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AutoCAD Productivity

Layer Previous

by Michael Beall

From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #132
Originally published: February 2014

PreviousLayers are the lifeblood in AutoCAD, and efficient management thereof is the key to your own quality of life; specifically, your sanity.

The Layer Previous button can be a real time saver and is, at its core, a Layer-specific ‘Undo’.

How to Use Layer Previous

  1. Open a drawing, then make a new layer [MC_FEB2014], give it a color and make it current; this will be our testing layer.

  2. Change the Color of any other layer in the current drawing, but don't make that layer current.

  3. On our test layer, draw a small rectangle somewhere.

  4. Click Layer Previous and the rectangle remains, but the color of the layer you changed is restored.

  5. Freeze several existing layers, then Rotate the rectangle.

  6. Click Layer Previous and the previously frozen layers are thawed… but the rectangle is still rotated!

See all the articles published in February 2014

Michael's Corner

Between 2003 and 2016, Michael Beall (and one or two guests) wrote almost 600 articles for CADTutor. The focus of these articles is AutoCAD productivity, and although some of them are now more than a few years old, most remain relevant to current versions of AutoCAD. The article above is just one example. Check out Michael's Corner for a full listing.

Tip of the Day

Maximize your work area

Clean ScreenYou can use Ctrl+0, or go to Tools ❯ Clean Screen, or click the faint blue square icon at the very bottom right of the AutoCAD program window to maximize your entire work area. The only thing that will show is your top Pull-down Menu, your Command Line, and/or your Layout Tabs, maximizing the drawing area as much as possible. Of course, you could also turn off the command line and just work with Dynamic Input if you wanted to be even more minimal. These command options work as a toggle, so simply repeat the action to restore the full interface.

If you are a customized keyboard command type of person, the command is CLEANSCREENON and CLEANSCREENOFF so you can easily add it into your ACAD.PGP file complete with your personal Command Alias.

Today's tip is by StykFacE

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