ellen finkelstein logo

Ellen Finkelstein.com
AutoCAD PowerPoint About Links
       

Over 165 AutoCAD tips and tutorials!

AutoCAD Tips
AutoCAD Tips Blog

Get a free dynamic block tutorial and free AutoCAD tips!

AutoCAD 2010 course
AutoCAD training video

Buy a Book

E-mail This Page 
to a Friend

Submit a tip! If you include your name and I post your tip, I'll give you credit.

AutoCAD Tips & Tutorials

All the ways to open a drawing

There are lots of ways to open a drawing and sometimes you may not think of the quickest way right away. Here's my list:

  1. The OPEN command. This is the obvious one, of course. Click the Open button on the Standard toolbar. (In 2009, click Open on the Quick Start toolbar.) Or type open on the command line.
  2. From the DesignCenter. Press Ctrl+2 to open the DesignCenter. In the left, navigation pane, navigate to the folder containing the drawing and select it. Then find the drawing in the Content pane on the right, right-click it, and choose Open in Application Window.
  3. From the Sheet Set Manager. With a sheet set open in the Sheet Set Manager, on the Sheet List tab, double-click the name of the drawing (or right-click and choose Open).
  4. Double-click it in Windows Explorer. As with any Windows file, you can double-click it in Windows Explorer to open it in AutoCAD. If AutoCAD isn't open, Windows will start it for you.
  5. Drag from Windows Explorer to the command line window. This is a little-known tip. Drag a file from Windows Explorer to the command line window. If you drag to the drawing area instead, you insert the file as a block.
  6. From a script. Just use OPEN in your script, add a space, and enter the name of the file. (See Tutorial: Automate tasks with a script file for instructions on creating a script.) Be sure to use the entire path if it isn't in the support file search path. Enclose the file name (and path, if any) in quotation marks if there are spaces in the name. For example:

open "c:\drawings\3a 297.dwg"

  1. Tannar Frampton contributed another way to open a drawing. He says, "You can open drawings via the XREF Manager by right-clicking and selecting 'Open.' This way, you do not have to search for the file."

Related tips

Open to a named view

Organize files in Windows to mimic the Today file listing

 

More Tips

101 Tips

Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape

+
Books by Ellen

AutoCAd 2010 Bible

AutoCAD 2010 & AutoCAD LT 2010 Bible
10th Edition!

Learn about the new surfaces, hatch features, and more!

 

New!
AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD LT 2009 Bible

This is the 9th edition of this book! Completely updated to conform to the new interface and, of course, it covers all the new features, such as the ribbon, Quick View, ShowMotion, the View Cube, the SteeringWheel, and more.

AutoCAD 2008 and AutoCAD LT 2008 Bible
Learn the great new features with wide application to all disciplines. Get the most comprehensive book on AutoCAD! DVD contains a 30-day trial of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT. Thorough exercises guide you through each feature.

AutoCAD 2007 and AutoCAD LT 2007 Bible 
Discover the 2007 features, especially the radically improved 3D tools. CD has AutoCAD 30-day trial, 3rd-party software, and drawings for exercises.

                                  Home  |  AutoCAD  |  PowerPoint  | E-StoreAbout  | Links | Contact | Site Map
Copyright Ellen Finkelstein, Inc.