ACP AutoCAD key terms

A precision setting that makes the cursor jump to exact geometric points on existing objects, such as endpoints, midpoints, centers, and intersections, so new geometry aligns perfectly without manual estimation.

An alignment aid that constrains cursor movement to preset angular increments, such as 15 or 45 degrees, letting you draw segments at exact angles while a tooltip shows the distance and angle.

A drawing constraint that locks cursor movement to horizontal and vertical directions only, useful for drawing straight orthogonal segments quickly without specifying angles.

Small square handles that appear on a selected object at strategic points; dragging a grip stretches, moves, or modifies the object directly without starting a separate command.

A rectangular area dragged in empty space to choose objects; a left-to-right drag selects only objects fully enclosed, while a right-to-left drag also catches objects merely crossed.

A dialog that builds a selection set automatically by filtering on object type, property, and value, such as all circles on a layer with a given radius.

Editing tools that reshape existing geometry: Trim cuts objects at boundaries, Extend lengthens them to meet edges, Offset creates parallel copies, and Fillet rounds or joins corners with an arc.

A command that duplicates selected objects in a patterned arrangement, either as a rectangular grid, a circular ring around a center point, or along a defined path.

The palette where layers are created and controlled, setting properties such as color, linetype, lineweight, plot status, and on/off, freeze, and lock states for each layer.

The default layer present in every drawing; objects drawn on it inherit properties from the block or layer context, so many standards reserve it for block construction geometry only.

The single layer that receives all newly created objects; its name appears in the layer control on the ribbon or toolbar and must be changed deliberately before drawing.

A layout environment representing the printed sheet, where you place title blocks, notes, and viewports that display scaled views of model space geometry.

The infinite drafting area where full-size geometry is created at real-world dimensions; it is viewed and plotted through layouts rather than being the sheet itself.

A window placed on a layout that shows a scaled view of model space; each viewport can have its own scale, view, and layer visibility overrides.

A setting attached to model space views and viewports that controls the display and plotted size of annotative objects, such as text and dimensions, at a chosen scale.

Text, dimension, hatch, or block defined to carry multiple scale representations, automatically resizing itself so it reads correctly in viewports set to different scales.

A named collection of settings controlling dimension appearance, including arrowhead type, text height and placement, extension line offsets, and the overall scale factor.

A dimension linked to the geometry it measures, so that when the object is stretched or modified the measured value and extension lines update automatically.

A single annotation object combining a landing line, arrowhead, and multiline text, with options for adding multiple leader branches to one note.

A drawing entity organized into rows, columns, and cells, often linked to extracted data or spreadsheet content, with styles controlling text, borders, and numbering.

The stored master copy of a named group of objects; inserting it places references that share this definition, so editing the definition updates every reference.

An inserted instance of a block definition, carrying its own insertion point, scale, rotation, and attribute values while displaying the shared geometry.

A text template placed inside a block that prompts for or stores a value when the block is inserted, such as a part number, room name, or revision tag.

A process that gathers attribute values from block references in a drawing and writes them to a table, spreadsheet, or external file for schedules and quantity takeoffs.

A block enhanced with parameters and actions, letting a single definition stretch, rotate, flip, or display alternate visibility states when manipulated in the drawing.

A link that displays another drawing's content inside the current file without merging it, so changes to the source drawing appear when the reference is reloaded.

A command that converts external references into permanent internal blocks, making the drawing self-contained but breaking the live link to the source files.

Two xref insertion methods: attached references propagate to drawings that reference the host, while overlaid references do not, preventing circular nesting in shared files.

A wizard-driven tool that collects properties or attributes from drawing objects and outputs them to a table, CSV, or spreadsheet, optionally updating on demand.

Content from another Windows application, such as a spreadsheet or image, embedded or linked into a drawing; it plots as raster-like content and cannot be edited with drawing tools.

A pixel-based picture attached to a drawing as a reference, with adjustable insertion point, scale, rotation, and clipping boundary but no vector editing capability.

A named sheet setup within a drawing file containing a paper size, plot settings, title block geometry, and viewports; one drawing can hold several layouts.

A saved group of plotting settings, including printer or plotter, paper size, plot area, plot scale, and plot style table, that can be applied to layouts or imported between drawings.

A file mapping object colors or named styles to plotted properties such as lineweight, screening, and line endings, applied during plotting to control output appearance.

A plotted thickness assigned to objects or layers, displayed on screen optionally and used by the plotter to render lines at consistent printed widths.

The ratio between drawing units and plotted paper units, set in page setup or the plot dialog, determining how large geometry appears on the printed sheet.

A command that assembles multiple layouts or drawing files into a single plot or file output such as PDF or DWF, processed as one job.

The portion of a layout or model space chosen for output, such as the whole layout, the current view, a window, or a defined extents boundary.