Time is Money

If I use and save a drawing that I have worked on for 40 hours, if I use that same drawing for another similar item and save with a different name, does the time reset to zero, or accumulate?

just did a quick test.

If i did it right it looks like the time accumilates.

Best way to test is take a drawing, save it under a new name and then type in TIME in the command line.

The TIME command has a RESET option. This option will reset the time to zero. That's what you want to do right?

The time does accumulate. You have to enter the TIME command and reset the time. Or better yet, just start a brand new file and copy only what you need. Or even better yet, create a time sheet in Excel and use that to track your time spent on each project (that's what I do at work since I have to submit that info to my supervisor if I want to get paid).

remark i tried the reset option in my test and it reset the elapsed timer but the total time seemed to stay the same.

If you are going to use the drawing a lot, save it as template and each time you open (file-new and select template) this template time will be zero.

Isn't there an option in the Express Tools to reset it?

If I use and save a drawing that I have worked on for 40 hours, if I use that same drawing for another similar item and save with a different name, does the time reset to zero, or accumulate?

You can easily set the timer to 0 while starting new drawing with an existing file. Start the .new command (note the dot in front of new), pick to use a template, navigate to the folder where the file exists that you wish to reuse, at the bottom of the dialog the only choice may be .dwt, so in the line above that simply type *.dwg and hit enter. All the files in that folder will show, pick the one you want to use, pick open, proceed from there. The timer will be set to 0.

And now for the bigger question. If I leave my desk for a couple of hours or more, is the meter still running?

I also have an excellent Excel spreadsheet that I used for Time & Material pricing for when I was an electrician. I could even track vehicle expenses with it.

I might spend some time cleaning it up, and upload it to downloaddotcom. It can sit there with my estimating software from Artisan`s Estimating.

Thanks for all the input.

And now for the bigger question. If I leave my desk for a couple of hours or more, is the meter still running?

If you leave the drawing open then yes the "meter" still runs.

Yes, whenever it is on you're screen opened in AutoCAD, it adds to the editing time.