Adding Blocks and Details to the Tool Palette

In V50 we have created tool palettes to not only allow you to drag and drop details and blocks onto your drawing, but to also make it easy for you to add your own blocks. In the past it was difficult to do this because we used slide files and menus - both were not at all user friendly.

From a blog entry a couple of years ago:

To make your own tool palettes:

1. Press CTRL+3 to open the tool palette (if not already open)
2. Right click on the tool palette and pick New Palette. Give it a name you like, i.e. My Blocks
3. Now open up the Design Center using CTRL+2
4. Navigate to the folder where you have the blocks you want added to the palette
5. Select a block and drag it to your palette and let go

That's it! When you want to insert a block just drag it off the palette into your drawing or click on it.

Controlling the scale, rotation angle and properties of your palette blocks:

You can control a number of things about how your block gets inserted from a tool palette. Right click on your block and pick Properties. This will give you the properties you can control. Scale, Rotation and Prompt for Rotation are found in the Insert section. In the General section you will find options like Color, Layer and Linetype to set specific for those (otherwise they adopt the current layer and color settings).

Create as many palettes as you like. Next I'll show you how to group them and Export them to some one else's machine

Saving and sharing your palettes:

Once you have your palette(s) set the way you want them, you may want to be nice and share them with others. This will require and Export from you and an Import to them. But first you may want to combine them into a Group.

Right-Click on the tool palette and pick Customize Palettes... This will bring up a two-columned dialog box. On the left are the palettes in your AutoCAD - Note this is not a per-drawing thing - you only have ONE set of tool palettes. On the right you can right-click and pick New Group. Name this Group.

Now drag the palettes you want from the left into the right. Once this is done, right-click on the Group you created (or on the left right-click on just one palette if that is all you want to export) and pick Export. Give your Group a name and location you can later find. Copy this file to a network location or somewhere on another users computer. The file extension will be .xtp if you Exported a palette and .xtg if you Exported a Group.

To place the palettes on another computer, bring up the tool palette on their computer (CTRL+3) and pick Customize Palettes... and pick Import. Now right-click on the left or right depending on whether you are Importing a palette or a Group of palettes.

Once you have your palette(s) set the way you want them, you may want to be nice and share them with others. This will require and Export from you and an Import to them. But first you may want to combine them into a Group.

Right-Click on the tool palette and pick Customize Palettes... This will bring up a two-columned dialog box. On the left are the palettes in your AutoCAD - Note this is not a per-drawing thing - you only have ONE set of tool palettes. On the right you can right-click and pick New Group. Name this Group.

Now drag the palettes you want from the left into the right. Once this is done, right-click on the Group you created (or on the left right-click on just one palette if that is all you want to export) and pick Export. Give your Group a name and location you can later find. Copy this file to a network location or somewhere on another users computer. The file extension will be .xtp if you Exported a palette and .xtg if you Exported a Group.

To place the palettes on another computer, bring up the tool palette on their computer (CTRL+3) and pick Customize Palettes... and pick Import. Now right-click on the left or right depending on whether you are Importing a palette or a Group of palettes.