"Most people are well-versed with using the PAN command. Most people know that if you press the middle mouse button you will be in the PAN command and that if you hold the SHIFT key down and then use the middle mouse button that you will switch to the 3DORBIT command. What many folks probably don't know is that if they reverse the order and press the middle mouse button first and then the SHIFT key, they will be in the PAN command and that the PAN command will be in a horizontal or vertical constraint mode!

"Additionally, the old style PAN command is still in AutoCAD. By typing "-PAN" you can click on two points to allow you to pan between those points. For everyday use, this is more time consuming than the new PAN command, also known as RTPAN (Real Time Pan). However, if you are in a viewport and want to shift the view a specific distance, you can do this in the -PAN command. This is useful if you have multiple versions of a drawing in model space and want to change from one to the next version being seen in the viewport and have it show up in the exact same space. Of course that requires a bit of foresight on the drafters part, in that they have each version at a specific distance apart, say 100'. To do the -PAN with the exact distance the sequence would be: -PAN pick a point (usually someplace in space) move the mouse in the direction that you want the view to shift towards type in the distance and press return (100')."

NOTES FROM CADALYST TIP PATROL: Who knew panning in AutoCAD could be so complicated or versatile? When you PAN+SHIFT (as stated above) it acts like an ortho command using your first pick pint as a reference. If you don’t want to use the middle mouse button as a panning method, turn it off with the MBUTTONPAN variable. Turning it off will allow you to customize the middle button through the CUI.