The Hitchhiker's Guide to AutoCAD

If you're new to AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, this guide introduces you to the essential commands that you need to create 2D drawings. It's also a great place to refresh your memory if you just completed your initial training or if you use AutoCAD only occasionally.

Review the basic AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT controls. Pan and zoom to different views in a drawing. View and edit your drawings from remote locations. Create basic geometric objects such as lines, circles, and hatched areas. Ensure the precision required for your models. Organize your drawing by assigning objects to layers. You can assign properties such as color and linetype to individual objects, or as default properties assigned to layers. Perform operations such as erase, move, and trim on the objects in a drawing. Insert symbols and details into your drawings from commercial online sources or from your own designs. Display one or more scaled views of your design on a standard-size drawing sheet called a layout. Create notes, labels, bubbles, and callouts. Save and restore style settings by name. Create several types of dimensions and save dimension settings by name. Output a drawing layout to a printer, a plotter, or a file. Save and restore the printer settings for each layout.

  1. Basics
    Review the basic AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT controls.
  2. View
    Pan and zoom to different views in a drawing. View and edit your drawings from remote locations.
  3. Geometry
    Create basic geometric objects such as lines, circles, and hatched areas.
  4. Precision
    Ensure the precision required for your models.
  5. Layers
    Organize your drawing by assigning objects to layers.
  6. Properties
    You can assign properties such as color and linetype to individual objects, or as default properties assigned to layers.
  7. Modify
    Perform operations such as erase, move, and trim on the objects in a drawing.
  8. Symbols
    Insert symbols and details into your drawings from commercial online sources or from your own designs.
  9. Layout
    Display one or more scaled views of your design on a standard-size drawing sheet called a layout.
  10. Annotate
    Create notes, labels, bubbles, and callouts. Save and restore style settings by name.
  11. Dimension
    Create several types of dimensions and save dimension settings by name.
  12. Print
    Output a drawing layout to a printer, a plotter, or a file. Save and restore the printer settings for each layout.