About Creating Drawing Environment Configurations for Users

Create profiles and workspaces to customize the drawing environments of users to meet company or project requirements.

Creating Profiles

Profiles store drawing environment settings, such as the following:

• Default search and project file paths
• Template file locations
• Initial folder specified in file navigation dialog boxes
• Default linetype and hatch pattern files
• Printer defaults

Profile information is typically set on the Files tab of the Options dialog box and stored in the system registry. Each time you make a change to an option, setting, or other value, the software updates the current profile.

You create and manage profiles on the Profiles tab of the Options dialog box. You can create profiles for different users or projects, and you can share profiles by importing and exporting them as ARG files. AutoCAD MEP 2024 toolset includes several profiles for working with metric and imperial units. The name of the current profile is displayed at the top of the Options dialog box.

To access the Options dialog box, click Options.

Creating Workspaces

Workspaces are sets of ribbon tabs and palettes that are grouped and organized so you can work in a custom, task-oriented drawing environment. The software includes sample workspaces that are tailored for different disciplines and tasks.

While profiles save environment settings including many of your user options, drafting settings, paths, and other values, workspaces control the display of ribbons and palettes in the drawing area. You create and manage workspaces using the Workspace Settings dialog box, and the Customize User Interface (CUI) dialog box.

Users can create their own workspaces, or, in design situations where more control over the drawing environment of users is required, CAD managers can create read-only workspaces that are shared by many users. This can be helpful for maintaining company or project standards.

For more information on working with workspaces, see Create Task-Based Workspaces in the AutoCAD online help and Create an Enterprise CUIx File in the AutoCAD Customization online help.

Note: The software automatically adds object-specific shortcut commands to the context ribbon of an object. For example, the context ribbon of a duct object includes commands for working with ducts, such as commands for calculating duct system sizes and for specifying duct lengths by breaking or merging segments.