Have You Tried: Watch Your System Variables in AutoCAD

Learning
Have You Tried

Have you ever noticed the behavior of an AutoCAD command unexpectedly change after using a custom program or script? If so, you aren’t alone.

Some custom programs, while helpful, aren’t always the tidiest of guests in the AutoCAD environment. When some custom programs encounter unexpected errors or are abruptly cancelled, they don’t always restore temporary values of the system variables back to what they were beforehand.

Because of these changes, a command might no longer behave as expected the next time it’s used. To resolve the problem, you might have to spend time researching what happened and then manually change the value of the system variable back to its default or preferred value. Rather than changing the settings manually, you can use the System Variable Monitor to notify you when the value of a system variable is changed and reset the system variable to your preferred value.

System Variables in AutoCAD

Learn more about how to use the System Variable Monitor to watch for unexpected changes to system variables in AutoCAD by following the step-by-step examples in the HaveYouTried:TakeControloftheWatchYourSystemVariables topic.

Keep the Feedback Coming

Thanks for all the great feedback submitted so far. Because of the great feedback, we have been able to improve the topics in the AutoCAD Online Help system. Updated Help Topics contains a list of the most recently updated topics.

The best way to submit feedback is by using the “Was this helpful?” section located at the bottom of every Help topic. Let us know what you like or don’t like about a topic or provide suggestions for other subjects that you’d like to see covered in greater detail. The more specific your comments, the better.



Lee Ambrosius

Lee Ambrosius is a Principal Learning Content Developer at Autodesk, Inc., for the AutoCAD software and AutoCAD LT software products. He works primarily on the CAD administration, customization, and developer documentation. Lee has also worked on the user documentation for AutoCAD on Windows and Mac. He has presented on a wide range of topics at Autodesk University over the past 10 years, from general AutoCAD customization to ObjectARX technology. Lee has authored a number of AutoCAD-related books, with his most recent projects being AutoCAD Platform Customization: User Interface, AutoLISP, VBA, and Beyond and AutoCAD 2015 and AutoCAD LT 2015 Bible. When he’s not writing, you can find him roaming various community forums, posting articles on his blog, or tweeting AutoCAD-related information.

Try AutoCAD free for 15 days
The AutoCAD Blog is all about helping you get the most out of AutoCAD. It's also the best way for you to connect with the makers of AutoCAD. Subscribe to keep up with AutoCAD