Tabs, panels, or other controls are missing from the ribbon in AutoCAD products

Autodesk Support

Feb 20, 2025

Products and versions covered

Issue:

When viewing the ribbon in AutoCAD products, one or more tabs, panels, or other controls are missing. Maximizing the AutoCAD program window may or may not display the missing user interface elements.

Causes:

  • The missing Tabs or Panels are turned off.
  • Corrupted user profile.
  • The default or loaded Custom User Interface (CUI or CUIX) is damaged or corrupted.
  • Settings migrated from a previous version have altered the ribbon display.
  • The missing Tabs or Panels are not displayed in the current workspace.
  • Installation and first start of AutoCAD were not carried out with local administrator permissions.
  • Toolset-specific Tabs or Panels (for example Mechanical, Electrical, Architecture) are not available when running as the Vanilla profile, or if only AutoCAD has been installed on the machine. Also, some plain AutoCAD commands may not be present in toolset-specific workspaces (Civil 3D, for example).
  • Some full AutoCAD version Tabs and Panels are not available when running AutoCAD LT. 

Solution:

Do one or more of the following:

Turn on the missing tabs and panels

Right-click anywhere on the ribbon and use the Show Tabs and Show Panels menus to turn on the desired tabs or panels. Alternatively, the command RIBBON can be used. 

Adjust the ribbon display

The ribbon itself may be collapsed to show only tabs. This is likely if all the tabs are missing.
In this scenario, click the button/menu at the right of all the ribbon tabs to change the ribbon display.

Screenshot of top ribbon in AutoCAD. Arrow pointing towards small top-right gray drop-down arrow icon to adjust ribbon settings.

Check to make sure which AutoCAD product is being used

At the AutoCAD Command line, run the command ABOUT. This will display the specific product that is being used. AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, and AutoCAD Toolsets install with different ribbon layouts. 

  • If the About window indicates only AutoCAD, but one of the AutoCAD toolsets (Electrical, MEP, Architecture, etc.) was expected, then it may be that only AutoCAD was installed.
  • If the About window indicates one of the Toolsets or AutoCAD LT, the ribbon element may not be a standard element for this product. 

Note: Though most subscriptions to AutoCAD include the AutoCAD toolsets, each toolset needs to be installed separately. See: Where to download software and updates | Individuals | Autodesk Support

Check the AutoCAD workspace

Different workspaces may have different tab configurations. Try changing the workspace using one of these methods:

  • On the status bar, click Workspace Switching (gear icon) and select the workspace.
  • Select a different workspace on the Quick Access toolbar.
  • Type WSSETTINGS on the command line and select a new workspace in the "My Workspace drop-down menu."
  • Customize the user interface to add missing tabs, panels, or other controls (see To Customize a Ribbon Tab). If a known-good CUIx file is available, use the CUI editor to transfer in the missing user interface content.

Check the AutoCAD profile

Default profiles can have different ribbon configurations and may add or remove commands and functions.

  • The profile may not have the ribbon tab or panel that is needed whereas another profile will.
  • This is particularly important in AutoCAD toolset products, as they each have their own profiles and often include an AutoCAD or Vanilla profile, too. Each will show different ribbon configurations.
  • When migrating from a previous release the migration utility creates a unique profile in AutoCAD for the migrated settings and leaves the default profile intact. Switch to the default profile to determine if the Ribbon appears as expected. To do this:
  1. Open or start a new drawing in AutoCAD
  2. At the command prompt type Options.
  3. In the Options dialog select the Profiles tab.
  4. In the Profiles tab select <<Unnamed Profile>>.
  5. Select Set Current.
  6. Select Apply and Close.

Menu (CUIX) corruption

Components of the acad.cuix may have corruption or an attempt at customizing the CUIX may have caused problems. For either issue,  reset or reload of the CUIX settings:

  1. Type in the CUILOAD in the AutoCAD command line.
  2. Custom CUIX is already loaded, unload it first and then load it again,
  3. Click Browse and load Custom CUIX.
  4. Type CUI in the command.
  5. Open Custom CUIX under the all customization file.
  6. Select Apply and OK.

Extra troubleshooting

Note: Procedures may differ depending on the product and release. Refer to the documentation for the specific product for more details.
 
 

Products:

AutoCAD Products;

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