The Hitchhiker's Guide to AutoCAD Electrical Basics

This guide is a great place to get started with AutoCAD Electrical. As you can see from the illustration, the features are grouped together according to types of activity. In addition, these groups are arranged sequentially to follow a general workflow.

Basics Projects Drawings Schematic Components Schematic Terminals Wires and Wire Numbers Cross-Referencing Modifying Panel Layouts Reports Print

After you finish this guide, you can access the linked Help commands in each topic for more information, or you can return to the guide later to review specific topics. Also, try to find someone who will be able to answer your occasional questions. The product discussion groups (http://forums.autodesk.com/) and Autodesk blogs (http://blogs.autodesk.com/) are good resources.

  1. Basics
    Review the basics for working in AutoCAD Electrical.
  2. Projects
    Create and open projects, and manage project settings.
  3. Drawings
    Create drawings, add drawings to a project, and manage the drawing settings.
  4. Schematic Components
    Insert schematic components, generate PLC modules, insert and copy circuits.
  5. Schematic Terminals
    Insert single and multi-level terminals.
  6. Wires and Wire Numbers
    Insert wires, wire numbers, and signal arrows.
  7. Cross-Referencing
    Select a cross-reference format and add cross-referencing to your drawings.
  8. Modify
    Modify your drawings while maintaining the intelligence needed by AutoCAD Electrical.
  9. Panel Layouts
    Insert panel symbols from a list of schematic components or the panel icon menu. Add nameplates, item numbers, and balloons. Manage terminal strips with Terminal Strip Editor.
  10. Reports
    Generate and format reports. Output a report to a file or insert it as a table object on your drawing.
  11. Print
    Output your project to a printer or to a PDF file containing hyperlinks.