Expert: Bill DeShawn - 11/5/2007

Question
I have a customized menu in r14 what is the best way to import it into autocad 2008. I have all the software between both versions so if it involves impoting to a lower version first that would be ok. any help would help me

Answer
John:
Well, first you will need to save your workspace before doing anything else.  So, use the WORKSPACE command and save it as John.  Then use the menuload command or CUILOAD command to load your "legacy" MNS file.  You will only need to do that once, because from that moment on, there will be a CUI file with the same name that will be automatically compiled  for subsequent loading.  The menu system is completely changed, as you probably have figured out by now.  Before you edit the CUI file, create a system for backing it up.  And back it up after every successful edit.  It takes practice to get the sequences right when editing the menu.  It's drag-and-drop friendly, so, that's the good part.  OK, now, after the menu is loaded and working, because we don't want to lose our Version 2008 menu functionality, we're going to need to put ACAD.CUI back in control as the main menu.  Once that's done, then you will need to create an ENTERPRISE menu.  It would be nice to type in ENTERPRISEMENU and then type a path and filename, but Autodesk made that a read-only system variable so that you have to jump through some hoops to do it.  

I'm using 2007, but this should be pretty close:
On each user's workstation, in AutoCAD, click Tools » Options.
In the Options dialog box, Files tab, click the plus sign (+) next to Customization Files to expand the list.
Click the plus sign next to Enterprise Customization File to open it.
Select the item below Main Customization Files and click Browse. (this last sentence is in the help file, but the say I see it, it could be eliminated.  When you expand "Enterprise Customization File" then press "Browse").  
In the Select a File dialog box, browse to the location of the enterprise customization file. Click Open.
The CUI file must be saved in a shared network location that users can access.

In the Options dialog box, click OK.
Note In the Deployment wizard, you designate the enterprise CUI file in the wizard's Specify Settings page. For more information about designating an enterprise CUI file in the Deployment wizard, see “Select Search Paths and File Locations” in the Network Administrator's Guide.

If you want to complain about it, be my guest.  I've logged in every complaint possible about how slow it is to edit compared to an MNS file.  It bites.

Let me know how it goes

Bill DeShawn
http://my.sterling.net/~bdeshawn