having used ACAD since DOS 10 & Mac version 11 I think I would have noticed this if it wasn't new after 2016. 
It should be changed back hopefully in 2022. 

[nrz13]

I know this is a late answer at this point, but if you're going through 300+ layouts one-by-one in order, you can use the keyboard shortcut combinations instead of clicking multiple times in the menu.

The keyboard shortcuts are:
Ctrl+Page Down and Ctrl+Page Up.

[cschnarr]

@Kent1Cooper 

Hi Kent. I appreciated your well phrased reply. I know this thread is old, but I was wondering if you are aware of anyone creating a dialogue box listing all the layouts in the current drawing, in their current order. So the user could just select a layout name and go to that layout?

It is really hard with no way to move across the layout tabs just to look at the names. And the vertical scroll gives you no indication where you really are in the list, which only shows a portion of the list.

I would love to see if we could invent such a layout selection dialog box.

Thanks for providing highly useful and very accurate information to all of us still learning! 

[paige5MC8J]

Hi, i'm using autocad 2023.. do you know of a way to 'prioritize' the newer layouts created over the older ones? when I add a new one it puts it in the dropdown menu but its the only one to the right so I have to open the drop down in order to open the layout I just created.

Id prefer if the new one on the right was accessible and it pushed more on the left off screen.

Hopefully I explained this well enough for you.

[Cadologist]

Yes explained perfectly - aside from manually dragging to reorder the layout tabs to suite your preference, there is no functionality that I am aware of that would auto-sort based on creation.  I never liked when they introduced the button to display layouts that were pushed off screen (too many to show the tabs) and I have had many staff comment/inquire where the layouts are in a drawing, when in fact they are there, just hidden-ish, if that makes sense.

On a side note, there was a recent Autodesk Customer Council survey that was distributed (via email) in relation to how users are managing 'layouts' - included multiple questions on how layouts can be more effectively organized. 

[cschnarr]

There is a wonderful macro written called "GOtab" you would probably find it a workable solution. It calls up a dialog box which lists all the tabs in the current drawing. The stock AutoCAD layout list tool truncates the list, so if you have several layouts you still have to scroll, and it can be scrolling either up or down. All of the things discussed make it hard to simply find and switch to a layout, which should be a simple task. I modified the code to list the layouts alphabetically. The default code as written, displays the layouts in the order they are currently arranged. The preference of how you like to display tab order would be up to you. I love it when someone writes and shares good code that solves an annoying issue and makes me more productive. Get the code, and add a button to one of your tool bars. One click runs code and opens dialogue box, one click to select your layout name, and one click to confirm.

[dprice75]

Thank you for this info.  Arrows would be better, but your work around is extremely helpful!!!

[nrz13]

If you're going through a long run of tabs, you can also press and hold Ctrl+Page Down/Up to cycle through them quickly.

[blohmoeller]

Where do you find "GOtab" to download and try????  Google search is not finding it, mainly finds advert for a restaurant?

[cschnarr]

I cannot remember where I got it. I have attached the one I use. It also needs a "list box". I used Lee Mac's ListBoxV1-2.lsp. Perhaps that will help you.

[dprice75]

This sounds like a nice program, but I get the following error when I load it:

Command: (LOAD "C:/Users/DanP/Downloads/gotab.lsp") C:GO-TAB

Command: go-tab

Unable to load dialog.

If anyone knows a fix, that would be kool.

Thanks!