Michael’s Corner

Michael Beall 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.

This month…

October - One-derful!!!

It's a God-thing.

I had no idea that 14 years ago I would be given the opportunity to make an impact on the professional lives of so many. Only God knew what was ahead, and hopefully, the contributions I have made through Michael's Corner have equipped many of you to be more productive and a bit more savvy using AutoCAD. And apart from all the AutoCAD bashing that is going on, I'm sure it has a long life ahead.

So, in an effort to keep the AutoCAD fires burning, here's what I have for my final installment…

…A reminder on how to customize your hot keys
…Three Power Tools — one for Zoom, one for editing, and one for Layers
…Two Odd Spots — one for Layers and one for Hatching
…Buried text treasure
…And how to Search 14 years of the Archives

As for what's ahead for me, I will continue to present a variety of AutoCAD sessions — Fundamentals, Intermediate, Customizing, Updates, and 2D & 3D. I will also keep training CAP Designer, 20-20 Worksheet, Visual Impression (those three from 20-20 Technologies, Inc.), and some Revit Fundamentals. Next year I'm looking forward to being very involved in training CET (from Configura, Inc.) when Herman Miller joins the growing number of manufacturers embracing this software that is being touted as the ‘Future of Space Planning’. Personally, I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time with Donna, my lovely bride of 30 years. When this posts, we'll probably be within days of going on our 30th Anniversary vacation to the Tanque Verde Ranch in Tucson; Ee-Hah! We had such a good time when we went for our 20th, we figured we'd do it again!

Ah, and I'm hoping to have The AutoCAD Workbench, Final Edition out before snow flies.

And with that, Mike drop! …so to speak.

The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

This month's articles

Change F1 to ESC

Smoother Zoom

Stretch with Extension

Lock Layers with a Crossing Window

Layer Columns & Hatch Background Color

Text Frame on Mtext

From the Vault

Originally published September 2009

A2010 Ribbon: Contextual Tab State for Dimensions

The Ribbon-based Contextual Tab State feature of AutoCAD 2010 is a great asset and brings yet another Ribbon function to the table of productivity. I am also happy to say that the following procedure works in AutoCAD LT 2010, too!

First things first (and this is what I mentioned last month, too)…

Note: Since the Ribbon is directly associated with a Workspace, if you haven't done so already, I would (highly) recommend you save your current workspace. Then use Workspace SwitchingSave Current As again and make a workspace that is exclusive to this exercise. I'm continuing with the workspace I created last month called Add a Tab & Panel.

Keep in mind the following phrase from the July 2009 introductory coverage on the Ribbon…
"Each tab contains multiple panels, and each panel contains multiple tools."

Instructions to Create a Contextual Tab State for a Dimension

With your Workspace current, open the CUI from the Manage tab of the Ribbon, or just type CUI.
Navigate to Partial Customization FilesCUSTOM, then expand the Ribbon node. [As I have mentioned on more than one occasion, the CUSTOM node is the optimum location for your customized menu components as these will be retained if/when AutoCAD needs to be re-installed or when you upgrade to the next version.]
Although we made our own custom tab last month, a Contextual Tab State is independent of other tabs, be they customized or otherwise.
Under the Ribbon node, right-click on Tabs, then click New Tab and enter a name. In this exercise, I'm naming the tab DimEdits.
Under the Ribbon node, expand Contextual Tab States.
Now here's where it gets just a wee bit counter-intuitive.
Drag your DimEdits tab down into the Contextual Tab States list and release it on Dimension, Rotated selected.

As you might suspect, you can drag your DimEdits Contextual Tab onto any or all of the Dimension-related states.
Click OK to save your changes and close the CUI.
To test your new tab assignment, create a Linear Dimension, then click on it. Your Ribbon should now display a tab reading DimEdits… that has no panels!

Per the Ribbon catch-phrase above, we will now need to add a panel to our DimEdits tab…

Instructions to Add a Panel to the Contextual Tab for Dimensions

Open the CUI, then at the top of the list under ACAD, expand the Ribbon node.
Expand Panels, then right-click on Annotate - Dimensions, then click Copy.
Down under Partial Customization Files, expand Ribbon, then Tabs, then right-click on your DimEdits tab and click Paste to paste the Annotation - Dimensions panel onto your tab.
Click OK to save your changes and close the CUI.
To test the addition of your panel, click on the dimension… and you'll see the Dimensions panel included on your DimEdits tab!