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 December 2013

Be Responsible: Think Ahead

It's a big planet, and Instructors and CAD Managers can't reach everyone at once, but Autodesk University is certainly a significant venue where we get some serious traction in that effort. For those Michael's Corner faithful, here's your fix.

Settings and Your ACAD.CUIX

When things go sideways with AutoCAD—not IF, but WHEN—it's really important that you have the proper backups in place.

Export AutoCAD Settings Before and After

StartAll ProgramsAutodesk >AutoCAD 201xMigrate Custom Settings

As soon as you have installed AutoCAD—and BEFORE you have tricked it out to look the way you want it—I would (highly) recommend you Export your settings [originally presented in Michael's Corner June 2007]. This procedure creates a Zip file automatically that you can then Import to another station or yours if you want to start all over.

It would be an even better idea to Export your settings AFTER you have configured all your variables, colors, Ribbon content, etc. Yes, a Profile can hold many of those settings, but if things go sideways, this is your best One-Stop-Shop.

Specifically, here are the files the exported .ZIP file contains:
*.atc/*.aws/*.bmp/*.ctb/*.cuix/*.cus/*.fmp/*.ini/*.lin/*.mln/*.mnl/*.pat/*.pc3/*.pgp/*.pmp/*.psf/*.shx/*.stb/*.xml

This feature was also covered in my monthly contribution to AUGI World and appeared in the September 2013 issue.

ACAD.CUIX

The night before my AU2010 Hands-on Lab, I lost my Ribbon and Menus. I'm pretty sure I made a wrong turn while I was in the CUI, but regardless, AutoCAD was not coming up roses when I launched it. Cotton-mouth and tingling fingers ensued. Lee Ambrosius came to my rescue and dashed me a quick email telling me where to find the backup of the ACAD.CUIX. That file is the gas in the tank of AutoCAD. No ACAD.CUIX, no AutoCAD.

This location is where the backup lives:
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 201x\UserDataCache\en-us\Support

The one that AutoCAD runs with daily is located in:
C:\Users\Your Login Name\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD 201x\Rxx.x\enu\Support

Make a (BIG) note. If things get squirrely with your Ribbon and Menus, copy the one from the backup location and put it in the daily location. Back to work.

Workspaces in the Wings

A lower level recovery tool is your Workspace. Your fingers fly across the screen, and sometimes the (alarming) disappearance of the Ribbon or menu can be fixed by resetting your Workspace… if you had made one after you customized your Ribbon (or toolbar arrangement, for those of you still using Classic; you know who you are).

How to Create a Workspace

1. After configuring the Tabs and Panels on the Ribbon, on the Status bar, click Save Current As.

   

2. Give the workspace a name, then click Save.

Gold star tip: To display the name of your workspace, click Workspace Switching, then click Display Workspace Label.

Bottom Line

You can never be too prepared for software slippage. In the last few weeks, there have been two instances where my customers were able to return to productivity very quickly because they had Exported their settings once they configured AutoCAD. And several times this year I was able to get my customer's Ribbon content back by having them select the Workspace we saved during training.

After reading this, hopefully you are going to the Start button to Export your settings—you will need to close AutoCAD before you do that, though—

and are confirming the presence of the backup ACAD.CUIX

.

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