AutoCAD 2004 Customization Tutorial: Template
Files
By Alireza Parsai,
May 9, 2003
Template files are special types of drawing files with
pre-established settings for creating new drawings. To
differentiate with normal drawing files they hold DWT as file
name extension.
1. Invoke OPTIONS command.
2. Select System tab [Figure 1].
Figure 1 - Click on image to
enlarge
3. In Startup drop down list select "Do not show a startup
dialog" [Figure 2].
Figure 2
4. Select Files tab.
5. Click the + sign beside Drawing Template Settings, and
then click the + sign beside Default Template File Name for
QNew [Figure 3].
Figure 3
6. Select None.
7. Click Browse button. A dialog box appears that contains
available template files [Figure 4].
Figure 4
8. Select acad.dwt from the list, and then click Open. The
acad.dwt template file will be used as the template file for
QNew command.
9. In Options dialog box, click OK.
10. In Standard toolbar, click the QNew
button. A new drawing file based on acad.dwt will be created.
11. Let's create a template file. At first we should do some
settings. Invoke LAYER command.
12. Create 3 new layers based on figure 5.
Figure 5
13. Make Solid lines the current layer.
14. Click OK.
15. Invoke UNITS command.
16. Select Architectural units from the list.
17. Set the precision for angle measurement to 1 decimal place
[Figure 6].
Figure 6
18. Click OK.
19. Enable Snap and Grid.
20. Invoke Zoom-All.
21. Invoke SAVEAS command.
22. In Files of type list, select AutoCAD Drawing
Template [Figure 7].
Figure 7
23. In File Name field, type Custom.
24. Click Save.
25. In Description field, replace the text with
Architectural [Figure 8].
Figure 8
26. Click OK.
27. Close the template file.
28. In File menu select New.
29. In the template list select Custom.dwt [Figure 9].
Figure 9
30. Click Open. A new drawing with all the settings of the
template file is created.
About the Author
Alireza Parsai is the founder of cadpanel.com. He is a
mechanical engineer with more than 12 years experience with
AutoCAD. Alireza is an Autodesk Authorized Author, the AutoCAD
consultant for Al Khawarizmi Institute, a contributing editor
for Augiworld magazine, a writer for CAD Digest, an instructor
for AUGI Training Program, and an elected speaker for Autodesk
University 2002. He has written 7 books in Farsi, 3 booklets in
English, and more than 30 articles for different magazines and
newsletters. You can reach him at
alireza.parsai@cadpanel.com or visit his website
www.cadpanel.com.
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