AutoCAD® 2009 & AutoCAD LT® 2009 All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies®

Chapter 4. All about Files

AutoCAD not only needs hundreds of files to keep itself going, it also generates more files than you can shake a mouse at. All these files are important, but none is more important than DWG — the drawing file itself.

In this chapter I cover all the important files that you are likely to run into — and one or two that you are not likely to run into but should still know what they are.

It's also important that both AutoCAD and you are able to find the files you both need to work together. AutoCAD can usually take care of itself; after it's initially installed, all the files the program needs are in appropriate places. But you need to be able to find your drawing files too, and AutoCAD by itself is not much help there. Left alone, it will save all your drawings in your My Documents folder. It's up to you to organize your storage space, and I give you some ideas at the end of the chapter about how to go about getting organized.

File Types in AutoCAD

AutoCAD's drawing (DWG) files contain everything that you draw, and a bit more besides. In addition to all those lines, arcs, circles, text, and dimensions, your DWG files also contain:

• Style definitions for things such as dimensions and text

• Properties associated with any graphical objects, such as color, layer, and linetype

• Layer definitions, each of which includes such things as default color, linetype, plot style; whether or not the objects on the layer are printed/plotted

Not contained in the DWG file itself, but ...