Lynn Allen's Blog

A Holiday AutoCAD Hip Tip

After a week of recuperation (it appears as though many people came down with the "AU Flu").  I'm not sure whether is was the dry air, all the hand shaking or just complete exhaustion that does it but I was quite out of it last week.  I did have the opportunity to attend a one-day AutoCAD preview class where we went over the new features in the next release of AutoCAD and let me just say "WOW!".  Now...mind you...of course that is all I am allowed to say but I can hardly wait to jump into the next release of AutoCAD with two feet!  The wonderful Heidi Hewett led the training class (as usual) and did a fabulous job.  I must admit it was great seeing Heidi so enthusiastic about the release as well.  If you visit her blog you'll see that Heidi came down with the AU Flu as well! 

I did muster up a picture of some of the key Autodesk University instructors on the last day of AU.  Most of these instructors have taught at all 16 Autodesk Universities (if you can imagine!).  We do a traditional lunch in celebration of a hard week well done.  These are instructors who have as many as 9 AU classes throughout the week and many of them have quite a following of fans.  AU just wouldn't be the same without them and this luncheon is the least we can do!

 

In the front left you can see Joseph Wurcher (of AU BLAUG fame) followed by past AUGI president Donnia Tabor-Hanson (in orange of course).  Fifth from the left side is the very popular Matt Murphy who won two top speaker awards last year.  In the very back we have a trio of stars - J.C. Malitzke who has won several speaker awards over the years, the fantastic past AUGI president and CAD Management pro Yoshi Honda, and the very amusing Bill Fane. Standing up to the right is David Cohn who has become quite the pro since joining the AUGI CAD Camp circuit, Karen Miletsky of Pratt Institute and in the very front right is Robert Bell who is joining us for the very first time at our luncheon.  I was truly honored to be in the presence of such great AU veterans! 

An AutoCAD Holiday Tip on Rebuilding the Quick Access Toolbar

While at AU is received a couple of emails asking how they can get their Quick Access Toolbar back in AutoCAD 2009.  As I have written before - the Quick Access Toolbar is saved "per workspace". If you bring forward a Workspace from a previous release, back before the world of Quick Access Toolbars existed then you'll find your Quick Access Toolbar there - but completely empty.  This kind of makes sense if you really think about it - doesn't it?

You can easily sort this all out in the CUI command.  Below you can see how my newly migrated "Paper Space" workspace looks in the CUI.

 

If you want to see what the Quick Access Toolbar should look like, you can restore one of the new workspaces such as "2D Drafting and Annotation" (shown below).

 

So how do you get your Quick Access Toolbar to reappear?  Easy...you're just going to grab each of the commands from the command list in the lower left panel and drag and drop it under your empty Quick Access Toolbar session as seen below!

 

It's that simple!  Just drag them one at a time and you'll be up and running in no time! 

Happy Holidays to you all - I am off to wrap some presents myself!

AU is Over...Let the Holidays Begin!

Well...with such a busy, bustling week and being so tightly booked I barely knew if I was coming or going I do believe it has taken me several days to recooperate!  AU was filled with energy and excitement as attendees attended their classes and went to the keynote sessions.  Everyone was SO nice to me in the hallways and I even received a few gifts from attendees!  (which, can I just say, is so unnecessary!).  I took some great photos and when I find my camera I'll be sure to post them!  (True...I am not sure what happened to it in all the hustle bustle of AU). 

First off - a big thank you to the nice gentleman who took the time to press a cd for me with a hummingbird video on it.  I thought I had alot of hummingbirds - this video must have had two dozen or more swarming around two different feeders - amazing! 

Check out the Hummingbird Video:

I would write you a nice ethank-you mail but I'm afraid I can't read it on the cd...so all I know is that you are [email protected] and that isn't going to cut it.

Also thank you to Chuck Pinkham for the very cool Red-Sox hat and the picture of my God-Bird - "Otto-CAD".   I am so proud!  :-)

Of course my good friend Yoshi Honda from Hawaii always brings me Kona coffee (can I just say you are so much nicer than I am!) which I gladly accept even though I never think to bring you anything.

The highlight for me is always the General Session at AU.  Here we always have a full house and I get to kick-start the week off with my annual welcome.  I believe anyone can view the General Session video, you'll just need to log-on and create an account.

As for my AU classes - my class called "90 Tips in 90 Minutes" turned out to be a success - Phew!  I think I was more nervous about this class (600+ attendees) than I was about my welcome during the General Session (9000+ attendees).  It was a wacky, fast paced class and those who attended were a fantastic, supportive audience - so thank you to all who attended.  If you want to view this class and you went to Autodesk University or are on Subscription just click here:  If you haven't logged onto AUOnline before you'll need to register to view it.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed AU, it's always nice going back home.  I am looking forward to a peaceful and calm December as the weeks before AU are always a little insane!