How Do I Open Design Center in AutoCAD 2016?

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The Design Center in AutoCAD 2016 is a powerful tool that allows you to easily access and manage your drawing files, blocks, styles, layers, and other resources. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps to open the Design Center in AutoCAD 2016.

Step 1: Accessing the Design Center

To open the Design Center in AutoCAD 2016, you can use one of the following methods:

  • Method 1: Click on the View tab in the Ribbon menu. Then, click on the Toolbars panel and select DesignCenter.
  • Method 2: Type “ADC” or “DESIGNCENTER” in the command line and press Enter.
  • Method 3: Use the shortcut key combination Ctrl + 2 to open the Design Center.

Design Center

Step 2: Navigating through the Design Center

The Design Center consists of two main sections:

  1. Folders Pane:

    In this pane, you can browse your computer’s file system to locate drawing files, block libraries, xrefs (external references), and other resources that you want to access or insert into your current drawing.

  2. Contents Pane:

    In this pane, you can view the contents of folders selected in the Folders pane. The contents may include various resources such as blocks, layers, linetypes, text styles, dimension styles, and more.

Design Center Panes

Step 3: Using the Design Center

Once you have opened the Design Center and familiarized yourself with the panes, you can begin using it to access and manage your resources. Here are some common tasks:

  • Inserting Blocks: To insert a block from a block library or a drawing file, simply drag and drop it from the Design Center into your current drawing.
  • Copying Styles: You can copy styles such as text styles, dimension styles, or table styles from one drawing file to another by dragging and dropping them from the Design Center.
  • Managing Layers: The Design Center allows you to easily manage layers by copying, renaming, deleting, or changing their properties.
  • Browsing Drawing Files: You can navigate through drawing files in the Folders pane to quickly view their contents without opening them in AutoCAD.

Design Center Tasks

Conclusion

The Design Center in AutoCAD 2016 is an essential tool for accessing and managing your drawing files, blocks, styles, layers, and other resources. By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you should now be able to open the Design Center and use it effectively in your AutoCAD workflow.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about AutoCAD 2016’s features and tools, be sure to check out our other tutorials!