Remove "Pattern" pane from Hatch Editor Ribbon (or disable Hatch Editor Ribbon)

[Anonymous]

I am in AutoCAD 2016.  I was wondering if it is possible to remove the "Pattern" pane from the Hatch Editor ribbon (pictured in attached screenshot)?  The screenshot shows the area I would like to remove, circled in red. 

The reason I would like to remove the Pattern pane is because we have some hatch patterns in our server that are pretty slow, some that are extremely slow, and some that completely freeze AutoCAD.  And the problem is, when you are using a working, totally fine hatch, but this working hatch has a name which is alphabetically next to a problem hatch, and you click on the hatch itself (to edit the hatch in any way), the Hatch Editor (including the "Pattern" pane) automatically loads, and, as in the screenshot, the Pattern pane will attempt to show the hatches which are right next to it as well.  So if your working hatch is alphabetically next to a problem hatch, then trying to edit the working hatch will still end up freezing AutoCAD. 

Unfortunately, at the moment I am very hesitant to delete any hatch patterns from our server, because I don't know if the "hatch patterns that freeze AutoCAD because they have 20,000 lines" work fine for other people in our company, like the people who have AutoCAD 2017 or 2018.  Unfortunately I haven't been at our company long enough to know which hatch patterns are garbage and which ones we actually use.  No one at our company is really an authority on the subject so I don't think anyone knows which ones we can delete - sometimes we pull up projects from 10 years ago and who knows what references will be in there.  Anyway, so, while the simple answer would be to delete the hatch pattern files that freeze my AutoCAD program, I can't do that right now, though that is a possibility for the future, it would just require the proper testing and assessment. 

But if there is some way to remove the "Pattern" pane from the Hatch Editor, then I can just instruct everyone to remove that and then set HPDLGMODE to 1 when they do the HATCH command, and AutoCAD will no longer get frozen by hatch patterns we're not even using. 

OR, I just thought of this approach - is there a way to edit a hatch without using the Hatch Editor Ribbon at all?  Or a way to completely disable the Hatch Editor Ribbon? 

Thanks for any help. 

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> possible to remove the "Pattern" pane

Use right-click right beside the panels and turn off the patterns as shown in the screenshot.

- alfred -

[imadHabash]

Hi,

>> I was wondering if it is possible to remove the "Pattern" pane from the Hatch Editor ribbon

Yes you can as seen below . right click on the ribbon ( Yellow star ) then from Show Panels ( uncheck Pateern option ) 

 

Regards,

[Anonymous]

Great! Thank you both. This worked (as per both of your posts). 

[Anonymous]

I wanted to update this as it turns out the solutions I marked were not complete solutions.  When I close and re-open AutoCAD, the settings revert back to the way they were.  (That is, the Pattern Panel shows up again).  I also checked and it is not a drawing-specific setting either. 

So then I went in to "Customize" my Workspace, but then I ended up completely deleting the Pattern Panel from my AutoCAD program altogether - so it's not available in any Workspace now.  And I guess technically that solves the problem for me, because I don't want the Pattern Panel to show up, but I'd prefer to know how to remove the Pattern Panel without completely deleting it from the program, lol.  Not just for myself, but that way I can instruct or help other people in our company to do the same - and I'd prefer not to completely delete a component from their program.  I'll probably figure out how to get it back at some point and then figure out how to disable the Pattern Panel without completely removing it from the program (unless that's actually impossible to do), and then I'll update this post again. 

I don't really want to un-mark the solutions since I already marked them.  But if I end up finding how to do what I'm trying to do, and the above posts end up being no part of the solution, then I will probably un-mark them.  But if they are a portion of the solution, then I will keep them marked as solutions. 

[scot-65]

Another method you can try (untested), which might upset some
workstations, is to remove the questionable hatch pattern(s) from
inside the file ACAD.pat and place them as their own separate PAT file.
The name of the separate file must match to pattern name.

From there either place the now stand-alone pattern in your
primary "support" path or create a folder "Custom Patterns" and
place the stand-alone files in there.

If the later, a support path to the "Custom Patterns" folder is required.
The questionable patterns will now be shown at the end of the list...

???

[Anonymous]

Oh - I didn't specify in my original post but the problem hatches are already custom hatches which are their own .pat files and they are not in the acad.pat file. 

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, the method suggested by Alfred and Imad did not keep the setting changed after closing and re-opening AutoCAD. When I used this method, the Pattern panel would successfully be removed from the Hatch Editor ribbon until I closed AutoCAD, but when I re-opened AutoCAD, the Pattern panel would once again show up in the Hatch Editor ribbon. But fortunately, I figured out a way to keep it removed. This involves editing the CUI (the user interface), which makes changes to your acad.cuix file.

First, out of carefulness, I recommend backing up your acad.cuix file before making any changes to the CUI (User Interface). That way, if any mistakes are made, you can revert to this old one. Steps to manually back up this file are below:

On my computer, the ACAD.CUIX file is located in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ACA 2016\enu\Support . (Note that "AppData" is a hidden folder and you need to have your Folder and Search Options show hidden folders in Windows Explorer if you want to get to it in Windows Explorer. (I am in Windows 7)). I was able to find the location of my ACAD.CUIX file by doing the following: In AutoCAD, do the command "CUI" which will open the "Customize User Interface" window. In the dropdown menu on the top left, make sure "Main Customization File (acad.cuix)" is selected. After you select "Main Customization File (acad.cuix)" and click ACAD, the "Properties" on the right should show you the location of the ACAD.CUIX file. Pictured below:

Navigate to the place indicated by your Properties window as per the steps above. Go to this location in Windows Explorer (make sure your Windows Explorer settings allow you to see hidden files and folders if necessary). Copy the acad.cuix file and paste it in a backup folder somewhere on your computer or desktop.  Note the location of this backup folder so you can refer to it if necessary.  

How to remove the "Hatch Pattern Panel" from the "Hatch Editor" Ribbon

In AutoCAD, perform the command called "CUI". This will open the "Customize User Interface" window.

On the top left where it says "All Customization Files", click that and select "Main Customization File (acad.cuix)".

Navigate down to "Ribbon" > "Tabs" (pictured below).

Scroll down and find the "Hatch Editor Contextual Tab". Click on it. It should then show a list that includes a panel called "Hatch - Patterns". Right click on "Hatch - Patterns" and click "Remove". (Pictured below).

Click "Apply".

(If you also want the "Hatch - Patterns" panel removed from the "Hatch Creation Contextual Tab" and from the "Hatch Editor Contextual Tab for Section View", (both of which should be listed directly next to the "Hatch Editor Contextual Tab"), then perform the previous step for those 2 tabs as well. (Pictured below). After changing these, click "Apply").

Click "OK", and the "Hatch Patterns" Panel has now been removed from the appropriate tab(s)!

If you ever want to re-add the "Hatch - Patterns" panel back to the "Hatch Editor Contextual Tab" or the other tabs, follow the steps below:

Perform the command called "CUI". This will open the "Customize User Interface" window.

On the top left where it says "All Customization Files", click that and select "Main Customization File (acad.cuix)".

Navigate down to "Ribbon" > "Panels" (pictured below).

Scroll down (probably quite a ways) and find the panel called "Hatch - Patterns". Right-click it and click "Copy". (Pictured below).

Navigate back to "Ribbon" > "Tabs" and to the appropriate tab you want to add the "Hatch - Patterns" panel to. Click on that tab to highlight it, then right-click on that tab, and click "Paste". (Pictured below).

Click "Apply" and click "OK", then the "Hatch Patterns" panel has been added back to the appropriate tab(s)!