New AutoCAD Commands and System Variables Reference

Provides a quick guide to which commands are new in this release.

2019 New Commands and System Variables

New commands Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
COMPARE Compares and highlights the differences between two revisions of the same drawing or different drawings. X X
-COMPARE Using the Command window, compares and highlights the differences between two revisions of the same drawing or different drawings. X X
COMPAREINFO Allows you to insert or copy the property information about the two compared drawing files. X X
OPENFROMWEBMOBILE Opens a drawing file from your online Autodesk Web & Mobile Account. X X
SAVETOWEBMOBILE Saves a copy of the current drawing to your online Autodesk Web & Mobile Account. X X
SHAREDVIEWS Opens the Shared Views palette. X X
SHAREDVIEWSCLOSE Closes the Shared Views palette. X X
SHAREVIEW Creates a representation of the current space or the entire drawing for online viewing and sharing. X X
-SHAREVIEW Using the Command window, creates a representation of the current space or the entire drawing for online viewing and sharing. X X
New system variables Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
COMPARECOLOR1 Sets the color of the objects that only exists in the first drawing in the resultant compared drawing file. X X
COMPARECOLOR2 Sets the color of the objects that only exists in the second drawing in the resultant compared drawing file. X X
COMPARECOLORCOMMON Sets the color of the objects that are identical in the two drawings being compared. X X
COMPAREFRONT Controls the default display order of overlapping objects in the compare result drawing. X X
COMPAREHATCH Controls whether hatch objects are included in the drawing comparison. X X
COMPAREPROPS Controls whether a change in a non-geometric (display) property is identified as a change between two drawings revisions. X X
COMPARERCMARGIN Specifies the offset distance from the bounding box of a revision cloud that contains the object differences in the compare result drawing. X X
COMPARERCSHAPE Controls whether individual changes are merged as a single large rectangle or a series of smaller rectangle in the compare result drawing. X X
COMPARESHOW1 Displays the objects that exists only in the first drawing. X X
COMPARESHOW2 Displays the objects that exists only in the second drawing. X X
COMPARESHOWCOMMON Displays the objects that are identical in both the drawings that are being compared. X X
COMPARESHOWRC Shows a revision cloud around the difference in the compare result drawing. X X
COMPARETEXT Controls whether text objects are included in the drawing comparison. X X
COMPARETOLERANCE Specifies the tolerance used when comparing two drawing files-entities are considered identical if they are below or equal to a specified decimal point value. X X
FILLETPOLYARC Determines the fillet behavior for polylines that include arcs, either current or legacy. Affects only the Polyline option of the FILLET command. X X
MVIEWPREVIEW Controls the preview behavior when inserting a named or new layout viewport. X X
SECUREREMOTEACCESS Controls whether files are restricted from being accessed from internet locations or from remote servers. X X
SHAREVIEWPROPERTIES Controls whether drawing properties are included with shared views. X X
SHAREVIEWTYPE Controls whether a shared view is created from the current view, model space or a layout, or created from the entire drawing. X X
STUDENTDRAWING Reports whether the current drawing was saved with an Autodesk Student Version product. X X

2018.1 New Commands and System Variables

New commands Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
NEWVIEW Saves a new, named view from what's displayed in the current viewport, or by defining a rectangular window. (Added to AutoCAD LT) X X
New system variables Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
LAYEROVERRIDEHIGHLIGHT Toggles the visibility of the background color highlighting for layers that have overrides. X X
THUMBSIZE2D Controls whether thumbnail previews of drawings using the 2D Wireframe visual style are set to a display resolution of 256 x 256 pixels. X X
VISRETAINMODE Controls the behavior of the VISRETAIN system variable when it's set to 1. X X
XREFLAYER Specifies a default layer for a new xref. X X

2018 New Commands and System Variables

New commands Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
APPSTORE Opens the Autodesk App Store website. Command was previously named EXCHANGE. X
New system variables Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
PDFSHX Converts the SHX geometry imported from PDF files into individual multiline text objects.
Note: Renamed from EPDFSHX for consistency.
X X
MILLISECS Stores the number of milliseconds that have elapsed since the system was started.
Note: Use this system variable when you need to calculate time differences in fractions of a second.
X X
PDFSHXBESTFONT When converting imported PDF geometry to text, controls whether the PDFSHXTEXT command uses the best matching font or uses the first selected font that exceeds the recognition threshold. X X
REFPATHTYPE Controls whether reference files are attached using full, relative or no path when first attached to a host drawing file. X X
SELECTIONOFFSCREEN Controls the selection of objects that are off-screen. X X
XREFLAYER Specifies a default layer for a new xref. X X
XREFREGAPPCTL Controls whether the registered application (RegApp) records stored in an xref being loaded are copied to the host drawing. X

2017.1 New Commands and System Variables

New commands Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
HIGHLIGHTNEW Controls whether new features in product updates are highlighted in the user interface with an orange dot. X X

ONLINEDESIGNSHARE

Publishes design views of the current drawing to a secure, anonymous Autodesk A360 location for viewing and sharing in a web browser. X X
PDFSHXTEXT Converts the SHX geometry imported from PDF files into individual multiline text objects. X X
-PDFSHXTEXT Converts the SHX geometry imported from PDF files into individual multiline text objects from the command line. X X
REGEN3 Regenerates the views in a drawing to repair anomalies in the display of 3D solids and surfaces. X
TXT2MTXT Converts or combines single-line or multiline text objects into one or more multiline text objects. X X
New system variables Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
EPDFSHX Controls whether text objects using SHX fonts are stored in PDF files as comments when you export a drawing as a PDF file.
Note: Renamed to PDFSHX for consistency.
X X
PDFSHXLAYER Controls what layer is assigned to newly created text objects when converting SHX geometry to text objects. X X
PDFSHXTHRESHOLD Sets the percentage of the selected geometry that must match a font before the geometry is converted to text objects. X X
SHOWNEWSTATE Indicates whether highlighting new features in updates is active. X X

2017 New Commands and System Variables

New commands Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
3DPRINTSERVICE Sends a 3D model to a 3D printing service. X
CENTERDISASSOCIATE Removes associativity of center marks or centerlines from objects they define. X X
CENTERLINE Creates centerline geometry associated with selected lines and polylines. X X
CENTERMARK Creates an associative, cross-shaped mark at the center of a selected circle or arc. X X
CENTERREASSOCIATE Associates or reassociates a center mark or centerline object to selected objects. X X
CENTERRESET Resets the centerlines to the current value specified in the CENTEREXE system variable. X X
PDFIMPORT Imports the geometry, fills, raster images, and TrueType text objects from a specified PDF file. X X
-PDFIMPORT Imports the geometry, fills, raster images, and TrueType text objects from a specified PDF file. X X
New system variables Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
CENTERCROSSGAP Determines the gap between the center mark and its centerlines. X X
CENTERCROSSSIZE Determines the size of the associative center mark. X X
CENTEREXE Controls the length of the centerline extensions. X X
CENTERLAYER Specifies a default layer for new center marks or centerlines. X X
CENTERLTSCALE Sets the linetype scale used by center marks and centerlines. X X
CENTERLTYPE Specifies the linetype used by center marks and centerlines. X X
CENTERLTYPEFILE Specifies the loaded linetype library file used to create center marks and centerlines. X X
CENTERMARKEXE Determines whether centerlines extend automatically from new center marks. X X
CURSORTYPE Determines the cursor type of your pointing device. X X
LTGAPSELECTION Controls whether you can select or snap to the gaps on objects defined with non-continuous linetype. X X
PDFIMPORTFILTER Controls what types of data is imported from the PDF file and converted to AutoCAD objects. X X
PDFIMPORTIMAGEPATH Specifies the folder where referenced image files are extracted and saved when importing PDF files. X X
PDFIMPORTLAYERS Controls what layers are assigned to objects imported from PDF files. X X
PDFIMPORTMODE Controls the default processing when importing objects from a PDF file. X X
PDFSHX Controls whether text objects using SHX fonts are stored in PDF files as comments when you export a drawing as a PDF file. Renamed from EPDFSHX for consistency. X X
PDFSHXLAYER Controls what layer is assigned to newly created text objects when converting SHX geometry to text objects. X X
PDFSHXTHRESHOLD Sets the percentage of the selected geometry that must match a font before the geometry is converted to text objects. X X
PLINEGCENMAX Sets the maximum number of segments that a polyline can have for the application to calculate the geometric center. X X
SHOWNEWSTATE Indicates whether highlighting new features in updates is active. X X
TEXTEDITMODE Controls whether the TEXTEDIT command repeats automatically. X X

2016 New Commands and System Variables

New commands Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
CLOSEALLOTHER Closes all other open drawings, except the current active drawing. X X
CMATTACH

COORDINATIONMODELATTACH

Inserts references to coordination models such as NWD and NWC Navisworks files. X  
DIGITALSIGN Provides a separate command to add a digital signature to a drawing. Removes the Digital Signature tab from the SECURITYOPTIONS command. X X
GOTOSTART Switches from the current drawing to the Start tab. The Start tab is a successor to the New tab and has a different behavior. X X
PCEXTRACTCENTERLINE Draws a centerline for a cylindrical segment of a point cloud. X  
PCEXTRACTCORNER Marks the point of the intersection between three detected planes in a point cloud. X  
PCEXTRACTEDGE Infers the edge between two planes and draws a line to mark the edge. X  
PCEXTRACTSECTION Generates 2D geometry from a point cloud that contains section objects. X  
POINTCLOUDCROPSTATE Controls saving, restoring, and deleting point cloud crop states. X  
RENDERENVIRONMENTCLOSE Closes the Render Environment & Exposure palette. X  
RENDEREXPOSURECLOSE Closes the Render Environment & Exposure palette. X  
RENDERWINDOW Displays the Render window. Replaces the RENDERWIN command. X  
RENDERWINDOWCLOSE Closes the Render window. X  
SCRIPTCALL Executes a sequence of commands the same as the SCRIPT command, with the additional capability of also executing nested scripts. X X
SECTIONSPINNERS Sets the default increment value for the Section Offset and Slice Thickness controls in the Section Plane Contextual Ribbon tab. X  
SYSVARMONITOR Displays the System Variable Monitor dialog box. X X
New system variables Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
CMFADECOLOR Controls the amount of black blended on all attached coordination models. X  
CMFADEOPACITY Controls the amount of dimming through transparency for all attached coordination models. X  
CMOSNAP Determines whether object snapping is active for geometry in coordination models that are attached to the drawing. X  
DIMLAYER Specifies a default layer for new dimensions. X X
DIMPICKBOX Sets the object selection target height, in pixels within the DIM command. X X
DIMTXTRULER Controls the display of ruler when editing a dimension text. X X
EXPVALUE Specifies the exposure value to apply during rendering. X  
EXPWHITEBALANCE Specifies the Kelvin color temperature (white balance) value to apply during rendering. X  
GALLERYVIEW Controls the type of preview in the ribbon drop-down galleries. X X
IBLENVIRONMENT Enables image-based lighting and specifies the current image map. X  
LEGACYCODESEARCH Controls whether searching for executable files includes the current and drawing folders. X  
LINEFADING Controls whether line displays are faded when hardware acceleration is on and you have exceeded the line density limits. X X
LINEFADINGLEVEL When hardware acceleration is on, controls the intensity of the line fading effect. X X
POINTCLOUD2DVSDISPLAY Turns off or on the bounding box and text message when viewing a point cloud in the 2D Wireframe visual style. X  
RENDERENVSTATE Indicates whether the Render Environment & Exposure palette is open or closed. X  
RENDERLEVEL Specifies the number of iterations, or levels, the render engine performs to create the rendered image. X  
RENDERLIGHTCALC Controls the rendering accuracy of lights and materials. X  
RENDERTARGET Controls the duration to use for rendering. X  
RENDERTIME Specifies the number of minutes that the render engine uses to iteratively refine a rendered image. X  
REVCLOUDCREATEMODE Specifies the default input for creating revision clouds. X X
REVCLOUDGRIPS Controls the number of grips displayed on a revision cloud. X X
SECTIONOFFSETINC Sets the default increment value for the section object slice thickness control. X  
SECTIONTHICKNESSINC Sets the default increment value for section object offset control. X  
SELECTIONEFFECTCOLOR Sets the color of the glowing highlighting effect on object selection. X X
STARTINFOLDER Stores the drive and folder path from where the product was started. X X
STARTMODE Controls whether the Start tab is displayed. X X
SYSMON Specifies whether changes to system variables values are monitored. X X
WORKINGFOLDER Stores the drive and folder path of the operating system's working folder or current directory for the process, which can be of interest to developers. X X
XREFOVERRIDE Controls the display of object properties on referenced layers. X X

2015 New Commands and System Variables

New commands Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
GEOMAPIMAGE Captures a portion of the online map to an object known as a map image, and embeds it in the drawing area. X X
GEOMAPIMAGEUPDATE Reloads map images from the online maps service and optionally resets their resolution for optimal on-screen viewing. X X
ISODRAFT Turns isometric drafting on or off along with all related settings, and specifies the current 2D isometric drafting plane. X X
NEWTAB Obsolete. Displays a New Tab which allows direct access to files, learning resources, Autodesk A360 and more. X X
ONLINEAUTOCAD360 Obsolete. Launches AutoCAD 360 in your default browser. X X
PMTOGGLE Controls whether the Performance Recorder is turned on or off. The Performance Feedback tool can be used to record performance issues for analysis by Autodesk. X  
POINTCLOUDCOLORMAP Displays the Point Cloud Color Map dialog box, used to define settings for Intensity, Elevation, and Classification point cloud stylizations. X  
POINTCLOUDCROP Crops a selected point cloud to a specified polygonal, rectangular, or circular boundary. X  
POINTCLOUDMANAGER Displays the Point Cloud Manager palette, used to control display of point cloud projects, regions, and scans. X  
POINTCLOUDMANAGERCLOSE Closes the Point Cloud Manager. X  
POINTCLOUDSTYLIZE Controls the coloration of point clouds. X  
POINTCLOUDUNCROP Permanently removes all cropped areas from selected point clouds. X  
PTYPE Specifies the display style and size of point objects. X X
RECAP Launches Autodesk ReCap from within AutoCAD. X
TEXTALIGN Aligns multiple text objects vertically, horizontally, or obliquely. X X
New system variables Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
COLORTHEME Sets the color theme of the ribbon, palettes, and several other interface elements to dark or light. X X
COMMANDPREVIEW Controls whether a preview of the possible outcome of the command is displayed. X X
COMPLEXLTPREVIEW Controls whether a preview of the complex linetype is displayed during interactive operations. X X
CURSORBADGE Determines whether the cursor badge are displayed in the drawing area. X X
HIGHLIGHTSMOOTHING Controls the anti-aliasing effect on object highlighting. X X
HPLINETYPE Controls how non-continuous linetypes are displayed in hatch patterns. X X
LAYOUTTAB Controls whether Model and Layout tabs are displayed or not. X X
MTEXTAUTOSTACK Controls autostacking for the MTEXT command. X X
MTEXTDETECTSPACE Controls whether the keyboard spacebar is used to create list items in the MTEXT command. X X
NEWTABMODE Obsolete. Specifies whether clicking the plus sign (+) on the file tab bar displays the New Tab or opens a new drawing. X X
ORBITAUTOTARGET Controls how the target point is acquired for the 3DORBIT command. X  
OSNAPOVERRIDE Determines whether the object snap settings in the OSNAP dialog are enforced. X X
PCMSTATE Indicates whether the Point Cloud Manager is open or closed. X  
POINTCLOUDLIGHTING Controls the way lighting effects are displayed for a point cloud. X X
POINTCLOUDLIGHTSOURCE Determines the light source for point clouds when lighting is turned on. X X
POINTCLOUDLOD Sets the level of density of point display for point clouds. X X
POINTCLOUDPOINTMAXLEGACY Applies only to legacy (pre-2015) point clouds. Sets the maximum number of points that can be displayed for all legacy point clouds attached to the drawing. X X
POINTCLOUDPOINTSIZE Controls the size of the points for new point cloud objects. X X
POINTCLOUDSHADING Specifies whether the brightness of the points in the point cloud are diffuse or specular. X X
POINTCLOUDVISRETAIN Controls whether a legacy drawing (created in AutoCAD 2014) retains the on or off status of individual scans (RCS files) and regions referenced by an attached point cloud project (RCP file). X X
SELECTIONEFFECT Specifies the visual effect used when objects are selected. X X
SORTORDER Specifies whether the layer list is ordered using a natural sort order or ASCII values. X X
TEXTALIGNMODE Stores the alignment option for aligned text. X X
TEXTALIGNSPACING Stores the spacing option for aligned text. X X
TEXTALLCAPS Converts all new text created by TEXT or MTEXT commands to uppercase. X
TEXTAUTOCORRECTCAPS Corrects common text errors that result from accidentally leaving the Caps Lock turned on. X

2014 New Commands and System Variables

New commands Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
DESIGNFEEDCLOSE Obsolete. Closes the Design Feed palette. X X
DESIGNFEEDOPEN Obsolete. Opens the Design Feed palette. X X
FILETAB Displays the File tabs at the top of the drawing area. X X
FILETABCLOSE Hides the File tabs at the top of the drawing area. X X
GEOLOCATEME Displays or hides an indicator that shows your current position. X X
GEOMAP Displays a map from an online maps service, in the current viewport. X X
GEOMARKLATLONG Places a position marker at a location defined by a latitude and longitude. X X
GEOMARKME Places a position marker in model space at the spot corresponding to your current position. X X
GEOMARKPOINT Places a position marker at a specified point in model space. X X
GEOMARKPOSITION Places a position marker at a location you specify. X X
GEOREMOVE Removes all geographic location information from the drawing file. X X
GEOREORIENTMARKER Modifies the orientation and position of the geographic marker without changing its latitude and longitude properties. X X
INPUTSEARCHOPTIONS Controls settings for working with AutoComplete and AutoCorrect suggestions on the command line. X X
ONLINEOPENFOLDER Obsolete. Opens your local Autodesk A360 folder in Windows Explorer. X X
WEBLOAD Loads a JavaScript file from a URL, and then executes the JavaScript code contained in the file. X  
New system variables Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
CGEOCS Stores the name of the GIS coordinate system assigned to the drawing file. X X
CLAYOUT Sets the current layout. X X
DESIGNFEEDSTATE Obsolete. Indicates whether the Design Feed palette is open or closed. X X
DIMCONTINUEMODE Determines whether the style of a continued dimension is based on the dimension that is being continued or on the current dimension style. X X
FILETABPREVIEW Controls the type of preview, list view or thumbnail view, when you hover over a file tab. X X
FILETABSTATE Indicates the display status of the file tabs at the top of the drawing area. X X
FILETABTHUMBHOVER Specifies whether the corresponding model or layout loads in the drawing window when you hover over a file tab thumbnail. X X
GEOMARKPOSITIONSIZE Specifies the scale factor to use for point objects and multiline text objects when creating position markers. X X
HPPICKMODE Sets whether the default method for identifying what to hatch is to select a point or to select an object. X X
INPUTSEARCHDELAY Sets the number of milliseconds to delay before the command line suggestion list is displayed. X X
POINTCLOUDCACHESIZE Specifies amount of memory the reserved to display for point clouds. X X
POINTCLOUDVISRETAIN Controls whether the drawing retains the on or off status of point cloud scan files that are referenced by an attached RCP file. X  
SAFEMODE Indicates whether executable code can be loaded and executed in the current AutoCAD session. X  
SECURELOAD Controls whether AutoCAD loads executable files based on their location. X  
TEXTJUSTIFY Displays the default justification used by the TEXT command to create single-line text. X X
TOUCHMODE For those using a touch-enabled screen or interface, controls the display of the Touch panel on the ribbon. X X
TRUSTEDDOMAINS Controls the domain names or URLs from which AutoCAD can run JavaScript code. X  
TRUSTEDPATHS Controls the folders from where AutoCAD can load and execute files that contain executable code. X  

2013 New Commands and System Variables

New commands Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
ARRAYCLASSIC Displays the legacy Array dialog box. X X
ONLINECOLNOW Obsolete. Starts an online session with AutoCAD WS, in which people that you invite can simultaneously view and edit your current drawing. X X
ONLINEDOCS Obsolete. Opens your Autodesk A360 documents list and folders in a browser. X X
ONLINEOPTIONS Obsolete. Opens the Online tab of the Options dialog box. X X
ONLINESHARE Obsolete. Designates who can access the current document from Autodesk A360. X X
ONLINESYNC Obsolete. Starts or stops syncing your custom settings with Autodesk A360. X X
ONLINESYNCSETTINGS Obsolete. Displays the Choose Which Settings Are Synced dialog box where you can specify selected settings to be synced. X X
OPENFROMCLOUD Obsolete. Opens an existing drawing file from your local Autodesk A360 sync folder. X X
POINTCLOUDCLIP Obsolete. Crops the display of a selected point cloud to specified boundaries. X  
POINTCLOUDINTENSITYEDIT Obsolete. Opens the Point Cloud Intensity Color Mapping dialog box that specifies intensity color mapping for eligible point clouds. X  
SAVETOCLOUD Obsolete. Saves an existing drawing file to your local Autodesk A360 sync folder under a new file name. X X
SURFEXTRACTCURVE Extracts isolines curves from a surface. X  
VIEWCOMPONENT Selects drawing view components for editing. X  
VIEWDETAIL Supports the creation of detail views by selecting an existing drawing view X  
VIEWSECTION Supports the creation of section views by selecting a drawing view to cut. X  
VIEWDETAILSTYLE Supports the creation or modification of detail view styles. X  
VIEWSECTIONSTYLE Supports the creation and editing of section view styles. X  
VIEWSYMBOLSKETCH Activates model space for a view and enters a “view sketching” state to edit and constrain a section line or detail boundary X  
VIEWSKETCHCLOSE Exits a “view sketching” state and makes paper space current. X  
New system variables Description AutoCAD AutoCAD LT
ANNOMONITOR Turns the annotation monitor on and off. X X
ARRAYASSOCIATIVITY Sets the default behavior of new arrays to be associative or non-associative. X X
CACHEMAXFILES Sets the maximum number of graphics cache files saved in the local configured temporary folder for the product. X X
CACHEMAXTOTALSIZE Sets the maximum total size of all graphics cache files saved in the local configured temporary folder for the product. X X
CLIPROMPTLINES Sets the number of lines displayed in the temporary prompt history when an undocked command window is set to display just the prompt line. X X
CLIPROMPTUPDATE Controls whether the command line displays the messages and prompts generated while an AutoLISP or script file is being executed. X X
ONLINEDOCMODE Obsolete. Indicates whether a copies of your drawings and linked files are uploaded automatically to Autodesk A360. X X
ONLINESYNCTIME Obsolete. Controls the time interval for synchronizing current customization settings with a local cache, which is then stored in Autodesk A360. X X
PLINEREVERSEWIDTHS Controls the appearance of a polyline when it is reversed. X X
POINTCLOUDBOUNDARY Turns the display of a point cloud bounding box on and off. X X
POINTCLOUDCLIPFRAME Controls whether clipping boundaries on legacy point clouds are visible on screen and in printouts. X X
POINTCLOUDPOINTMAX Sets the maximum number of point cloud points that can exist in a drawing. X  
PROPERTYPREVIEW Controls whether you can preview the changes to currently selected objects when you roll over drop-down lists and galleries that control properties. X X
PROPPREVTIMEOUT Sets the maximum number of seconds for a property preview to display before the preview is automatically cancelled. X  
SELECTIONPREVIEWLIMIT Limits the number of objects that can display preview highlighting during a window or crossing selection. X X
SNAPGRIDLEGACY Specifies whether the grid snap is active only when specifying a point, or also during object selection. X  
THUMBSAVE Controls whether BMP preview images are saved with the drawing. X X
VIEWSKETCHMODE Turns the view sketching state on or off. X  
VIEWUPDATEAUTO Specifies whether Model Documentation views are updated automatically when changes are pending. X  
WIPEOUTFRAME Controls the display of frames for wipeout objects. X X