Productivity: work faster in AutoCAD

One hand on the mouse, one on the keyboard: L line, O offset, TR trim, CO copy, M move, F fillet, E erase, MA match properties. Space repeats the last command. Custom aliases live in the acad.pgp file — edit with ALIASEDIT (Express Tools) or open the file directly, then REINIT.

Right-click behaviour can be set so a quick right-click means Enter (Options › User Preferences › Right-click Customization).

• Select Similar and Quick Select for bulk changes.

• Fence (F at Select objects) selects everything a line crosses — great for trimming many lines.

• Previous (P) reuses the last selection.

• Isolate objects (right-click › Isolate) hides everything else while you work.

• Lasso: press-drag to select an irregular area.

AR (ARRAY) creates associative rectangular, polar and path arrays you can edit later — rows of parking bays, columns on a grid, balusters along a stair.

Tool Palettes (Ctrl+3) hold blocks, hatches and commands with preset layers and scales; drag a block from a palette and it lands on the right layer.

Ctrl+Shift+C copies with a base point; Ctrl+Shift+V pastes as a block; Paste to Original Coordinates moves objects between drawings in the same place.

• Scripts (.scr): plain text files of commands, run with SCRIPT, for repetitive jobs like purging and plotting many drawings.

• Action Recorder: records a sequence and replays it (full AutoCAD).

• AutoLISP: a programming language for custom commands. Full AutoCAD has long supported it, and recent AutoCAD LT versions have added it — check your version's feature list.

• Express Tools: a bonus set of utilities in full AutoCAD, like text alignment and advanced selection.

Automate a task when you do it often and the steps are the same every time; otherwise, good habits are enough.