If you are an engineer or you are just starting to pursue your engineering degree, you must know about AutoCAD. It is in the computer-aided drafting software program. This software gives a variety of solutions. From designing computer chips to building bridges. This software provides all the solutions. You can create 2D and 3D designs for architecture, construction, and manufacturing. The full form of AutoCAD is “Automatic Computer-Aided Design”. The files in this software have the extension of .dwg. AutoCAD is also called a drafting application. Professionals that work on this software are called drafters. This application was developed and marketed by Autodesk in 1982. In 2010 a new version of AutoCAD has released named AutoCAD 360.

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History of AutoCAD

AutoCAD was released in 1977 under the name Interact CAD. Earlier Autodesk documents were used to refer to as MicroSD. Autodesk released its first version in 1982. Till now 33 versions are released for Windows operating system.

System Requirements for AutoCAD

AutoCAD is a heavy application it handles multiple things like 2D and 3D designing for architecture, civil engineering, manufacturing, and computers. The computer system must run smoothly. To run AutoCAD you would also require multi-tasking that’s why you need a high-end computer system. With such a system you can do all the tasks without any obstruction. MacBook Pro 15-inch with Touch Bar, Razer Blade, HP ZBook 17 G3, HP ZBook Studio G3, HP Spectre Pro 13 G1, Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga, Lenovo ThinkPad P70, and MSI WT72 6QK are some of the high-end systems.

How to learn AutoCAD

There are a lot of employment opportunities available if you have a thorough knowledge of AutoCAD software. You can learn the basics of this software from Youtube. For better learning, you must join some professional institute. You can get a required certification that is essential for further employment. You can find some of the courses as-

Introductory AutoCAD Course
Intermediate AutoCAD Course
Advanced AutoCAD Course
Graphic Designing in AutoCAD

Some Of The Most Favorite Topics Of Engineers Of AutoCAD

3D sketches and Boolean operations, 3D parts, UCS, Boolean operation, Solid Editing, Creating & Editing Text, Equations, Design Table & Configurations, Introduction, Walls, Flanges, Bending, Design Centre & Tool Palettes, Inquiry tools & Parametric Drafting, Surface Creation & Modification tools, Sketch Visualization & Sketch Analysis, Drafting Settings, Dimensions & Dimension Styles, Geometry & Dimensional Constraints, Sketch Entities & Sketch Tools, Block, W-block, and X-attach & X-Ref, etc.

In this article, we have given you some shortcut keys that will help you improve your work and save you time. For now, you can also download the shortcut keys in PDF or Excel files from the download button below for your future reference.

AutoCAD Shortcuts & Hotkey Guide

Toggles and Screen Management

1.Manage Screen:

Clean Screen	Ctrl+0 (zero)
Property Palette	Ctrl+1
Design Centre Palette	Ctrl+2
Tool Palette	Ctrl+3
Sheet Set Palette	Ctrl+4
DBConnect Manager	Ctrl+6
Markup Set Manager Palette	Ctrl+7
Quick Calc	Ctrl+8
Command Line	Ctrl+9

2.Manage Drawings:

New Drawing	Ctrl+N
Save drawing	Ctrl+S
Open drawing	Ctrl+O
Plot dialog box	Ctrl+P
Switch to next	Ctrl+Tab
Switch to previous drawing	Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Switch to previous tab in current drawing	Ctrl+Page Up
Switch to next tab in current drawing	Ctrl+Page Down
Exit	Ctrl+Q
Select all objects	Ctrl+A

3.Toggle Drawing Modes:

Display Help	F1
Toggle text screen	F2
Toggle object snap mode	F3
Toggle 3DOsnap	F4
Toggle Isoplane	F5
Toggle Dynamic UCS	F6
Toggle grid mode	F7
Toggle ortho mode	F8
Toggle snap mode	F9
Toggle polar mode	F10
Toggle object snap tracking	F11
Toggle dynamic input mode	F12

4.Manage Workflow:

Copy object	Ctrl+C
Cut object	Ctrl+X
Paste object	Ctrl+V
Copy to clipboard with base point	Ctrl+Shift+C
Paste data as block	Ctrl+Shift+V
Undo last action	Ctrl+Z
Redo last action	Ctrl+Y
Cancel current command (or ctrl+\)	Ctrl+[
Cancel current command	ESC

5.Toggle General Features:

Toggle coordinate display	Ctrl+E
Toggle Grid	Ctrl+G
Cycle isometric planes	Ctrl+E
Toggle running object snaps	Ctrl+F
Toggle Pick Style	Ctrl+H
Toggle Hide pallets	Ctrl+Shift+H
Toggle Coords	Ctrl+I
Toggle Infer Constraints	Ctrl+Shift+I

That’s It! If you liked this article, then definitely share it with your friends on social media, so that they too can get this information.

Top 50 AutoCAD Shortcut Keys (Excel-PDF)