Trim Command: Cutting Edges by Default

[scbunker]

When I last used AutoCAD (which was a couple of years ago), the Trim command defaulted to require the selection of cutting edges, then the lines to cut.

In AutoCAD 2021, it defaults to cut the line in between any other line in the drawing. If I want to specify cutting edges, I have to enter the "T" option. 

Is there a setting somewhere that will change this default? I always want to specify cutting edges. 

I did some searching and couldn't find anything. I did find the system variable EDGEMODE and that's not it.

I'm wondering if my previous company overwrote the trim command with a lisp routine. They used lisp routines very heavily...

Thanks for your help.

[Kent1Cooper · Accepted solution]

I don't have 2021 yet, but Help for it is available on-line, and Help for the TRIM command will tell you about that.  You're in "Quick" mode, and you want to be in "Standard" mode.  The TRIMEXTENDMODE controls that.

[Julio_Soto]

If you ever forget the command, it is also embedded in the trim/extend command. see image below

[ifthidp]

type TRIMEXTENDMODE and set the value to 0

[RSomppi]

Or you could read message #2 for the same suggestion...

[dalarayener]

Hello!

I just today (accidentally) upgraded to 2022, not knowing that I cannot get my 2019 back with a student license... 😞

I have been looking at forums and reddit and youtube tutorials all day, but I cannot get these solutions to work for me. I checked the trimextendmode variable, standard mode, quick mode, fence, crossing, everything. 

I am attaching a video showing what the command does for me, where it should be a very very simple trimming operation. I uninstalled the 2022 and reinstalled it as well, just in case it was an installation issue but no..

Regarding the video, the problem is the fact that it completely ignores the object in between, and trims all the way back to another line. I know it's a problem that can be solved in other ways such as stretch, grip edit, etc. but there should be a simpler way that does not set me back that much time every time i am trimming something (which is very often)

many thanks in advance!!!

[pendean]

@dalarayener From your video alone, this line (see below) is not a valid cutting edge for the two lines, nothing more, could be a Z elevation issue

To confirm, share that portion of your DWG file here and we can help decipher it for you if you want the help.

[dalarayener]

Thank you very much for the quick reply!!!!!!

Why not though?! Those lines would have worked perfectly as trimming boundaries in the 2019 version. (I architecturally/geometrically don't understand why that doesn't qualify as a boundary. it's a closed polyline with two intersecting lines that fully touch the object's boundary)

I highly doubt that it is the elevation/z-value, I spent quite a bit of time making sure it was all 2d since this had been a big issue for me in the past. (but also, with autocad this is a delicate matter and it can very easily turn out that one singular line's z value messes up the whole drawing)

I tried to include all the relevant objects near that corner in the drawing. I hope we can actually solve this, it's so annoying!

[dalarayener]

i took another look at the file I attached in the previous post, and it works for some reason..

i'm attaching now the whole drawing, because that seems to be the issue rather than the objects themselves

[pendean]

@dalarayener Your first file shared here has no rotated UCS. The second one does, that seems to be the issue.

But you can select the trim line and it works. This is in 2023 and 2024 here, I don't have 2022 but you do.

Side note: Your first shared file has DWGUNITS (not UNITS) set to mm.
Your second shared file has DWGUNITS set to inches and UNITS set to meters.

Why if I may ask?

[dalarayener]

@pendean

that's very strange, i entered the side views to see what might be off-axis but everything is flat...

the ucs kind of has to be rotated because this is an xref attached into a main drawing (oriented north) but the way this building sits on the site is not ortho, so for alignment reasons i have to flip the ucs a bit. 

the second file i sent here, i tried to trim with the 'world' ucs as well, same problem. maybe i added a z component while flipping. thank you for taking a look, very much appreciated!! maybe i should migrate into a different file.

the drawing units must be because i installed and uninstalled many times today and must have forgotten, i'll fix that now thanks for the warning!

[DarrenAEUZC]

Amazing, thank you, I had forgotten how to do this on the 2025 version and it was driving me up the wall!!