Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes – AutoCAD Change Commands: Tuesday Tips With Frank

[The AutoCAD Blog]

You never know what might inspire a Tuesday Tip. This time, it came from my favorite streaming music service when it played David Bowie’s 70s hit, Changes. I immediately thought about the awesome AutoCAD command, CHSPACE, or Change Space. It’s certainly worth discussing here, but I felt there wasn’t enough meat there to write a full blog on it.

This happens occasionally, and I’ve been known to package them up into an AutoCAD Potpourri post. You can find the latest one here.

But how do I play off the song for the blog? Well, the answer came in the lyrics; there are four “Ch’s” before Changes (is it in your head yet?) Fortunately, I know of three other AutoCAD Change commands that start with CH, so here we go!

AutoCAD Change Commands #1:
Ch – CHSPACE

The main entry here gets top billing. Have you ever run into a situation where the text, dimensions, or other objects were drawn in the wrong space? As a Tuesday Tip reader, we’ll assume it was someone else who made the mistake, and you’re tasked with fixing it.

This is where CHSPACE comes in. This handy command will move your objects from paper space to model space (or vice versa), all while preserving the scale of the objects. No need to redraw or rescale anything. CHSPACE does it all for you.

Plus, it’s an easy workflow. Issue the command (see the image below for the ribbon location, or just type it in). First of all, this only works from a layout tab. You can’t use it in the Model Space tab. If you do make that mistake, it will remind you.

You’ll be prompted to select your desired objects. If they are currently in paper space, you’ll be asked to select the viewport to send them into its model space.

If the objects are within an activated viewport (model space), CHSPACE will move them into paper space for you. And again, your scaling will be preserved.

AutoCAD Change Commands #2:
Ch-Ch – CHANGE

Boy, this one goes back a long way. There was a time when changing an object’s properties wasn’t as easy as it is now. We had to use the CHANGE command, which does not appear in the ribbon and is only available from the command line.

It prompts you to select your objects, then you can select or enter change points (the coordinates of the object – a most inefficient way of doing that), or you can specify Properties from either the command line or your dynamic input.

Doing so will present you with a menu (see below) of the available properties you can change. Be aware that if you select something named, like Layer, you’ll have to type it manually, so you’ll probably need to memorize all of your layers and their proper spelling. Riiiight…

Okay, I get it. There are many easier ways to accomplish this these days. However, it can come in handy if you’re writing scripts or AutoLISP routines. In fact, I’ve used it in the latter myself. Please note that if you do, you might want to turn off DYNPROMPT first.

AutoCAD Change Commands #3:
Ch-Ch-Ch – CHPROP

The third “Ch” command is a more direct approach to the previous Change command; it’s called CHPROP, which means Change Prop(erties). And again, it’s command line only. It doesn’t have the option to change an object’s coordinates, and it goes right to the Properties option instead. Streamlining your workflow by saving a few clicks? Who doesn’t like that?

You’ll get the same menu as you see above, and it works the same way. Well, almost. Notice entry number two in the menu. For some reason, Elevation is not included in the CHPROP menu. I’ll just leave you to ponder that strange omission. But hey, it made for a third “Ch” entry.

AutoCAD Change Commands #4:
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch – CHURLS

Last but not least is a member of the AutoCAD All-Name team. It is called CHURLS, and it stands for Change URL’s. And check this out, you can find it in the menu. It’s in the last panel of the Express Tools tab.

Yes, it’s an Express Tool, but like a lot of ET’s it can come in quite handy. In today’s world, it’s not uncommon to attach hyperlinks to certain objects. And, like most things in AutoCAD, they sometimes need to be changed or edited. Granted, you could use the HYPERLINK command, but CHURLS acts as a shortcut for you.

After launching the command, select your object with the attached URL. Hit enter, and you’ll get the dialog as shown below, showing the current URL, already highlighted. I suggest already having the new URL on your clipboard so you can just paste it over the highlighted old one.

That’s All Folks

I’d like to thank the late David Bowie for inspiring this post. I was also lucky to know that AutoCAD has these four “Change” commands. Granted, a couple of them aren’t too useful in today’s world, but two of them are.

So arm yourself with these CH-powered changes, and make your drawings Hunky Dory** again. (** The name of the 1971 album that Changes was on.)

You’ll also be glad to know that no AutoCAD command begins with “HUN.“

More Tuesday Tips

Check out our whole Tuesday Tips series for ideas on how to make AutoCAD work for you. 

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