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Finish with Zoom Extents
Tip# 3689 By Frances Emerson On 17-Jul-2011
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Categories : Zoom
Software type : AutoCAD 2012
Rename File To : No Files to download.
Customize the ACAD.LSP file with a simple setting.

Tipster Frances Emerson shares a tip to help keep AutoCAD files neat and tidy by customizing the ACAD.LSP file.

"Our clients prefer our drawings to be zoomed to extents upon submission. During the quality check before submission, upon opening the drawings, our final checker would observe that the drawings did not appear to be zoomed to extents. The problem is that drafters have a variety of workspace setup shapes and monitor sizes; what is zoom extents on one computer never is on another. By adding one line (command ".zoom" "e") to ACAD.LSP, the problem is solved."
 
Notes from Cadalyst Tip Patrol: The ACAD.LSP file is an easily customized file that loads when AutoCAD starts. It can be altered so that it loads every time a file is opened, or you can use ACADDOC.LSP. It depends on what you want to do. Adding this setting will execute a zoom extents when you open your file. So with this setting, when the reviewer opens the file it will be zoomed to extents.
 
 

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User comments
Comment by kiernan,Marcel
Posted on 2011-07-18 14:38:22
Hi, I think this tip should be used by everybody but I'd add a small change to-it.... Instead of performing a Zoom Extent upon opening the drawing I do this when the drawing is saved. Why ? Well, the little view window that allows one to see the drawing in the file|open dialog shows the last saved view of the drawing. Performing the Zoom E just before the Save, SaveAs, etc ... ensures that this thumbnail will show the full drawing. Their is two approach to this : 1) Undefine all save commands and create lisp functions that will, first zoom-e and then save (using .SAVE) command or 2) Attach a function to the before_command reactor and intercept all save commandes from there and perform a Zoom E from there Marcel
Comment by Emerson,Frances
Posted on 2011-07-19 13:42:29
Our client requires all drawings to be submitted zoom extents; whenever we close out a drawing, it is saved to zoom extents and the thumbnail does reveal the entire drawing. This particular tip addresses the misunderstanding that the drawing has not been saved to zoom extents, because when a different user opens the drawing, their workspace configuration is usually not the same as the person's who saved it, so part of the drawing may not be visible when they first open it, regardless. There are times and circumstances where we would not want to save a drawing, although we may need to open it, so I would suggest having a separate save for this purpose.
Comment by McSwain,R.K.
Posted on 2011-07-20 09:15:02
I would recommend not changing the default behavior where "acad.lsp" loads once at application launch. Use "acaddoc.lsp" for code that needs to load each time a drawing is loaded.