Tipster Tawfik Shehata shares a trick that lets you paste a copy of an AutoCAD object to match the rotation of an object.

"If you are familiar with using the User Coordinate System (UCS), then you may have noticed that the Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) commands reference to the current UCS when launched. This can be handy if you need to copy some objects to multiple locations with different angles.

"For example, if you are working on a site plan where you have some streets and you need to place text for street names aligned to each street, then you can do the following:

1. Create a default piece of text — e.g., "X STREET" — and set justify to "Middle Center."
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+C to do a Copy with base point "COPYBASE," select the text insertion point as a base point, then select the text.

Now, to paste and align this text to a street, do the following:

1. Type UCS, then select two points on a street edge line following the desired text direction, then press Enter. Or type UCS then E (for entity) or OB (for object) — same thing — then select a street edge line.
2. Press Ctrl+V or Paste, and use "Mid Between 2 Points" snap to center the text; edit it as required.
3. Repeat the above two steps for every street, one after the other. The same process can be used for blocks, group of objects, etc., and it can also save a lot of time when used in 3D modeling."

Notes from Cadalyst tip reviewer Brian Benton: When working in a Windows environment, users can select objects in AutoCAD and press Ctrl+C to copy those objects to the Windows Clipboard. Pressing Ctrl+V will paste them to the current UCS (User Coordinate System). It’s easy enough to create a temporary UCS that is rotated to match an object in your drawing. Do that, then paste. When you are finished, just go back to the original UCS or to the World Coordinate System, whichever one you were using. It may sound like a lot of work, but it can be easier than trying to match the rotation of an object using the Rotate command.