Tipster Ron Bullions shares with us a method he uses to gain quicker access to his AutoCAD files from his desktop.

"Working on a large project with hundreds of drawings in various subdirectories can be frustrating. Networks can be slow, and it often takes several minutes for a list of drawings to generate on the screen. I am usually only working on a few of those listed.

"I recently discovered that I can copy shortcuts to drawings to my desktop, or anywhere convenient, and that gives me really fast access to the drawing in AutoCAD. Once you have located the drawing files using your AutoCAD file browser, select them (using Shift and Select will allow you to add files to the selection) and right-click. This will give you several options; choose Send To, then go across and down to the Desktop option (Create Shortcut). This will place a shortcut icon on your desktop that's linked to your drawing. You can add a folder to the desktop for grouping of drawings, and drag and drop the icons into it. These shortcuts can be used to access the drawings or to open AutoCAD in the drawing you select."

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Patrol: I'm all for saving time and effort! Minimize the amount of work you have, and you'll gain increased efficiency. Starting files isn't a big deal — unless they are buried in an overwhelming pile of folders. Creating shortcuts to your current files is a great way to gain instant access to them. Inside AutoCAD, you can "pin" recently opened files in the Application Menu. This keeps these files listed until you "unpin" them.