Expert: Shauna Anderson - 4/6/2009

Question
i'm an avid autocad user, and mostly i've been using the 2002 version because that what i like the most. I have 2008 and i was wondering if there was a way to change the tab format to the previous ones. i don't really like the ribbons to much, and rather have the long strips on the page. is there  a way to do that?? thanks

Answer
Thanks for the question!

While you can't have that old interface back, there is a choice other than the tabs.

You can turn the tabs off by right-clicking on a tab and choosing "Hide Layout and Model tabs"

(Also thru OPTIONS then the DISPLAY tab and uncheck the box for "Display Layout and Model tabs.")

Since you still need to be able to move around in your drawing, at the bottom right of the ACAD window, right click and make sure the drawing status bar is on. (It is on if you have the ORTHO, OSNAP etc. buttons on the lower left)

With the tabs turned off, one of the options you can now add to the status bar is called Model/Layout. This adds two icons to the status bar, one will be for model space the other will be for layout space and has little flyout arrows to pick which layout to change to. You can restore the tabs from here with a right click on the icon.

If the "Display Layout and Model Tabs" is not turned off then your choice for the drawing status bar is Paper/Model and you don't have the option of adding Model/Layout.

Hope that helps!
-Shauna