A marking menu is an interaction technique that provides a radial menu of actions. You select an action using either the menu, or a mark.
When you right-click in the graphics window, a radial menu displays, centered on the current cursor position. Menu items surround the cursor. Each item, or node, is associated with a sector of the circle. Each node displays the command name and its icon.
Draw a mark with the cursor as you move it toward a menu item, and then quickly release the mouse button to select that item. This action is also called gesture behavior.
After you become familiar with the marking menu layout, this technique helps to execute commands faster.
As with context menus, the marking menu contains commands specific to the current task. For example, in the sketch environment, the marking menu provides sketch commands, such as Center Point Circle, Line, Two Point Rectangle, and Finish Sketch. A shortened context menu (sometimes called an overflow menu) appears either above or below the marking menu, depending on the cursor position in the graphics window.
In the part modeling environment, the marking menu provides commands such as Hole, Extrude, Fillet, Work Plane.
In the Assembly environment, it provides assembly-specific functions like Constrain, Place Component, Move Component, Rotate Component. Except for Autodesk Inventor add-ins, the marking menu is available in each of the Autodesk Inventor work environments.