Learn AutoCAD with our Free Tutorials

Welcome to CADTutor

CADTutor provides the best free tutorials and articles for AutoCAD, 3ds Max and associated applications along with a friendly community forum. If you need to learn AutoCAD, or you want to be more productive, you're in the right place. See our tip of the day to start learning right now!

Free Tutorials and More…

The Tutorials section provides over 100 original tutorials for AutoCAD, 3ds Max and other design applications. Michael’s Corner is an archive of productivity articles that brings you the best AutoCAD tips and tricks. Our Forum is a lively community where AutoCAD users can ask questions and get answers. The Downloads area provides free AutoCAD blocks, free AutoLISP routines and free images.

Tutorials of the Moment

CADTutor Tutorials

Our tutorials are comprehensive but straightforward introductions to AutoCAD and related software. They are designed to help beginners get to grips with design workflows as quickly as possible. There are over 100 to choose from, some text/image based and others in video format. Whatever stage you are at in your learning, you should find a tutorial to help.

Forum Latest

Currently Active Topics

This Week's Hot Topics

CADTutor Forums

Our forum is a vibrant community of experts and beginners. The main focus is helping beginners get to grips with AutoCAD and to help more advanced users become more productive. The AutoLISP forum is one of the busiest out there, providing expert advice for busy professionals.

AutoCAD Productivity

Drawing Information

by Michael Beall

From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #137
Originally published: December 2014

For billing purposes, it's nice to know how long you have spent working in a drawing. To that end, the Time command may be a helpful resource, especially given the elapsed time feature that can be toggled ON and OFF, and can also be Reset.

Command:  TIME
Current time:             Sunday, November 23, 2014  3:44:54:790 PM
Times for this drawing:
  Created:                Wednesday, November 14, 2007  2:42:44:984 PM
  Last updated:           Sunday, November 23, 2014  9:59:28:105 AM
  Total editing time:     0 days 04:45:06:399
  Elapsed timer (off):    0 days 04:44:32:866
  Next automatic save in: 0 days 00:07:30:395

Enter option [Display/ON/OFF/Reset]:

Drawing Properties To keep track of your time in the drawing, launch the Time command, then begin the elapsed timer with the ON option. When finished, use the OFF option to display the total editing time. The above information indicates that I was editing the drawing for a little more than 30 seconds - 04:44:32 to 04:45:06.

DWGPROPS [Application menu ❯ Drawing Utilities ❯ Drawing Properties] Another useful tool for quick information may be the Dwgprops command found in the ‘scarlet letter’. It's nice to have the Location and Size information immediately available, rather than going out to Save As.

See all the articles published in December 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.

Image of the Week

3^rd – 9^th August 2026

This week's image is by boofredlay

Software used: SketchUp and V-Ray
Last Week's Image

Last week's image is by Lazarus

Software used: AutoCAD 2009
Two Weeks Ago

This image is by BenGoble

Software used: 3ds Max
Three Weeks Ago

This image is by boofredlay

Software used: SketchUp and V-Ray

Gallery of Work

Over the years, our forum members have contributed hundreds of images, showcasing their amazing work. The images above are just a small selection that demonstrate the wide range of project types our community is involved with. Take a look at our gallery to see all the images published in the last 12 months.

Tip of the Day

AutoCAD Expert

Are you an expert in AutoCAD? Well according to Autodesk you aren't, well not unless you tell the program otherwise. The EXPERT system variable (default 0) can be changed so that annoying "Are you sure?" commands will go away. Here is the list and what they do:

EXPERT = 0: Issues all prompts normally.
EXPERT = 1: Suppresses "About to regen, proceed?" and "Really want to turn the current layer off?"
EXPERT = 2: Suppresses the preceding prompts and "Block already defined. Redefine it?" (BLOCK) and "A drawing with this name already exists. Overwrite it?" (SAVE or WBLOCK).
EXPERT = 3: Suppresses the preceding prompts and those issued by the LINETYPE command if you try to load a linetype that's already loaded or create a new linetype in a file that already defines that linetype.
EXPERT = 4: Suppresses the preceding prompts and those issued by UCS Save and VPORTS Save if the name you supply already exists.
EXPERT = 5: Suppresses the prompt, "That name is already in Use, redefine it?" issued by the -DIMSTYLE Save option when you supply the name of an existing dimension style.

Today's tip is by Sean Nesbitt

Missed a Tip?

Did you miss yesterday's tip? Maybe you forgot to drop by or maybe you don't visit over the weekend. If so, you can now see all the tips published during the past week. Also, if you have a tip you'd like to share with us, you can post it on our forum and if we like it, we'll publish it here.

Learn AutoCAD with our Free Tutorials

Welcome to CADTutor

Free Tutorials and More…

Tutorials of the Moment