Optimize Application and Drawing File Performance

There are many factors that could impact the startup of the AutoCAD program along with the time it takes to open and save drawing files.

This topic outlines some of the factors that could impact the performance of the AutoCAD program during startup along with the opening and saving of a drawing file. For additional information on why you might be having performance issues with the AutoCAD program and drawing files, see the AutoCAD Support and Learning page on the Autodesk Knowledge Network.

Application startup

The startup of the application can be impacted by:

Hardware configuration

The speed of the processor (CPU), amount of physical and graphical memory, and the graphics card in your workstation all factor into the overall performance of the AutoCAD program.

When choosing a workstation to run the AutoCAD program, make sure to consider the types of objects you work with in a drawing and the size of the files that you work on. Drawings containing 3D objects require more physical and graphical memory than those that contain 2D objects only, but all types of objects in a drawing benefit from the use of a high-performance discrete non-gaming graphics card that can take advantage of hardware acceleration and other graphics features.

Hardware acceleration can improve, such features as:

• Display regeneration
• Viewing 2D and 3D objects; panning, zooming, orbiting
• Object selection
• Hatching
• Uncompressed textures and lighting

For information on hardware performance and acceleration, see

• About Evaluating and Improving Hardware Performance
• To Work With Graphics Performance Tuning
• Hardware Acceleration Troubleshooting Reference
• How to configure Autodesk software to use high performance graphics

Note: You can use the Performance Feedback Tool (PMSTART command) to record information about a reproducible performance problem and send that information to Autodesk for evaluation. The reported information can then be used to improve the software. For more information on the Performance Feedback Tool, see About Providing Performance Feedback.

Windows operating system (OS)

There are settings in the Windows OS that can impact the performance of both the OS and AutoCAD program.

Here are some OS settings that might impact performance:

• Amount of virtual memory available
• Amount of free disk space and number of temporary files
• Graphics cache

For information on improving performance of the OS and AutoCAD program, see

• About Memory Tuning
• About Improving Windows Performance

AutoCAD customization

The ability to customize the AutoCAD program provides you with virtually endless opportunities to improve your productivity. However, based on how the program is customized, the customization could introduce some performance issues.

The following provides some areas to look at if you are experiencing performance problems during startup:

• User profiles - User profiles are great for letting the AutoCAD program know where to find the standard support files along with any of your custom files. If you are experiencing a slow startup time and migrated your user profile from a previous release, try starting AutoCAD with a new profile. It is possible that the user profile contains a missing path or setting that has resulted in the creation of a bad user profile. For information on user profiles and resetting a user profile, see About Saving Program Settings as Profiles and To Reset and Set the Default User Profile Current.
• Too many executable files - Executable files, such as AutoLISP source (LSP) files, ObjectARX (CRX/ARX) files, and Managed .NET (DLL) files, extend the functionality of the AutoCAD program to improve your productivity. However, loading too many of these files during startup can result in the slowdown of the application and reduce available system resources. Consider demand loading your applications when they are needed rather than at startup. See About Auto-Loading and Running AutoLISP Routines for information on demand loading AutoLISP programs or the Developer Documentation for information on demand loading ObjectARX and Managed .NET applications.
• Broken LNK files - Shortcut link (LNK) files can have an impact on the startup of the AutoCAD program. AutoCAD supports the ability to utilize LNK files to map folders for some of its support and setting paths. During startup, AutoCAD tries to resolve the paths identified in any LNK files. If the path no longer exists it might take some time before the program stops trying to resolve the path.
• Missing or invalid plot path - Plotter configuration (PC3) files are used to configure physical and virtual plot devices. Older PC3 files migrated from an earlier release might use a device or network plot queue that no longer exists. Even though you might not be using the device, AutoCAD still tries to verify all devices associated with any PC3 files.

Opening a drawing

Drawing files can contain 2D/3D geometry and annotation along with external referenced files to represent your design. When you open a drawing, there are several factors that can affect how long it takes to open.

Here are some of the features that might help to speed up opening a drawing file:

• Partial opening of a drawing - Drawing files can be partially opened which can improve performance when working with large drawing files. For more information, see About Opening Part of a Large Drawing.
• External references and xrefs - Externally referenced files, such as images and xrefs, make it easy to reuse the same design information and reduce errors across many drawings. If your drawings contain many referenced files, consider whether the files are always needed or not. Unload referenced files that you don't always need and detach those references you no longer need. See About Improving Performance When Using Xrefs for more information.
• Audit and recover - It is possible that part of a drawing file has become invalid which can impact the opening of the drawing along with the overall drawing's stability. The Drawing Audit and Recovery features can help identify and fix issues with the drawing. For information on the Drawing Audit and Recovery features of the AutoCAD program, see About Repairing Damaged Drawing Files.

Saving a drawing

As drawings grow in complexity and size, they take longer to save. There are several factors that can impact save time.

Here are some of the features that might help to reduce the time it takes to save changes to a drawing file and reduce its size:

• Incremental saves - Incremental saves reduce the amount of time it takes to save changes to large files by appending changes to the end of the file. This feature can cause the file to increase in size. See About Reducing the Time to Save a Drawing for more information.
• Drawing file format - Use the latest drawing file format for best performance when saving your drawings. Saving to an earlier drawing file format could result in longer file save and open times. See About Saving Drawings to Previous Drawing File Formats and About Large Object Limits and Drawing File Compatibility for information on what might happen to a drawing saved to an earlier format.
• Unused named objects - Layers, block definitions, and styles that aren't being used can take up additional file space. For information on how to remove an unused named object, see To Purge All Unused Layers.
• Overlapping geometry - Overlapping objects can result in an increase to the size of the drawing file. See To Delete Duplicate Objects for information on how to remove overlapping and duplicate objects.