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Draft it Help System

The complete Help system for Draft it is available on these pages.

How To The Program Interface
File Menu The Ribbon
Architectural Ribbon Page Draw Ribbon Page Modify Ribbon Page Settings Ribbon Page Views & Zoom Ribbon Page Command Specific Ribbons Minimise/Expand the Ribbon
System Toolbar Quick Access Toolbar Command Window Drawing Tabs Layout Explorer Properties Explorer Referenced Drawings Status Bar Symbol Library Explorer
Tutorials
Direct Input

Available in: Plus, Pro, Architectural

Direct Input is a quick and easy way to construct geometry. There are no buttons to click or input boxes to click into before entering values. How does this work? Well as soon as a numeric key is pressed Draft it understands that you want to enter numeric data and alters the input method.You can type co-ordinate data regardless of the input mode, i.e. whether Snap, X, Y, Polar, Distance, Scale Factor is the current method. When a numeric key is pressed a small input box appears next to the cursor, when the enter key key is pressed this value is accepted as the first value or in some cases ( Distance, Scale Factor) the only value required.

There is no need to click and type into the input boxes displayed e.g. X, Y Input shown here, input boxes and snap mode buttons although you can still use this method if you wish.

For example when ready to indicate the second end point of a line. As soon as the first numeric key is pressed a X, Y mode** is automatically selected. The first value entered here is the X value* so press enter key when the value is complete and then locked. Now type in the second value and press the enter key key (this is the Y value). That's it, the point is set.

So for example when drawing line and the start point has been picked you can simply type the co-ordinates of the next point.

** Except when Polar is the current mode, in which case the first value entered is the distance.