By Martin Phelps
Along with the “AutoCorrect” file, as described in my previous blog, AutoCAD also has a “Synonym” list. This list can also be edited by the user.
It may be useful to add “Synonyms” if the user is moving from a competitor’s product to AutoCAD. Since all CAD applications have similar commands and functions, these commands and functions in other products may go by different names.
Adding “Synonyms” will help the new user to transition from their previous CAD product and command description, with which they are familiar, to the equivalent AutoCAD command.
For example: -
MicroStation has “Levels”, whereas AutoCAD has “Layers”.
MicroStation has “Cells”, whereas AutoCAD has “Blocks”.
Similar function but different name.
Editing the “Synonym” list will allow the user to link a one-word description to an AutoCAD command. Once added, the user can type in the “Synonym” and access the related AutoCAD command, which has been linked to the “Synonym”.
To open and edit the “Synonym” file, select “Edit Synonym List” from the “Customisation” panel of the “Manage” tab in the ribbon menu, as shown in Figure 1.
On selecting “Edit Synonym List”, the file will open in “Notepad”, as shown in Figure 2.
By default, within this file there are 85 “Synonyms” linked to AutoCAD commands.
Note: - The same “Synonym” cannot be linked to more than one AutoCAD command, however multiple “Synonyms” can be linked to the same AutoCAD command.
Example 1, from the “Edit Synonym List” file, by typing “SPRING”, “THREAD”, “SPIRAL”, or “COIL”, all these options will access the “HELIX” AutoCAD command.
Example 2, by typing “STEPPED”, “PARALLEL”, or “WALL”, these options will access the AutoCAD “OFFSET” command.
When the “Synonym” is typed, the AutoCAD command linked to the “Synonym” will appear between brackets, behind the “Synonym” in the “Command Line”, as shown in Figure 3.
Pressing “Enter” will access the command.
To add a “Synonym”, open the “Edit Synonym List” file, find a suitable location for the “Synonym”. Type the required “Synonym,” for example, “CELL”, followed by a comma, (,) followed by a space, followed by an asterisk (*), and then the related AutoCAD command, in this case “BLOCK”, as shown in Figure 4.
The “Synonym” can also contain Underscores (_) or Dashes (-), as shown in Figure 5.
Once the file has been edited, save the file.
Note: - All the text in the “Edit Synonyms List” file is in Uppercase, and the AutoCAD commands are in alpha numeric order, both are not essential, however this standardises the file contents, keeps the file contents in a logical order and makes it easy to locate the relevant AutoCAD commands.
However, If the “Synonym” is typed in at the “Command Line”, AutoCAD will not recognise it, this is because the changes to the “Edit Synonyms List” file have not initialised.
To initialise the changes, type “Reinit”, this will display the “Re-initialisation dialogue box, as shown in Figure 6.
Check the box, “PGP File” and “Okay” the dialogue, this will confirm all changes made to the PGP file, the “Synonyms” will now be recognised.