Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

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This month…

From the Vault

Originally published June 2005

DesignCenter - Part I

DesignCenter has been a vital part of AutoCAD since A2000 and, unfortunately, enjoys relative anonymity among users. I'll introduce it here and show you a few additional features next time.

What Does It Do?

Using an interface similar to Windows Explorer, DesignCenter lets you navigate to any accessible drawing where you can view - and select - that drawing's named objects: Blocks, Dimstyles, Layers, Layouts, Linetypes, Tablestyles (A2005), Textstyles, and Xrefs.

How Do I Get a Drawing Into DesignCenter?

Your drawings are 'in' DesignCenter by default. DesignCenter is essentially an enhanced Windows Explorer for AutoCAD drawings.

How Do I Use It?

One way to effectively use DesignCenter is to access your favorite Dimension Style or Text Style for use in a drawing you just received from someone else.

Sidebar: A Template is what you need to begin a new drawing with your desired units, layers, linetypes, etc. loaded and ready to go. Please note that DesignCenter only displays .DWG files, not .DWT files. Therefore, begin a new drawing using your template, then save it as Master.dwg so it will be accessible in DesignCenter.

If you have a Master drawing containing your favorite named objects, use this method to copy the necessary elements into the current drawing.

Instructions to Copy a Dimension Style from Another Drawing

1. Open the drawing in which you need to use your favorite dimension.
2. Click the DesignCenter button on the Standard toolbar or use CTRL+2.
3. Navigate to your "Master" drawing or any drawing containing a Dimension Style you would like to use.
4. Expand the .DWG to display the list of named objects, then click on Dimstyles.
5. From the list on the right side of DesignCenter, you can either double-click the one you want, or simply drag it into the drawing.

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