To Make Life Easier

[Mufasa23]

I am using ACAD 2009 (feel like I'm in group therapy)
There are a few things that always bother me and I don't know how to make them go away (or appear) to make my life easier. I don't want to just go in the workspaces and change my setting to classic autocad because I feel it just prevents me from keeping up with and learning the new things autocad has come out with, I would feel much more comfortable doing the "classic autocad" thing but really don't want to stagnate myself like that so..........

1) the "new and improved" thumbnail preview of all the files open I find vey disturbing, it's a great concept and has good qualities BUT the one thing I can't overlook is how it "Suspends" my usage by retaining the thumbnail image for long periods of time, even when I move the cursor way far away from the thumbnails. Seems to take FOREVER before I can resume my work. Is there a variable to shorten the length in which the thumbnail previews remain open?

2) I have somehow lost some headings and don't know how to make them come back. I really love the old style "Window" tab where you have a LIST of open drawings and can close them from the list rather than utilizing the thumbnails and taking forever to get back to work while waiting for the thumbnails to close out. The list of headings I am referring to is the list you see when you click on "The Big A"; you see the list that reads File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Draw, Dimension, Modify, Express, Window, Help. I know there is a way to have this list appear above your icons on the top of your display area in 2009, somehow I made it go away and cannot figure out how to make it come back. I would be forever grateful to someone if you could enlighten me.

3) Is there a way to have the best of two worlds? I love having my layers dialogue box, X-Ref Dialogue Box, Design Center Dialogue Box, and Properties Dialogue Box all readily available to me via the docked dialogue box - however (again) when I get near the edge of my drawing display, it invokes the dialogue boxes to appear and seems to take forever for them to go back in hiding and of course I cannot work while they are open.

I have been trying since March to get adjusted to these new features, but am almost ready to go back to 2008 or use classic autocad in my workspaces, but in an honest effort to move forward with autodesk rather than resist changes I have tolerated these things, but I don't know how much longer I can hang in there.

Are there any answers to my frustrations? Am I the only one feeling the pain here?

Thanks for your help
JT

[dzatto]

]I am using ACAD 2009 (feel like I'm in group therapy)[/SIZE]
There are a few things that always bother me and I don't know how to make them go away (or appear) to make my life easier. I don't want to just go in the workspaces and change my setting to classic autocad because I feel it just prevents me from keeping up with and learning the new things autocad has come out with, I would feel much more comfortable doing the "classic autocad" thing but really don't want to stagnate myself like that so..........

1) the "new and improved" thumbnail preview of all the files open I find vey disturbing, it's a great concept and has good qualities BUT the one thing I can't overlook is how it "Suspends" my usage by retaining the thumbnail image for long periods of time, even when I move the cursor way far away from the thumbnails. Seems to take FOREVER before I can resume my work. Is there a variable to shorten the length in which the thumbnail previews remain open?

2) I have somehow lost some headings and don't know how to make them come back. I really love the old style "Window" tab where you have a LIST of open drawings and can close them from the list rather than utilizing the thumbnails and taking forever to get back to work while waiting for the thumbnails to close out. The list of headings I am referring to is the list you see when you click on "The Big A"; you see the list that reads File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Draw, Dimension, Modify, Express, Window, Help. I know there is a way to have this list appear above your icons on the top of your display area in 2009, somehow I made it go away and cannot figure out how to make it come back. I would be forever grateful to someone if you could enlighten me.

3) Is there a way to have the best of two worlds? I love having my layers dialogue box, X-Ref Dialogue Box, Design Center Dialogue Box, and Properties Dialogue Box all readily available to me via the docked dialogue box - however (again) when I get near the edge of my drawing display, it invokes the dialogue boxes to appear and seems to take forever for them to go back in hiding and of course I cannot work while they are open.

I have been trying since March to get adjusted to these new features, but am almost ready to go back to 2008 or use classic autocad in my workspaces, but in an honest effort to move forward with autodesk rather than resist changes I have tolerated these things, but I don't know how much longer I can hang in there.

Are there any answers to my frustrations? Am I the only one feeling the pain here?

Thanks for your help
JT

Hello, my name is Dan, and I'm an ACA 2009 user.

Well, to get your menu bar back, right click on your quick access toolbar, and select "show menu bar".

As far as the thumbnail preview, I don't use it at all. I don't even know how to turn it on!! If I want to scroll through open drawings, I use the 'ol Ctrl + Tab method. When I go to "open drawings" in the dropdown, it just lists the name and an acad icon.

As for the palette speed, check out this download. I think there's a way to change it directly in cad, but I'm not sure. I haven't used this in 2009, but it worked great in 2008.

http://www.jtbworld.com/PaletteAuto-hideSpeed.htm

The best thing I ever did in 2009 was go to 3 monitors. I can keep all my palettes such as properties, Xref, ribbon etc open on the third monitor, so I don't need to worry about the ribbon or the time it takes for things to collapse.

[Mufasa23]

Dan,
Thanks for the info, I did the rt click in the quick access toolbar and Wa-La. Thanks, I can use my old timey Windows tab now, what a relief! The thumbnails were soo annoying. Good luck with your "User" issues.
JT

[Mufasa23]

Also,
The downloadable file you referred me to: it does work in 2009. works just fine. Thanks again

[LanceMcHatton]

Also,
The downloadable file you referred me to: it does work in 2009. works just fine. Thanks again

Hi. My name is Lance and I use AutoCAD LT 2009.

I also have been frustrated with the amount of time it takes for palettes to go away. The referred file has helped me immensely and has changed my life for the better. With all time I save, I can spend more time surfing the net. Thank you, JTB World!

[archie.manza]

I also have been frustrated with the amount of time it takes for palettes to go away. The referred file has helped me immensely and has changed my life for the better. With all time I save, I can spend more time surfing the net. Thank you, JTB World!

Err...Are you sure? You are talking like the auto-hide of Pallete is taking like an hour or so... you must be kidding. The default is nearly a second. And it's not exceeded on that. Don't beat the the Auto-hide that hard.

[dzatto]

Err...Are you sure? You are talking like the auto-hide of Pallete is taking like an hour or so... you must be kidding. The default is nearly a second. And it's not exceeded on that. Don't beat the the Auto-hide that hard.

Dude, ever heard of sarcasm? Lighten up. Have a .
They do take a second to open and close, which is 2 seconds total. When you're very proficient with cad, you only need about half a second to select what you need. Do that a thousand times a day and that little extra delay gets very frustrating.

[archie.manza]

Dude, ever heard of sarcasm? Lighten up. Have a .
They do take a second to open and close, which is 2 seconds total. When you're very proficient with cad, you only need about half a second to select what you need. Do that a thousand times a day and that little extra delay gets very frustrating.

Cad Master if I'm kinda look sarcastic forgive me. I am just curious why it is hard to use the default timing of Auto-hide...that's all and I am clearing that it is not that long.

[dzatto]

Cad Master if I'm kinda look sarcastic forgive me. I am just curious why it is hard to use the default timing of Auto-hide...that's all and I am clearing that it is not that long.

I wasn't calling you sarcastic, I was saying that Lance was being a bit sarcastic about "all the time he would save", which apparantly rubbed you the wrong way.

It's not that it's hard, but every second counts. Especially if you have 2 or 3 palettes minimized next to each other. Then you hover over one too long and it flys out, covering the the one you meant to have fly out. Then you have to wait for it to collapse again and it seems like an eternity.

Bottom line is, it shouldn't be factory set. The user should be able to set it longer or shorter which is exactly what the program from JTB World does for you. If you like the default setting, more power to ya.

[LanceMcHatton]

Let me tell you about my setup... I am currently working with one 17" CRT. I like to have my favorite palettes readily available: Properties, Xref Manager, Layer Manager, and Design Center. Now, I can't possibly have them all expanded or I wouldn't be able to draw anything. Therefore, I have them set to auto-hide and they're all on the left of my screen. (see screenshot)

So, every time I accidentally drift over to the left, the palette fills the whole screen. OR, if I try to hover over Properties and go too far and stop on Layers, the wrong one comes up and I have to wait an entire second for it to go away so I can select the right one. It doesn't seem like a long time on paper but it can get very frustrating when you're in the zone.

Also, I'm sure every one here knows by now that every little bit of time you can shave off your work all adds up to a smoother, more efficient work day.