Drawing templates
A template is a blank drawing with all your settings ready — units, layers, styles and sheets. Build one once and every new drawing starts consistent.
In this lesson you will
- Decide what belongs in a template
- Save a DWT and set it as the default
- Import standards from existing drawings
- Keep templates maintained
What goes in a template
- Units and insertion scale.
- Layers with colours, linetypes and lineweights.
- Text, dimension, multileader and table styles — annotative.
- A useful annotation scale list (
SCALELISTEDIT).
- Layouts with your title block and page setups for PDF and your printers.
- Common blocks (north arrow, section markers) if you like — or keep them in a library.
Leave out project content: the template should be empty model space.
Creating and saving
- 1Start a new drawing from
acadiso.dwt(metric) oracad.dwt(imperial). - 2Set up everything in the list above.
- 3
PURGEunused items. - 4Save As › File type AutoCAD Drawing Template (.dwt)*; give it a clear name like
KW-Architectural-A3.dwtand a description.
Using it by default
In Options › Files › Template Settings, set Default Template File Name for QNEW to your DWT. The New button (QNEW) then starts from it without asking. Teams store templates in a shared, read-only folder.
Borrowing from existing drawings
DesignCenter (ADC, full AutoCAD) and the Blocks/Layers palettes let you drag layers, styles and blocks from one drawing into another. LAYTRANS maps nonstandard layer names to your standard — useful when cleaning up received drawings.
Quick reference
| Command / tool | How to start it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| QNEW | Ctrl+N / New | New drawing from the default template |
| PURGE | PU | Removes unused items |
| ADCENTER | ADC | DesignCenter (full AutoCAD) |
| LAYTRANS | Type the name | Translates layers to a standard |
Common mistakes
Template contains old project geometry.
Delete model-space content and purge before saving as DWT.
Everyone's templates differ.
Keep one master template in a shared folder and version it.
Exercise
Your own template
- Start from acadiso.dwt.
- Add the layers from the Layers lesson and the styles from the Dimensions, Text and Annotation lessons.
- Add an A3 layout with a simple title block and a PDF page setup.
- Purge and save as
KW-Architectural-A3.dwt. - Set it as your QNEW default and start a new drawing.
You should end up with: New drawings that start fully set up.
Checklist
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Lesson quiz
What file type is a template?
Finished this lesson?
Taking the quiz marks it complete too. Your course page picks up where you stopped.
Free KitWren tools that help
- Area ConverterConvert square metres, square feet, acres, hectares and more.
- Length ConverterConvert between metres, centimetres, millimetres, kilometres, inches, feet, yards and miles.
- Angle ConverterConvert degrees, radians, gradians, arcminutes and turns.
- Merge PDFCombine multiple PDFs into one file, in any order, choosing which pages to include from each.
- PDF CompressorReduce PDF file size by recompressing images while keeping text sharp — free, private and in your browser.
- PDF to PNGConvert PDF pages to sharp, lossless PNG images.
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