Optimisation and Customisation of the AutoCAD 2023 User Interface.

[1911394]

I`ve been hunting around for the last couple of days trying to work out how to Optimise the AutoCAD 2023 version i`ve just downloaded and installed. At the moment i am finding that i`m constant navigating around the screen rather than getting on with the work.

From the infromation i`ve found under Help in AutoCAD it seems it has to do with the Customise User Interface, page, and the Workspace Swithcing Options.  At the moment i`m looking at, Drafting and Annotation, 3D Basics and 3D Modelling as my Workspace options, along with another i`m calling June 2022. In the left pane i`ve investigated the Ribbon, Panel, Row 1, where i`ve Drag `n` Dropped the required Commands / Controls from the Command List box below.So i`ve now got seven additional Panels in the folder, all of which i`ve Renamed to something more appropriate. I`ve created a Workspace called June 2022, which i can see in the Quick Access Toolbar, pulldown menu, and i`ve also clicked Workspace Switching on the Status Bar at the lower edge of the screen.  However, at the moment when i select June 2022 as my Workspace from the QAToolbar i have no Toolbars, a Ribbon or Panle Titles showing for both Workspaces. IE June 2022 or Drafting and Annotation.

I`m also noting that in the CUI page, on the left pane there are two tabs, one highlighted for Customise and the other highlighted for Transfer. Also on the right pane, i see there is a Customise Workspace button. I`ve not used either of these so far.

I`m wondering where, from following the AutoCAD Help Menu`s Instructions, i`ve gone wrong with, what sounds like a fairly straight-forward Procedure to follow.

Angus Fordyce.   M.Arch Student.

[TheCADnoob]

Familiarity with the interface will reduce the amount of time you spend hunting for things in the ribbon. 

Also if you are not using the command line, look into that it can speed up you process a good bit. 

One common issue i have seen before is not saving the workspace after making the changes. 

I have built a few custom ribbons and digging in the CUI can be tricky. 

My personal favorite is creating and using custom tool palettes. I found these were the most forgiving and flexible with customizing macros. 

[dany_rochefort]

@1911394 

I've been talking about that for years... People spend more time searching for commands rather than actually working.

Here is what i would do:

Type in : Cleanscreen and hit enter (removes all that crap)

Type in : Menubar and hit enter, make sure that variable is set to 1 rather than 0. (Menu bar appears if it wasnt already there)

From the menubar, go to Tools, Toolbars, Autocad (choose your toolbars from there instead of ribbons)

Other thing i would go to Options, Display, Colors and change 2d modelspace background to black. New installs are on some sort of dark gray that is real hard on the eyes...  

Go down to your Worskspace settings and ''Save Worskspace Settings As...'' Save your new Worskspace setup.

Basically start from a bare Autocad workspace and build it up from there. 

Make sure you input commands from the command line  rather than icon clicking.  Most important: learn to modify your *.PGP file (tools/customize/edit pgp file) so you can customize each command alias via keyboard.  All your speed will come from keyboard entries. Only a few toobars on screen like layers, linetypes and stuff like that. Everthing else can easily be memorized.

As an example my keyboard setup: A is a command / AA is another command / AAA in another command.  Same for Z and Q keys. So ive got 9 commands set up on 3 keys type deal... 

That's my 2 cents !  

[pendean]

>>>...Basically start from a bare Autocad workspace and build it up from there. ...<<<

@dany_rochefort I like it: I'm stealing this to share with other similar posts 😉

[1911394]

Thanks, `Danyrochefort.` Of the replies i`ve seen so far, yours was by far, the most helpful.

Cheers   !!!

Angus Fordyce.

[dany_rochefort]

You're the BOSS Dean! Have a nice day 😁  

[dany_rochefort]

@1911394 

One last thing i forgort to mention. Turn on your drawing tabs by going to Option / Display / Display File Tabs. 

[TheCADnoob]

If you go the route of turning everything off, be cautious about the items that show up in the contextual ribbon. For us this is more an issue for users using the tool sets and the 'never ribboners' are having to embrace the ease of the contextual ribbons.