User Guide

1Install and update

Draftwork is free, with no account and no sign-in. Get it from the download section.

Updates

Draftwork keeps itself up to date. Once a day it looks for a newer version, downloads it quietly and installs it when you quit, so the next start is the new version.

• Help ▸ Check for Updates… looks now and shows what it found.
• Help ▸ Check for Updates Automatically turns the daily look off.
• With Install Updates Automatically off, a bar asks before anything is installed.
• The Mac App Store copy is updated by the App Store instead.

2The window

Draftwork works like AutoCAD: you type commands on the command line, or click them on the ribbon, answer their prompts, and pick points and objects in the drawing.

Ribbon

At the top: Home, Insert, Annotate, View, Manage and Output tabs. A button starts its command as if you typed it.

Drawing tabs

Start, each open drawing, and + for a new one.

Model space

The drawing area in the middle.

Properties and Layers

On the right. Cmd+1 shows or hides Properties.

Layout tabs

Under the drawing: Model, Layout1 and any others.

Command line

At the bottom, where you type commands and read their prompts.

Status bar

Grid, snap, ortho, polar, object snap, tracking, lineweights and annotation scale.

Draftwork follows your system's light or dark appearance, or the one you choose. The drawing area stays dark by default in both.

3Commands and prompts

Type a command name or its alias and press Enter or Space: LINE or L, CIRCLE or C, MOVE or M.

• As you type, a list above the command line suggests commands. Up and Down choose one.
• Enter on its own repeats the last command.
• Esc cancels the command, then clears the selection.
• A right click is Enter while a command runs.

Each command asks for what it needs:

Command: LINE  Specify next point or [Close/Undo]:

• Options are in square brackets. Type the capital letters (C) or click the option.
• Defaults are in angle brackets, like <10.0000>. Press Enter to take it.
• Commands starting with a dash, like -INSERT or -HATCH, work entirely on the command line, without a dialog.
• Type a system variable's name to see or change its value: LTSCALE, then 2. See System variables.

Undo

Cmd+Z undoes the last command and Cmd+Shift+Z redoes it. U and UNDO do the same on the command line; UNDO has its own options (Back, Mark, a number of steps).

Scripts

SCRIPT runs a script file (.scr). Each line is what you would type on the command line; a space or a line break is Enter. RSCRIPT at the end repeats the script, DELAY pauses it and RESUME goes on after Esc.

4Entering points

Drawing aids

• Object snaps (F3) catch endpoints, midpoints, centers and more. The marker shows which snap it found.
• Object snap tracking (F11) lines points up with snapped points.
• Ortho (F8) and polar tracking (F10) keep lines straight or at set angles.
• Grid (F7), snap (F9) and dynamic input (F12).
• Isometric drafting: F5 goes to the next isoplane.

Coordinate systems and turned views

• UCS sets a user coordinate system; named views and UCSs are saved with the drawing.
• PLAN turns the view so the UCS X axis reads across, then zooms to the extents.
• DVIEW TWist, VIEWTWIST and UCSFOLLOW turn the view too. Clicks, snaps, grips, selection, zoom and pan, the grid and the UCS icon all work in a turned view, and model space plots come out turned the same way.

Zoom and pan

The wheel zooms at the cursor (or pans, if Options sets it for a trackpad). Middle-drag or Space+drag pans, and a double middle click zooms to the extents.

5Selecting and grips

At Select objects:, click objects or drag a window, then press Enter to end the selection.

• Left to right (blue window): takes what is fully inside.
• Right to left (green window): also takes what it crosses.
• Shift+click takes an object out of the selection.
• Cmd+A selects everything; Delete erases the selection.
• With no command running, you can select first and then start the command.
• Ctrl/Cmd+click picks one item of an array; Cmd+Shift+A turns group selection on or off.

Grips

Selected objects show grips. Click one to stretch it, then press Space to cycle through Move, Rotate, Scale and Mirror. Shift+click makes a grip hot.

6Drawing

Every command, with its aliases, is in the command reference.

7Editing

Quick TRIM and EXTEND

In Quick mode, press and drag to draw a freehand path. Everything it crosses is trimmed, or extended in EXTEND. Shift swaps trim and extend.

8Annotation

• Text: TEXT for single lines, MTEXT for paragraphs with columns. FIELD puts live values in text and UPDATEFIELD refreshes them. SPELL checks spelling.
• SHX fonts: text in AutoCAD's .shx fonts shows with the real font, found beside the drawing, in your Support folders or in an AutoCAD install. When a font is missing, a free Hershey font stands in.
• Dimensions: linear, aligned, angular, radius, jogged and oblique dimensions, plus QDIM, dimension breaks and inspection dimensions. Associative dimensions follow the objects they measure.
• Leaders and multileaders, and geometric tolerance frames (TOLERANCE).
• Tables with formulas (TABLE, TABLESTYLE).
• Annotative scales: annotative objects show at the current annotation scale, set from the status bar.
• Calculator: CAL on the command line, QUICKCALC in a window.

9Layers, blocks and groups

Layers

The Layers panel on the right lists every layer with its on, freeze, lock and plot switches. Layer states save and restore a set of layer settings, and each layout viewport can override layers on its own.

Blocks

• BLOCK makes a block from selected objects; WBLOCK writes objects or a block to a new drawing.
• ATTDEF adds attributes; ATTEDIT changes their values in an insert.
• BEDIT opens the block editor; REFEDIT edits a block or reference in place.
• INSERT opens the Blocks palette.

Groups

Groups keep objects selected together. Cmd+Shift+A turns group selection on or off.

10The Blocks palette

The Blocks palette inserts blocks: the drawing's own, ones you used recently, your favourites, and blocks from other drawings. Open it with INSERT (or I), BLOCKSPALETTE, Insert ▸ Block Palette, Tools ▸ Palettes ▸ Blocks, or the ribbon's Insert button. BLOCKSPALETTECLOSE closes it. The older Insert dialog is still there as CLASSICINSERT.

Tabs

Current Drawing

The drawing's blocks, with a preview of each.

Recent

Blocks you inserted or created lately, in any drawing (up to 50). Each keeps a copy, so it can go into another drawing even when its own file has moved.

Favorites

Right-click a block and choose Copy to Favorites; Remove takes one out.

Libraries

Browse Block Libraries… opens a DWG or DXF file; Folder… opens a folder of drawings (click one to see its blocks, ‹ goes back).

Recent and Favorites are kept on your computer, in Draftwork's own data folder, not in the cloud.

Finding and inserting

• Type in Filter to show blocks whose names contain it; * and ? are wild cards (door*, D??).
• Large Icons, Small Icons and List change the view.
• Click a block to insert it: it follows the cursor and you click where it goes. It goes in through -INSERT, so the command line shows each step.
• Insert DWG as Block… inserts a whole drawing as a block named after its file.
• A block from another file brings its nested blocks, layers, linetypes and styles. If your drawing has a different block of that name, choose Redefine Block (every insert changes) or Do not redefine.

Insertion options

Insertion Point

On, you pick the point; off, the block goes at the X and Y given.

Uniform Scale / Scale

One factor, or X, Y and Z. A negative factor mirrors the block.

Rotation

On, you give the angle on screen after the point; off, the angle given is used.

Repeat Placement

Insert again and again until Esc.

Explode

The block goes in as separate objects (uniform scale only).

Auto-placement

On by default. When a block already has inserts, Draftwork learns the geometry around each one (wall lines either side of a door, a line it sits on, a corner). As you move the cursor, the block snaps to places that look the same, turned, scaled or mirrored like the earlier ones, and the geometry it fits is highlighted. Press Ctrl for the next suggestion, click to take it, or move away to ignore it.

11External references and images

An external reference (xref) shows another drawing inside yours without copying it: when the other file changes, your drawing shows the change after a reload. PNG and JPEG images attach the same way.

The External References palette

Open it with XREF (or ER), Insert ▸ External References, or the ribbon's Insert tab. It lists the drawing itself, each DWG reference (Status, Size, Type, Date, Saved Path and where it was found) and each image (file type and resolution). List shows them all; Tree shows nested references. Click a row for its details; right-click for its actions.

Attaching

• Attach DWG… (XATTACH): choose a DWG or DXF file, name the reference, and choose Attachment (nested references come along when your drawing is referenced) or Overlay (they don't). Pick the path type: full, relative to your drawing's folder (save first), or none. Then pick the point, scale and rotation.
• Attach Image… (IMAGEATTACH): the same for PNG and JPEG files.

Draftwork looks for a file at its saved path, then for its name in the drawing's folder. A missing one shows Not Found and is listed in the open warnings.

Changes and actions

Draftwork checks referenced files every few seconds. When one changes, a bar above the drawing says so and Reload brings in the new content.

Open

Opens the referenced drawing in its own tab (XOPEN).

Reload

Reads the file again.

Unload

Hides the content but keeps the reference.

Detach

Removes the reference and every insert of it.

Bind

Makes it an ordinary block (layers named NAME$0$layer); Bind as Insert merges its layers with yours.

IMAGECLIP, IMAGEADJUST, IMAGEFRAME and TRANSPARENCY change attached images.

12Viewports, layouts and plotting

Tiled model viewports

VPORTS splits model space into 2, 3 or 4 views, arranged Horizontal, Vertical, Left, Right, Above or Below. Each keeps its own zoom and pan. The active one has a blue frame; click another to make it active, even in the middle of a command. VPORTS Single goes back to one view; Save, Restore and Join manage arrangements.

Layouts

The tabs under the drawing switch between Model and the layouts. A layout is a sheet of paper with viewports showing model space at a scale.

• MVIEW makes viewports, polygonal ones too.
• Double-click inside a viewport to work in model space through it; double-click outside to go back to the paper.
• VPSCALE and the status bar set a viewport's scale. VPMAX maximizes one.

Plotting and publishing

1. Set each layout's paper, plot area, scale and plot style with PAGESETUP.
2. Plot (Cmd+P) prints the current layout or exports it as a PDF.
3. PUBLISH lists every layout of every open drawing. Tick the sheets, order them with Move Up and Move Down, and click Publish… for one multi-sheet PDF. Each sheet uses its own page setup; sheets on other paper sizes are scaled to fit the first sheet's page.

13Files: DWG, DXF and PDF

• New (Cmd+N), QNEW (from your default template), Open (Cmd+O), Save (Cmd+S) and Save As (Cmd+Shift+S, where you choose the format and version).
• Open warnings: when a file holds something Draftwork can't show, the drawing opens with a list of notes. File ▸ Open Warnings shows them again, and a click on one selects the objects it's about.
• Draftwork reads and writes DWG and DXF with its own code. No converter or other program is needed.

14Keyboard shortcuts

15Command reference

Every command Draftwork knows, with its AutoCAD aliases. In the app, each command's guide page also shows its prompt and options, and runs it with one click.

16System variables

Type a variable's name on the command line to see or change its value. In the app, the guide shows the current drawing's values.

17Help and troubleshooting

Help in the app

• F1 or Help ▸ User Guide: search every topic, command and system variable.
• Help ▸ Command List: search, filter by group and run commands.
• What's New lists the changes in each version.

Common questions

A drawing opens with warnings.

File ▸ Open Warnings lists what couldn't be kept; clicking a line selects the objects it's about.

Text shows in a different font.

The drawing's SHX font wasn't found, so a Hershey font stands in. Put the .shx file beside the drawing or in your Support folders.

An xref shows Not Found.

Draftwork looked at its saved path and in the drawing's folder. Attach it again from the External References palette, or move the file next to the drawing.

The Mac App Store version can't find my xrefs, images or block libraries.

App Store apps may only read files you open. Open the referenced file once with File ▸ Open, attach it again, or reopen a library with Browse Block Libraries… or Folder….

Windows says the app is from an unknown publisher.

It isn't code-signed yet. Click More info, then Run anyway.

Is there 3D?

No. Draftwork is 2D only. See what it doesn't do yet.