Saving the Options to a Profile
So far, you have dedicated quite a bit of time to reviewing the numerous features in the Options dialog box. As you may have noticed, there are well over 100 different settings you can control. Although having over 100 different settings provides you with the ability to set up your drawing environment exactly the way you want, it doesn’t necessarily help if you must work on a different computer temporarily, one that doesn’t have your custom setup. A worse situation occurs when someone else works on your computer while you’re gone, and wipes out your custom settings with their own custom settings. Not only is it frustrating to be forced to redefine your custom settings, it may be impossible to completely restore them if you can’t remember what your settings were.
Fortunately, the Options dialog box provides a simple method for saving and restoring your custom settings. By saving your custom settings in a Profile, not only can you restore settings if they are accidentally lost, but you can even copy your custom settings to another computer.
In the following exercise, you create two profiles and use them to restore default and custom settings in the Options dialog box.
Exercise 3.3 Creating Profiles
1. |
Launch AutoCAD, and start a new drawing from scratch. |
2. |
From the Tools menu, choose Options, then choose the Profiles tab. The Profiles tab appears in the Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 3.18. If no one has added any profiles, the only profile that displays in the Available profiles list is the <<Unnamed Profile>>, which is AutoCAD’s default profile. Figure 3.18. AutoCAD’s default profile, the <<Unnamed Profile>>, is the current profile.
Notice that the current profile is listed at the top of the Options dialog box, and in Figure 3.18, the <<Unnamed Profile>> is the current profile. When you make changes in the Options dialog box, it is very important to note which profile is current because those changes are immediately saved to the current profile. Next, you create two new profiles that contain the current default settings. |
3. |
Click the Add to List button to display the Add Profile dialog box (see Figure 3.19). Figure 3.19. The Add Profile dialog box with the proper settings for the Default Profile.
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4. |
In the Profile name text box, type DefaultProfile.
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5. | |
6. |
Click the Apply & Close button. |
7. |
Click the Add to List button again to create another profile. |
8. |
In the Profile name text box, type My Profile
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9. |
In the Description text box, type This is my Custom Profile
, as shown in Figure 3.20. Figure 3.20. The Add Profile dialog box with the proper settings for My Profile.
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10. |
Click the Apply & Close button. Two new profiles appear in the Available profiles list, as shown in Figure 3.21. The two new profiles you created currently have the same settings as the current profile. For this exercise, you will only modify settings in the newly created My Profile. Figure 3.21. Two new profiles appear in the Available Profiles list.
Modifying the settings in a profile is simple. To do so, make the profile you wish to modify the current profile. Then, make the desired changes to the settings. |
11. |
In the Available Profiles list, select My Profile, then click the Set Current button. From this point on, any changes that you make to settings in the Options dialog box are saved to My Profile. |
12. |
Choose the Display tab. |
13. |
In the Window Elements area, set the Text Lines in Command Line Window value to 6. |
14. |
In the Crosshair Size area, set the value to 25, as shown in Figure 3.22. Figure 3.22. The new values are entered in the Display tab.
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15. |
Click the Apply button, then click OK. |
The new values are saved to the current profile, and AutoCAD resets the drawing environment based on the new values, as shown in Figure 3.23. Notice that the crosshairs are much larger than the default size (originally set to 5), and the command-line window can now display six lines of text rather than the three lines displayed when you first launched AutoCAD.
Figure 3.23. The new values are saved to the current profile, and AutoCAD implements the changes.
In addition to storing settings of the Options dialog box, Profiles can also save the display and position of toolbars. In the next exercise, you add a toolbar to My Profile.
Exercise 3.4 Adding Toolbars to the Current Profile
1. |
Continuing from the previous exercise, move your pointer over any existing toolbar, and right-click. |
2. |
From the shortcut menu, choose Customize to display the Customize dialog box (see Figure 3.24). If needed, select the Toolbars tab to make it active. Figure 3.24. Toolbar settings can be saved with the current profile.
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If you select an empty box next to a toolbar name, AutoCAD adds the toolbar to the screen. For this exercise, be sure the ACAD menu is selected from the Menu Group drop-down list.
3. Scroll to the top of the Toolbars list, then check the box next to Dimension to display the Dimension toolbar shown in Figure 3.24.
The profile named My Profile now contains the information necessary to display the Dimension toolbar, and to restore it to its current position onscreen. To demonstrate this, continue with the exercise and change the current profile to Default Profile, which restores AutoCAD’s original settings and removes the Dimension toolbar.
4. Click the Close button to dismiss the Customize dialog box.
5. From the Tools menu, choose Options, then choose the Profiles tab.
6. In the Available Profiles list, choose Default Profile, then click the Set Current button, then click OK.
When you set Default Profile as the current profile, AutoCAD restores its settings, closing the Dimension toolbar, and setting the crosshairs and the command-line window back to their original sizes. To restore the Dimension toolbar, and increase the sizes of the crosshairs and the command-line window, make My Profile the current profile.
The Profile tab has several commands that allow you to manage profiles. You can rename a profile by highlighting it in the Available Profiles list and clicking the Rename button. Similarly, you can delete unwanted profiles by highlighting them in the Available Profiles list and clicking the Delete button. (AutoCAD allows you to highlight only one profile at a time.)
You can also import and export profiles. To export a profile, highlight it in the Available Profiles list and click the Export button. When you export a profile, AutoCAD saves it as an .ARG file in the folder you select. After a profile is saved as an .ARG file, you can import it by clicking the Import button.
Finally, if you want to set a profile back to AutoCAD’s original default settings, highlight the profile in the Available Profiles list and click the Reset button.
Note
As you adjust your system it is a good idea to save your profile to a file for safekeeping. In some cases you can also create profiles and load them on other machines to help them match your system. When loading an ARG from one machine to another, you must be sure that your installation paths and operating system are identical. The ARG will be imported into the Registry and change where AutoCAD thinks its files are located as well as how to work with the operating system. This can cause serious problems if the systems do not match.