Opening An Existing File Autocad

To open an existing fi le for further editing, click the Open button from the Quick Access Toolbar.

Open button from the Quick Access Toolbar

The following dialog box will appear:

Select File Dialog Box

Specify the hard drive, and the folder your file resides in. AutoCAD drawing fi les have the extension *.dwg. If you want to open a single file, select the file and click open (you can also double-click on the file’s name). If you want to open more than one file, select the first file name, then hold the [Ctrl] key on the keyboard, and click the other file names. You can open as many files as you wish. When you are done, click Open.

Quick View
If you open more than one file, you can use two functions in the Status Bar: Quick View Drawings and Quick View Layouts.

Quick View Drawings and Quick View Layouts.

If these two buttons are switched on, you will see the following:

Drawings and Layout Quick View

You will see all of the open files. In order to jump from one fi le to another, click the window of the desired file. When you hover over any of the files, you will see the layouts of the file, and the picture will change to:

layouts of the file

Also, you will see a small toolbar at the bottom of the screen that will enable
you to:

• Close the Quick View
• Open a file
• Start a new file
• Pin Quick View Drawings

If you right-click the Quick View button of any fi le, the following menu will appear:

right-click the Quick View button menu

• You can close all files
• Close other files except the current file
• Save all files
• Close the current file

Organizing Files
Make sure you are in the View tab on the Ribbon. There are several ways to organize the files by using the Windows panel.

Windows panel

The Switch Drawings button will show you a list of the opened files. The current fi le will be listed with a checkmark (P). If you want another file, select the name of the desired file. The rest of file commands, such as Save, Save As, and Exit, are identical to those in other Windows applications.