by John Flanagan
Introduction
Many new AutoCAD users are not clear about the function of the status bar. Located in the lower-right corner of the screen, the status bar provides quick access to some of the most used drawing aids and tools.
Default Status Bar Display
How to use the Status Bar
1. If the status bar is not currently displayed, enter STATUSBAR on the command line and enter 1.
2. Some icons are toggles, meaning a single click turns functionality on or off. The blue background
indicates a feature is on (active).
3. Click on the arrow, or right-click anywhere on the Object Snap icon to display the associated
menu.
a. Check or uncheck individual snap settings.
b. Click Object Snap Settings to open the Object Snap tab of the Drafting Settings Dialogue box.
4. For tools that have option settings, right-click and select the menu option to display the settings
dialogue box for the tool: For example:
- Right-click Grid Display and select Grid Settings to set the grid and snap spacing.
- Right-click Object Snap Tracking and select the settings options to set the object snap tracking settings.
5. Hover over a tool and press F1 to open the Help topic for that tool. For example:
- Hover over Ortho mode and press F1.
- Hover over Workspace Switching and press F1.
How to Customise the Status Bar
Select which tools you want to display on the status bar and which ones you want to hide.
- Click the Customisation button located in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Select the tools you want to show or hide. For example:
a Check LineWeight to display it on screen.
b Clear Dynamic Input to hide it.
Note: A check mark indicates a control icon is currently displayed in the Status Bar.
Tip: Some function keys perform the same toggle action as controls on the status bar.
Hover over the Grid icon and you will see that the grid display can be toggled on and off with the
F7 function key.
Hover over the Ortho mode icon and you will see that it can be toggled on and off with the F8
function key.