One little trick my father taught me on AutoCAD to speed up my drafting process is that your left hand should always control the keyboard and the right hand your mice. And the left hand must be trained primarily for executing everything in commands and the thumb finger should always be in position for hitting the spacebar, after each command. In this blog, I just wanted to give a quick cheatsheet for all essential commands that might help you in mastering AutoCAD for speed.
Bonus tip at the end of this article.
Essential AutoCAD Commands Cheat Sheet (Easy to Understand)
1. Drawing Basics:
LINE (L): Draw straight lines.
CIRCLE (C): Draw circles by specifying center and radius.
RECTANGLE (REC): Draw rectangles by specifying corner points.
POLYLINE (PL): Draw lines with multiple segments.
ERASE (E): Erase selected objects.
COPY (CO): Copy selected objects.
MOVE (M): Move selected objects to a new location.
2. Object Modification:
TRIM (TR): Trim objects to meet other objects' edges.
EXTEND (EX): Extend objects to specified boundaries.
OFFSET (O): Create parallel lines or offsets from existing objects.
ARRAY (AR): Create multiple copies of objects in a pattern.
MIRROR (MI): Create a mirror image of selected objects.
3. Layers:
LAYER (LA): Manage layers for different drawing elements.
FREEZE (F): Temporarily hide specific layers.
LOCK (L): Prevent editing objects on specific layers.
4. View Manipulation:
ZOOM (Z): Zoom in or out of the drawing area.
PAN (P): Move the drawing view within the viewport.
ORTHO (F8): Constrain drawing to horizontal and vertical lines.
SNAP (F3): Use object snap points for precise drawing.
5. Text & Annotation:
TEXT (T): Add single-line text.
MTEXT (MT): Add multi-line text with formatting options.
DIM (D): Create dimension lines and annotations.
6. File Management:
SAVE (S): Save the current drawing.
OPEN (O): Open an existing drawing file.
CLOSE (C): Close the current drawing.
SAVEAS (SA): Save the drawing with a new name.
Bonus:
UNDO (Ctrl+Z): Undo the last action.
REDO (Ctrl+Y): Redo the last undone action.
HELP (F1): Access AutoCAD help documentation.
Remember: This is a basic list. AutoCAD offers many more advanced commands and features.
Additional Resources:
Autodesk AutoCAD Keyboard Shortcuts: https://www.autodesk.com/shortcuts/autocad
Scan2CAD AutoCAD Commands Cheat Sheet: https://www.scan2cad.com/blog/cad/pdf-cad-converter/
This cheat sheet prioritizes the most common and essential commands for beginners, categorized for easy understanding.
Bonus Tip
Every five seconds, make it a habit of executing the save command (S > Space bar). And if you want to really learn how to SPEED UP your drafting in AutoCAD, get rid of the toolbar and practice everything in commands. Hit F11 to enter full screen and talk, chat, interact with the software through the command bar ONLY.
Hope this helps.
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