You already know you can add folders to the Places panel at the right of dialog boxes that open files (for example, Open and Save As). If you don’t, just browse to the desired folder in the dialog box, place your cursor in the Places panel, right-click, and select Add Current Folder.

Caption: Right-click and select Add Current Folder to create a new button in the Places panel.

A new button appears to provide direct access to the folder. The button is located where your cursor is, and you can reorder the Places buttons by dragging them up and down. Note that adding a button to one AutoCAD dialog box adds it to all such AutoCAD dialog boxes.

You can also rename the buttons in the Places panel. Right-click on a button to bring up a context menu. Select Properties. The dialog box that appears lets you rename the button, but not the folder itself. There’s also an option to specify a new item path, but you need to enter the path manually.

From its name, you would think the Eattext command eats text, but actually Eattext is short for Enhanced Attribute Extraction.

As its name implies, it extracts information contained in block attributes and saves it to either a table or to an external file. The table is inserted into the current drawing in the current space and on the current layer. If you choose an external file, the export formats supported are CSV (comma delimited text file), TXT (tab delimited text file), XLS (Microsoft Excel), and MDB (Microsoft Access). Note that when you export in XLS or MDB format, the characters period, comma, and pound sign (#) are replaced with their Unicode representation. Note also that export file options may vary depending on your version of AutoCAD.

You can extract information from one drawing or multiple drawings. Eattext appears in AutoCAD 2002 through 2007. Prior to 2002, the command was plain old Attext. The latest version is called Dataextraction.

The command has many uses. Extracting attribute information is an easy way to produce a schedule or bill of materials directly from your drawing data. For example, a drawing might contain blocks representing various parts used in manufacturing it. If each block has attributes identifying the model and manufacturer of the part, you can generate a report that estimates the cost of the product. You can also extract drawing information such as drawing number, sheet number, revision, and title to put into a drawing transmittal message. Some even use it to count all blocks in a drawing.

When you start the Eattext command, the Attribute Extraction wizard appears to guide you through the process. You can opt to use a template that contains previously saved settings (BLK file). If you select a template, each page in the wizard is filled in with the template settings. You can change the settings as you proceed through the wizard. Further along in the wizard, you’ll be able to save the current settings as a template.

Caption: The Attribute Extraction wizard first asks you whether you want to use a template.

The wizard next requests the files and blocks from which to extract attribute information. If you choose Select Objects, the Select Blocks button becomes available so you can select objects in the current drawing. When you choose Select Blocks, the wizard closes temporarily while you select block instances in the current drawing. Current Drawing extracts information from all blocks in the current drawing. Select Drawings/Sheet Sets Activates the Click to Browse button you can use to select drawing files or a sheet set. Attribute information will be extracted from all blocks in the selected drawings. You can right-click any displayed files and select Remove from the menu that appears.

Caption: The next step is to select the data source.

The Additional Settings option brings up a dialog box where you can specify whether to include nested blocks and blocks in xrefs. You can also specify which blocks to count.

Caption: The Additional Settings button lets you narrow down the block selection.

Next, in the Select Attributes wizard page, you specify the blocks and attributes to be extracted. The Blocks list shows the blocks in the selected drawings or sheets. Any block definition with no instances does not appear in the list. You can filter the list further with these options:

• Exclude Blocks Without Attributes: The Blocks list displays only block instances that have attributes. Dynamic blocks appear when they have special properties assigned (for example, parameters and actions).
• Exclude General Block Properties: The list displays only block attributes and the properties of dynamic blocks. General block properties (except the Name property) are not included.

When you select the check box next to a block name, its attributes and properties appear in the Properties for Checked Blocks list. Select the check box next to the attribute or property name you want to extract. The Name property is checked by default. You can also enter an optional alternative name for the block to appear in the extracted information. Select a block, right-click, and click Edit Display Name.

Note that if a property or attribute is unique to a block that you’ve checked, when you uncheck that block, the unique property or attribute is removed from the list.

The Type column displays one of three categories for each property.

• General indicates ordinary block properties—for example, color or layer.
• Attribute indicates user-defined attributes.
• Dynamic indicates user-defined property data for a dynamic block.

Caption: Next, check the blocks and properties you want to include in your table or export file.

The Finalize Output wizard page summarizes the blocks and attributes you have selected for extraction. Each row shows a block name and the values for each attribute for that block. If a block has no value for an attribute, that cell is left blank. You can rearrange the table by dragging columns to new positions. Edit column heads by right-clicking one to bring up a shortcut menu. This page also allows you to select the method of extraction:

• AutoCAD Table extracts information to a table. When this option is selected, AutoCAD next displays the Table Style page.
• External File specifies the file name and location to which the data will be extracted.

You can also right-click in the list and select Copy to Clipboard. Then paste into a file.

Caption: Once your properties are selected, you can fine-tune how they will appear in the table or file.

The Table Style wizard page lets you determine the appearance of the table to which your attribute information will be extracted. You select the table style and enter a title, if the table style allows. You can also select whether to have AutoCAD notify you when the table needs updating. When this is selected, AutoCAD will display a yellow balloon notice in the lower right of the status bar. The message will contain a link to refresh the data in the table.

Caption: When you export to a table, you can set a name and table style.

The final wizard page completes the attribute extraction process. It also presents the option to save the current wizard settings as a template (BLK file) for future use.

When AutoCAD 2006 and up is run in conjunction with Autodesk Vault, DWF files published from AutoCAD may not display the entire layout sheet. To fix this problem, use XML Notepad to open the Publish Options.xml file, which should be found at this location:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Autodesk\VaultCommon
where username is the name of the user.

The Trace command was introduced to draw PCB (printed circuit board diagrams). It works much like the Line command, except that it can create wide line segments (what it actually creates are trace objects). The endpoints of a trace are on the center line and are always cut square. AutoCAD automatically calculates the correct bevels to connect to adjacent segments. Each segment is drawn after you either specify the next segment or press Enter to end the line. Because of the way bevels are handled, Trace has no Close or Undo options.

Caption: The Trace command draws a line with width.