Use this dialog box to define options for the Task Pane, drawings, drawing queries, save options for drawing objects, drawing data sources, coordinate systems, and the system.
Specify Task Pane options.
Select the categories to display in Map Explorer. When you turn off the display of the category, all functionality associated with the category is still available.
These settings are user-specific and affect any drawing that you open. These settings take effect the next time you start AutoCAD Map 3D toolset.
Show or hide the Task Pane at startup.
Show or hide the Properties palette at startup.
Specify options for attached drawings, coordinate transformations, and drawing-specific data sources.
Specify the default active/inactive status for drawings you attach to the current drawing and whether the active status is saved with the current drawing.
Specify how AutoCAD Map 3D toolset performs coordinate transformations.
Specify whether the units used in the coordinate system of an attached drawing are scaled to the units used in the coordinate system of the current drawing.
For example, if an attached drawing uses meters and the current drawing uses U.S. Survey Feet, you can scale text and blocks so that their size or scale measures in feet rather than meters.
If you do not set the For Changes In Units option, AutoCAD Map 3D toolset doesn't size or scale text and block objects. In that case, a block that is 5 meters long in an attached drawing will be 5 feet long when you bring it into the current drawing.
Do not change this setting after you bring objects into the current drawing, or you may introduce unintended changes to text and blocks when you save them back to their source drawings.
Adjust the size and scale of text and blocks to correct for map distortion introduced when you represent a spherical object (earth) in a Cartesian coordinate system.
For example, two objects, located at the northern and southern extremes of a map, of equal length in coordinate system X will remain the same length when transformed to coordinate system Y.
If you don't select this option, the two objects will be scaled to different lengths in coordinate system Y according to the relative map distortion (or grid scale factor).
This option is not available if For Changes In Units under Adjust Sizes And Scales is not selected.
Adjust the angle of text and blocks to correct for map distortion due to the convergence angle (the deviation of the Y axis of a Cartesian coordinate system from true north).
Specify that text and blocks that have a rotation value of zero in the source drawing are adjusted to correct distortion due to the convergence angle (the deviation of the Y axis of a Cartesian coordinate system from true north).
If you set this option, AutoCAD Map 3D toolset calculates the convergence angle for text and blocks with a zero rotation value. If you don't set this option, AutoCAD Map 3D toolset does not rotate text and blocks with a zero rotation value even if there is a convergence angle.
This option is not available if For Map Distortion under Adjust Rotations is not selected.
Adjust the elevation (Z axis) of objects when you select For Changes In Units and For Map Distortion under Adjust Sizes And Scales.
Specify drawing-specific data source options.
Specify the maximum number of SQL conditions that are stored in the SQL Condition History dialog box and in the Table Filter History dialog box. Once the history list is full, the oldest, or first added, condition is removed from the list to make room for a new condition. If memory is limited on your system, keep this number low.
Use the Query tab to specify query options and default settings for queries.
Save the current query definition with the current drawing, even if you have not saved the query. When you next open this drawing, the query loads as the current query definition.
Specify whether text values in Property Condition queries must match the case used in the query definition.
Specify whether the selection set contains the items retrieved by the query. To use this selection set when editing, enter p (to use the previous selection set) when prompted to select objects. (As soon as you select other objects, AutoCAD Map 3D toolset clears this selection set and replaces it with your new selection.)
If your query finds a large number of objects, this feature can take time. If you do not need to put the objects into a selection set, clear this check box to save time during queries.
Specify whether AutoCAD Map 3D toolset creates associative hatch objects for hatch objects created by the ADEFILLPOLYG, ADEQUERY (using alter properties), MAPTOPOQUERY, and MAPTHEMATIC (using fill) commands.
If this box is not selected, hatch objects created by these commands are nonassociative hatch objects.
Set options to use when displaying blocks and raster images in Preview Query mode.
Specify whether to show only the insertion point of inserted blocks in a Preview query and not the objects. An insertion point is represented as an X.
Specify whether a Preview query displays only the clipping boundary of raster images.
Specify the location to use for definitions of layers, linetypes, blocks, etc. when running a query in Preview mode.
Select Current to speed up the preview, though some items may not display exactly as they will when the query is executed in Draw mode.
Set options to use when creating Location queries.
Specify the boundary color for And and Or conditions when you edit a Location query and click Show.
Specify the boundary color for Not conditions when you edit a Location query and click Show.
Specify whether Location queries reference the entire bounding area of hatch, solid, and raster objects or only the bounding edge. (The bounding edge for raster objects is the clipping boundary.)
When you select this option, a hatch boundary is treated as an area. If the query location is on any part of the hatch object, even if it touches only a hatch boundary, the whole hatch object (the hatch and the hatch boundary) is included in the selection.
When you clear this option, the hatch boundary is treated as an edge. The query location must intersect or enclose the boundary edge of the hatch object to include the object in the selection. If the query selects only the space inside the hatch area, but not the hatch boundary, the hatch object (the hatch and the hatch boundary) is not selected.
This setting affects the ADEQUERY, MAPTOPOQUERY, and MAPTHEMATIC commands.
Specify whether AutoCAD Map 3D toolset uses the block's insertion point or its bounding box as its location to determine whether a block meets a Location condition.
Specify whether AutoCAD Map 3D toolset uses the text's insertion point or its bounding box as its location to determine whether text meets a Location condition.
Specify the default joining operator to use in the Define Query dialog box.
Specify that both conditions must be met for the object to be included in the query.
Specify that either condition can be met for the object to be included in the query.
Use the Save Back tab to specify options for saving queried objects back to attached drawings.
Set options for adding objects to the save set.
Specify the behavior of objects when you save them back to their source drawings.
Save changes to block definitions back to attached drawings.
Save changes to layer definitions back to attached drawings.
Save changes to text style definitions back to attached drawings.
Create a file of all changes made to each source drawing. The history file has the same name as the source drawing file, but has the extension .hst.
Create a back up file of attached drawings before saving changes. Backup drawing files have the extension .bak.
Use the Data Source tab to set options for Data View behavior, data source path name display, and database file associations.
Specify the number of Data Views to use when displaying tables.
Open a new Data View window for each open table. Move between tables by clicking the window you want.
Open only one Data View window. When you open a new table, the previous table is automatically closed.
Specify the behavior of the Data View.
Open the Data View in read-only mode. When this option is selected, you cannot edit data in the Data View.
Save all formatting changes, such as column width, font, color, or borders, that you make in the Data View.
Specify whether the Data View window remains on top of all other windows, even when it is not the active window.
Click Associate to display the Associate Database Versions dialog box where you specify the database version to use for each database file extension. When you drop a database file on the Map Explorer tab, AutoCAD Map 3D toolset checks the file extension and uses the specified version of the database software.
Select the default driver to use when you drop an MDB file onto the Map Explorer tab.
Use the Multi-User tab to specify options for user login and object locking. You must have Superuser privileges to modify multi-user options.
Set options that apply to all users in a multi-user environment.
Require users to log in before using AutoCAD Map 3D toolset.
Lock objects that are selected for the save set. If an object is locked, other AutoCAD Map 3D toolset users can view it, but cannot edit it.
AutoCAD users who do not have AutoCAD Map 3D toolset cannot open a drawing that an AutoCAD Map 3D toolset user has open.
You cannot disable object locking while drawings are active.
If you enabled Force User Login on the Multi-User tab, you must log in as a Superuser to edit System options.
Use the System tab to specify system settings.
Log files keep track of error messages and other AutoCAD Map 3D toolset system messages. If the log file is active, it is updated each time you use AutoCAD Map 3D toolset. To save space on your disk, you can delete or archive the log file and start a new one.
Store error messages and other AutoCAD Map 3D toolset system messages in the log file. To turn off the AutoCAD Map Messages dialog box, clear this option. Error conditions will be reported in a bubble on the status bar. Click in the bubble to see the dialog box.
Specify a name for the log file. Click the browse button to search through existing names or to change the drive or directory. If you do not specify a name, AutoCAD Map 3D toolset creates the acadmap.log file in the current directory.
Specify which kind of error messages to store in the log file.
Specify the number of drawings that AutoCAD Map 3D toolset can have open in memory at the same time. This number does not limit the number of active drawings. AutoCAD Map 3D toolset opens and closes files in memory as it needs them.
If your system has a lot of memory, you can enter a larger number (up to 200) to make queries faster.
Specify the default directory for queries saved to external files.
Specify the default directory where your cache files are stored. Click Clear Cache to enhance performance of AutoCAD Map 3D toolset.
Specify the program behavior when opening drawings that contain coordinate system definitions. For more information about coordinate systems, see About Coordinate Systems.
Have the program ignore coordinate system definitions when opening drawing files.
Have the program prompt you for action when opening drawing files that contain coordinate system definitions.
Specify that, when opening drawing files that contain coordinate system definitions, the program will automatically add the coordinate system definitions from the drawing file to your coordinate system dictionary.
Specify the units to use to display geodetic distances.