Tipster Jerri Thompson shares a few macros for saving time and effort while working in AutoCAD.
“I made some buttons on my personal toolbar. One is for converting millimeters to inches:

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“When drawing a line, I type l for line, select a starting point, click my button, type the mm unit on the customer’s drawing, and Enter. When I am finished, my drawing is drawn in inches. I can set the alternate Dim to millimeters to check my work.

“The other is offset half a dimension.

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“I use this to offset a centerline for holes in a section type view, or really anything symmetrical about the centerline if I want to start in the center. Some dimensions are not as easy to divide in your head as others. Who wants to grab a calculator?

“I have trouble remembering to click the D for diameter when drawing a circle. I draw a lot of donut shapes. AutoCAD does have a donut command now, but it does not do what I want. So I made a macro to draw two circles using diameters with the same centers.”

^C^Cc;d;;@;d;

Notes from Cadalyst tip reviewer Brian Benton: Macros like these are fantastic. They are easy enough to create and can help expedite tasks we do every day. Look for more of these in Cadalyst’s tip archives.