The Properties palette displays the properties of objects you select, but it also allows you to change the properties in a variety of ways. Pressing Ctrl+1 displays the Properties, and you can also find it on the Tools menu under Palettes.

You can edit just about every property displayed in the Properties palette. Click a value, select the value text, type in a new value, and press Enter. Or select a value from the pull-down menu accessible via the arrow to the right of the value. Most geometric properties provide access to Quickcalc when you select the calculator icon that appears to the right of the value.

To access the palette’s Undo functions, right-click the palette (but not on the property you just changed) and select Undo from the shortcut menu that appears.

The properties that are displayed depend on the objects you select.

When more than one type of object is selected, general information displays, but geometric data doesn’t.

Caption: What you see in the properties palette when multiple types of objects are selected.

When multiple types are selected, you can select a single object type from the pull-down menu at the top of the palette to see information for that type of object. When one object or one type of object (e.g., polylines) is selected, you can view both general and geometric information about that object or object type. General information includes layer, color, and linetype data.

Caption: Use the object selection box at top left to pick one type of object. AutoCAD displays both general and geometric properties (in this case, for a circle).

When no object is selected, the palette displays only properties that apply to the entire drawing, such as UCS, viewport data, and current layer. If you then select an object, that object’s data will display.

Caption: When no objects are selected, the Properties palette displays information about the entire drawing.

If you need to create more than one numbered list in the Mtext Editor, first select the first line of your new list. Then right-click and select Restart from the shortcut menu that appears.

Caption: To start a new list in the Mtext editor, select the first line of the new list, right-click, and select Restart to start the numbering over.

If for some reason you need to break a numbered mtext list without changing the original numbering, open the list in the Mtext Editor. Right-click to access the shortcut menu. Under Bullets and Lists, uncheck Allow Bullets and lists. Now you can delete any part of the list without affecting the original numbering. When you’re done, right-click again and turn Allow Bullets and Lists back on. Any new entries to the list will be numbered based on the existing numbers.

Caption: Turing Bullets and Lists off lets you delete items from a list without changing the numbering, as shown below.

Here’s a macro that provides quick Windows Explorer access to the folder that contains your current drawing. Assign it to a toolbar button or menu item:

^c^c(startapp "explorer" (strcat "/e, "(getvar"dwgprefix")));

Last time we listed some of AutoCAD’s temporary override keys and key combinations. You can make your own list by opening the CUI (Tools / Customize / Interface) and navigating to the Keyboard Shortcuts section. Click on the Temporary Override section, then select the Print button in the Shortcuts pane at top right. You can also copy the list to the Windows clipboard by selecting the Copy to Clipboard button. Then paste it into another document. This also works for the shortcut keys.

As you no doubt have guessed from their location, you can change the temporary override key combinations and create new ones for drafting settings that don’t already have them. Note that the macros for the override keys are fairly complicated. First check to see if there’s an unassigned temporary override (indicated by a dash in the Shortcuts pane; assigned overrides have green checks).

Caption: The Shortcuts pane at upper right shows Temporary Overrides. Note the handy Print button. The currently inactive override for Intersection is selected. To assign it a key combination, click in the Keys box under Shortcut in the Information panel at bottom right, then press the Ellipsis button.

Simply select the unassigned override in the Shortcuts pane, then click on the Keys text box in the Information window at bottom right. Click on the button with three dots (ellipse). In the Shortcut Keys dialog box that appears, click your cursor in the Press New Shortcut Key box, then press the keyboard combination you want to assign.

Caption: The Shortcut Keys dialog box lets you set a key combination and tells you whether your choice has already been assigned.  

AutoCAD will display whether the combination is already assigned or not. You can use function keys or the Shift key in combination with any letter, number, or function key. If you select an invalid key combination, AutoCAD will ignore you.

To create a new temporary override key combination, expand the Keyboard Shortcuts item in the top left window. Right-click on Temporary Override Keys and select New, then Temporary Override. Give your new override a name (you can use existing names, if you like—for example, if you want to have two key combinations for a particular override). Enter a macro in the Macro 1 (key down) box. In most cases, you’ll want to leave the Macro 2 (key up) box blank. This turns off the temporary override when you release the key combination. You could, however, enter another macro in that field. Now follow the process outlined in the paragraph above to assign a key combination to your new override.

You define or modify Shortcut in a similar fashion. First, open the Shortcut Keys section. From the command list in the lower left panel, drag a command into the Shortcut Keys section. In the Properties pane at bottom right, click on the Keys text box under Access, then click the button with three dots (ellipsis).

Caption: Here we’ve dragged the Purge command from bottom left to top left and dropped it under Shortcut Keys. In the Properties window at bottom right, assign a keyboard shortcut by clicking in the Keys box, selecting the Ellipsis (…) button, and entering your desired key combination.