Alias editor
Up until version 14 you had to manually open the ACAD.PGP file to edit your hot keys. This worked fine, except for those people who didn't know how to open the file in Notepad and change them. Also, you had to re-open your drawing before the changes would take effect. Now, with the AutoCAD's bonus menu, you have a new command called ALIASEDIT. This can be found under [BONUS] [TOOLS] [COMMAND ALIAS EDITOR...]. The nice thing about using this is that as soon as you make a change, it is automatically updated in your current session of ACAD. It also shows you the complete set of both Aliases as well as Shell Commands. Under the Command Aliases tab you have three buttons - Add, Remove and Edit. Add will bring up a list of all AutoCAD commands, and a line for typing in your new Alias. If you can't find your command listed in the list, you can also type it in at the dialogue box's command line. Remove simply deletes the highlighted alias, and edit will allow you to edit the currently highlighted alias using the same dialogue box as found under add. If you are simply trying to find out if you have an alias already for a specific command, you can click on either Alias or AutoCAD Command at the top of the list and it will resort them alphabetically by whichever tab you select. Now, if you check under File, you will notice a bunch of extra subcommands for this command. You have the ability to export the PGP as a text file (TXT), as well as import. However, if you notice, both Import and Open will only see PGP files. The big difference between Import and Open is that Import will add to your existing PGP file any unique aliases from another PGP file. You can also send this to the printer, but I would suggest that instead of printing it out of here, send it to a TXT file and print it from WordPad instead. This will allow you to change the font size and make it easier to create a printout that will fit on the side of you monitor.
Colors:
You've probably seen people with different colors for the background of the drawing area, but did you know you could also change the color of the text window, the text and your crosshair? I sometimes have to go back into r13 and in order to quickly know which version of ACAD I'm working in, I've switched my crosshair in r13 to yellow. I also change the text window area and command prompt area to a light gray, which is much easier on the eyes. You should also know that while it shows Windows basic 16 colors, you could use the slider bars below to get the 16.7 million colors that are available to Windows. If you're monitor doesn't support that many colors, you won't be able to see them however. I once knew a guy who liked drawing with a magenta background, and while you could do this, it is very harsh on your eyes, but it does keep others from using your computer! The color selection button can be found under the Display tab of the Preferences Dialogue box. You can find Preferences under the Tools menu, or you can use the Aliasedit command above to create a new alias to access it easier.
