Disabling "F1" key..."Help Button" in AutoCAD

[Anonymous]

My fingers are sometimes faster and not quite as accurate as they should be...I find myself often times hitting the "F1" key when I am aiming for the "ESC" key in the upper LH corner of my keyboard. Is there a way to disable the F1 key in AutoCAD, while leaving the other F keys active? It's not a crippling thing, just annoying. Thanks, Bill

[Anonymous]

In the 'ACCELERATORS' section of your main menu, you can disable the F1 key as such: ***ACCELERATORS [INTERNAL+"F1"](prompt "\nF1 help key disabled. Use Help pull-down menu.")(princ) Jim "Bill Henry" wrote in message news:4255350f$1_3@newsprd01... > My fingers are sometimes faster and not quite as accurate as they should > be...I find myself often times hitting the "F1" key when I am aiming for the > "ESC" key in the upper LH corner of my keyboard. > > Is there a way to disable the F1 key in AutoCAD, while leaving the other F > keys active? It's not a crippling thing, just annoying. > > Thanks, > > Bill > >

[18hammers]

BY THE WAY - If F1 opens the help pane and halts your production, try this because it worked for me. F1 help pain is a WINDOWSfunction that can be disabled by deleting the help pain file helppane.exe - This should allow you to program the F1 key for anything in AutoCAD that you choose without having the help pane pop up any longer. The drawback is occasionally when there's an update, the help pain is reinstalled and you have to go through the process again, which isn't very difficult. As long as you don't need Windows help this is a perfect solution. Whenever I need help in Windows I just go to Google or YouTube Which is far more efficient.  I've been CAD drafting for about 25 years now and this I just found out this year!!!!

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous

Could you try this method to avoid the time loss of pressing "F1"

To redefine the F1 key,

1. Right-click a toolbar and click Customize or enter CUI on the command line. In the upper-left section of the CUI dialog box, expand Keyboard Shortcut Keys.

2. In the Command List, right-click the Cancel command. Click New Command. A new command will be added to the bottom of the list.

3. Right-click the new command. Click rename.

4. In the Rename Command dialog box, enter F1 Cancel Command in the name field.

5. Drag the new command into the Shortcut Keys section.

6. Select the new command from the Shortcut Keys list. Under Properties, in the lower right-hand corner, click the Keys line and click the Small button.

7. In the Shortcut Keys dialog box, click the lower line and press the F1 key. The F1 key should appear on the lower line.

8. Click Assign.

9. Click OK to close each dialog box.

[Sridhar-Autodesk · Accepted solution]

The steps are also documented in the below Technical solution.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Redefini...

And here is the same article but with pictures:
http://beingcivil.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/12/how-to-disable-f1-key.html

Thanks
Sridhar

[cheryl.buck]

Hi @Anonymous,

Did one of the great answers in this thread help you resolve your issue or answer your question? 

If so, please reward the post or posts that worked with a Kudos and please also mark those posts that resolved the issue or answered your question as Accepted Solutions. 

All the best,