Tipster Doug Rydman suggests an application for the Trim command in AutoCAD that can save you a step or two.

"If you are like me, you know it's easy to overlook the default settings for commands we use every day. While I was teaching new users at a local college, one student mentioned how much he liked the Select All option when using the Trim command (default value). Simply press Enter (or your right mouse button if it is set up as Enter), then select the items to trim. AutoCAD will trim/extend to the next element it finds.
 
"Caution: If the Edge option is set to Extend, then you may end up with undesired results."

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Patrol: Most commands in AutoCAD have more options to them that are presented to us via the Command line. I suggest that every once in a while, you take a look at the Command line while you are using, well, anything. You may be surprised by what AutoCAD can do.

The Trim command is an excellent example. Start the command and press Enter. This action selects all objects in your file, although it doesn't look like it because it doesn't highlight the selected objects. If you instead type All on the Command line after starting the Trim command, all objects will be selected and highlighted. Weird, but that's the behavior I'm seeing.

When you are ready to pick the objects to be trimmed, there are even more options. Some of them are selection options, while others are operational. You can set the command to trim to an apparent intersecting edge, to erase an object, and more. Check the Command line here and there — there's no telling what you will find!