If all your life choices have brought you to a point where you’re involved in the construction, engineering, or fabrication of things, you might find yourself needing to use Autodesk AutoCAD to get things done. When it comes to CAD software, this is arguably the most popular option (though it may frequently be pitted against Solidworks).

However, the more complex an application is, the harder it can be to get the hang of it. One major step to streamlining your workflow and improving efficiency in AutoCAD is by learning as many shortcuts as you can. You probably can’t memorize every single shortcut, but you can certainly do so for the ones most used in your workflow.

Basic Shortcuts for Everyday Use

As a beginner in any application (you won’t be a beginner for long with the right tutorials), you should make sure that you have the most basic keyboard shortcuts down to a T. These will likely be used regardless of your specific workflow. The good thing is that some of these AutoCAD shortcuts are the same whether you’re using AutoCAD or Microsoft Word.

• Copy Object: Ctrl + C

• Cut Object: Ctrl + X

• Paste Object: Ctrl + V

• Undo: Ctrl + Z

• Redo: Ctrl + Y

• New Drawing: Ctrl + N

• Save Drawing: Ctrl + S

• Open Drawing: Ctrl + O

• Select All Objects: Ctrl + A

Advanced Shortcuts for Extra Efficiency

You might feel like the last set of shortcuts I gave were way too basic for your needs. If you consider yourself to be an advanced user, then you might prefer these AutoCAD hotkeys, which are bound to add a little extra boost to your workflow and make your design process a little more efficient.

One thing that can help make the design process more silky-smooth is being able to zip through different drawing modes with the tap of a single button.

• Toggle Object Snap Mode (OSNAP): F3

• Toggle 3D Object Snap Mode (3DOSNAP): F4

• Toggle Grid Mode: F7

• Toggle Ortho Mode: F8

• Toggle Snap Mode: F9

• Toggle Palette: Ctrl + 3

• Switch to Next Drawing: Ctrl + Tab

• Switch to Previous Drawing: Ctrl + Shift + Tab

• Switch to Next Tab In Current Drawing: Ctrl + Page Down

• Switch to Previous Tab in Current Drawing: Ctrl + Page Up

Shortcuts for Drawing and Editing

Drawing and editing is at the heart of what AutoCAD is all about, because what’s the point of using the application if you can’t even draw? 

Set yourself apart from the other people drawing on this application by equipping yourself with as many of these drawing-focused keyboard shortcuts for AutoCAD as possible. Beware, there are a lot of them!

• Create an Arc: A

• Create a Circle: C

• Create a 3D Cylinder: CYL

• Create a Wide Ring: DO

• Create Single-Line Text Object: DT

• Create an Ellipse: EL

• Create a Straight Line: L

• Create a Polyline: PL

• Create a Point Object: PO

• Create a Closed Polyline: POL

• Create a 3D Pyramid: PYR

• Create a Rectangular Polyline: REC

• Create Solid Triangles or Quadrilaterals: SO

• Create a Smooth Curve Through Points: SPL

• Create a Torus: TOR

• Create a Wedge: WE

• Create an Infinitely-Long Line: XL

Of course, creating shapes for your drawings is one thing, and hopefully, with these shortcuts, that will become much easier. However, you might need some additional hotkeys to refine and edit what you’re making. Here they are below:

• Align Object(s) with Other Object(s): AL

• Bevel Object Edge: CHA

• Set Color: COL

• Create Equally-Spaced Points on Object: DIV

• Remove Objects: E

• Extend Object to Meet Other Object’s Edge: EX

• Extrude 2D Object or 3D Face: EXT

• Round Object Edges: F

• Create Object Groups: G

• Join Similar Objects Into Single Object: J

• Change Object Length: LEN

• Move Object Specified Distance: M

• Assign Object Properties to Other Object: MA

• Create a Mirrored Copy of Object: MI

• Remove Unused Items in Drawing: PU

• Rotate Objects Around Point: RO

• Enlarge or Reduce Objects: SC

Navigational Shortcuts in the Workspace

When creating complex drawings, you’ll find yourself needing to very easily navigate through the workspace. Of course, you could just grab your mouse and move to the appropriate tool, but that wastes seconds and potentially minutes over a full day. You can improve efficiency in AutoCAD by using these navigational shortcuts.

• Zoom Entire Drawing to Fit Screen: Z + A

• Zoom in to Specified Window: Z + W

• Return to Previous Zoom Level: Z + P

• Zoom In: Ctrl + Shift + Z

• Zoom Out: Ctrl + Shift + A

• Zoom In/Out: Mouse Scroll Wheel

• Zoom Mode: Z

• Pan Mode: P or Click + Drag Middle Mouse Button

Customizing Your Own Shortcuts

One of the best AutoCAD tips that you might not know, even as someone who has been using the application for a long time, is that you can actually customize the keyboard shortcuts and hotkeys that are set by default. So, if there’s some reason why you don’t like the ones the folks at Autodesk have already set, you can change them up. To do that, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Manage tab on the Ribbon.

2. Click the “User Interface” in the customization section.

3. In the window that pops up, open the Keyboard Shortcuts section.

4. From here, you can either drag a command from the Command List below and set a new key combo for it, or choose one of the existing commands and change its keyboard shortcut.

Common Mistakes and Tips

When it comes to learning shortcuts for AutoCAD, it can seem very overwhelming since there are so many of them. This article alone contains several, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg to be completely honest. However, I can give you a few tips that could potentially make using shortcuts a little easier for you.

• Don’t feel pressured to learn 10 new shortcuts each day; prioritize the ones you use the most. You have a specific workflow, so look out for actions you tend to perform over and over and find out if there’s a shortcut for that.

• If you frequently use another app that uses a different shortcut for an identical command in AutoCAD, you might find it easier to change AutoCAD’s shortcuts to match the ones you’re used to.

• Also, simply feel free to change shortcuts if you just feel like the default is hard to remember.

AutoCAD is an engineer or designer’s best friend, but for it to reach that status in your life, you need to learn how to make it your best friend. One way to do that is by getting it to do what you want it to do, and fast, and shortcuts and hotkeys can help you get there (AutoCAD courses can help too!).

Shortcuts stick best when you use them every single day, so don't be afraid to try to incorporate at least one new shortcut into your workflow every day, especially for tasks that you do rather often. If you're an architect, here are some other articles that you might find very useful.