Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published April 2006

Files of importance when upgrading

AutoCAD's migration assistance is wonderful. If you are coming up to A2006 or A2007, it remembers profiles, custom menus, icons, hatches, and linetypes, along with the ever important acad.pgp.

But what about the system variables not included in a profile (.ARG), or the DWG containing your layouts, or even your every-day template?

The following are a few things you may want to consider keeping track of (like putting them on a jump drive, burning a CD, or in a nice little folder that won't get deleted … outside Perth).

Files You Will Need After You Upgrade

MASTER.DWT

The DWT file you established as the template to be used for QNew and launch AutoCAD. [If you don't have a template, see February 2004 - Basics]

MASTER.DWG

This DWG file contains the same named objects as your .DWT file (Layers, Text Styles, etc.), but can be accessed through DesignCenter.

Note: Beginning in A2006, DWT files are displayed in DesignCenter, therefore, only users of A2005 and before need to have a separate file.

MASTER_PLOTSHEETS.DWG or DWT

This DWG file contains the layouts with your title blocks that you can bring in from DesignCenter. Much more productive than using page setups. If you have a DWT, you can import them via the Layout command and the dialog box.

*.XTP

There are only two things you need to keep track of for your tool palettes: The source file for the blocks you have added to your custom palettes and the .XTP tool palette export file(s). [If you are unfamiliar with how to export tool palettes, see March 2006 - Basics]

*.SCR and *.LSP

Of course if you are familiar with creating script or lisp files, these are the first things you will hang onto. But if you simply want the script that will reset your variables, you're wanting that one that is created using VARS2SCR [see March 2006 - Power Tool].

*.SHX

If you have saved or downloaded non-native font files, you will want to copy them into the ..\Fonts folder of your new version once it's installed.

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