You can build tool palettes using several methods.
Methods for Creating Tool Palettes
- Use the tool palette shortcut menu to create a new, empty palette.
- Use a DesignCenter shortcut menu to create a tool palette tab with predetermined content.
Methods for Adding Tools to Tool Palettes
You can add tools to a new or existing tool palette using several methods.
- Drag tools from your drawing. Tools include geometric objects, dimensions, fills, blocks, xrefs, raster images, and tables. You can also add lights, cameras, visual styles, and materials (not available in AutoCAD LT).
- Drag drawings, blocks, and hatches from DesignCenter. Drawings that are added to a tool palette are inserted as blocks when dragged into the drawing.
- Drag toolbar buttons from the Customize dialog box.
- Drag commands from the Command List pane on the Customize User Interface (CUI) Editor.
- Paste tools from one tool palette to another.
Customize Tool Palettes
Once you've created a palette, modify it to suit your needs:
- Rearrange the tools by dragging or sorting them.
- Add text and separator lines.
- Move a tool palette tab up and down the list of tabs by using the shortcut menu or Customize dialog box.
- Delete tool palettes that you no longer need. (Tool palettes that are deleted are lost unless they are first saved by exporting them to a file.)
- Set the path to your tool palettes on the Files tab in the Options dialog box. This path can be to a shared network location.
- Associate a customizable tool palette group with each panel on the ribbon.
- Change the palette's read-only status in the Palettes folder. If a tool palette is set to be read-only, a lock icon is displayed in a lower corner of the tool palette. This indicates that you cannot modify the tool palette beyond changing its display settings and rearranging the icons.