Previously, Danny Korem sent us a tip about working with other people's AutoCAD files (CAD Tip No. 3820). This time around, our tipster expands on that idea by demonstrating a way to learn the contents of the new file.

"I'd like to add some more hints to help you get familiar with a non-familiar file. Open the file and right-click, then choose the Quick Select option. Carefully explore the list of objects residing within the file; this will give you a good idea about the file. For instance, if the drawing is partially wiped out, you'll notice. Does text appear to be odd in some way? Explore the text styles and notice if font files are missing, and so forth."

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Reviewer Brian Benton: This is an interesting tip about an unplanned use of the Quick Select command. There are several ways to access Quick Select: type QSelect on the Command line, click the Quick Select button in the Properties palette, or follow this tipster's method and find it in the right-click shortcut menu. To find out what is in the file, click through the Object Type options to see what types of objects it contains.