Customization, Productivity, and Best Practices
Interface customization
The CUI editor controls menus, ribbon panels, toolbars, keyboard shortcuts, mouse buttons and double-click actions. A partial CUIx can be loaded alongside the main file, and an enterprise CUIx lets a CAD manager lock company menus while users keep their own workspace. Workspaces save visible palettes and panels per user.
Productivity tools
Command aliases live in acad.pgp (Express Tools > Command Aliases, or edit the file in a support path); after editing, run REINIT to reload it. Scripts (.scr) run a list of commands with spaces as Enter, which makes them fast but brittle for repetitive plotting. Action Recorder turns a command sequence into a reusable macro, and tool palettes store blocks, hatches and command macros (^C^C prefix) with preset properties. AutoLISP routines load from the Startup Suite or acaddoc.lsp.
Drawing health and best practice
Keep geometry ByLayer, name layers to a documented convention, avoid exploding blocks and dimensions, and place block geometry on layer 0. Before issue, run PURGE with nested items and AUDIT, and confirm every xref resolves. Autosave writes .sv$ files, backups write .bak, and DRAWINGRECOVERY finds files after a crash. WBLOCK exports selected objects to a clean new drawing, the standard cure for a bloated or corrupt file.
Worked example
A user wants the alias CC for CIRCLE. Open acad.pgp, add CC,*CIRCLE under the command alias section, save it to a support path, then run REINIT with PGP File ticked. Restarting AutoCAD also works, but REINIT is faster and confirms the file was found.
Traps
Editing acad.pgp in Program Files on a locked-down machine or losing the edit at the next upgrade; scripts failing because a space is missing; macros without ^C^C leaving a command active; loading LISP from a path outside the support file search path.