AutoCAD Interface Overview

one The Ribbon
Maximize the area available for work using a compact interface that contains many of the same tools and controls available in toolbars and dialog boxes. The ribbon can be displayed horizontally across the top of the drawing window, vertically to the left or right of the drawing window, or as a floating palette.
 
twelve Action Recorder
Automate repetitive drafting and editing tasks by recording action macros. Use most of the commands and user interface elements that are available in AutoCAD to create your action macro and then save it. You can find the Action Recorder on the ribbon's Tools tab.
 
eleven Quick Access Toolbar
Store commands that you frequently access in AutoCAD. By default, you can access New, Open, Save, Plot, Undo, and Redo from the Quick Access toolbar. Add commands to the Quick Access toolbar using the shortcut menus of all commands on the ribbon, menu browser, and toolbars.
ten ViewCube
Display visual feedback of the current orientation of a model, or adjust a model's viewpoint. Restore the previous view, or click and drag over the Rewind wedge to scroll through the navigation history to restore a previous view. You can access the ViewCube from the drawing status bar.
two The Menu Browser
Browse all of the classic drop-down menus available in AutoCAD, or perform a real-time search of the menus, menu actions, tooltips, command prompt text strings, and tags. Use the menu browser to browse for recent documents, currently open documents, and commands recently executed from the menu browser.
three SteeringWheels
Access 2D and 3D navigation tools such as pan, zoom, orbit, rewind, and walk from a single interface. Start the navigation tools by clicking a wedge or by clicking and dragging the cursor over a wedge. You can access SteeringWheels from the drawing status bar.
four InfoCenter
Search for information through keywords or phrases, display the Communication Center panel for product updates and announcements, or display the Favorites panel to access saved topics. You can also receive information from RSS feeds to which you subscribe, or feeds published by your CAD manager.
five

Tool Palettes

Organize, share, and place tools that are dragged from your drawing onto a tool palette or are provided from third-party developers. Change the properties of any tool on a tool palette and organize tool palettes into groups.
six The Command Prompt
Execute a command by entering the full command name or command alias at the command prompt and pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR. When Dynamic Input is on and is set to display dynamic prompts, you can enter many commands in tooltips that are displayed near the cursor.
seven Viewports
Display multiple views of the same drawing, each with different visual styles. Add or remove viewports using the VPORTS command, or from the ribbon on the View tab in the Viewports panel.
autocad user interface
nine ShowMotion
Access named views that are organized into categories of animated sequences within the current drawing. You can access ShowMotion from the drawing status bar.
eight Status Bar
View the coordinate values of your cursor, and access several buttons for turning drawing tools on and off, as well as many display tools used to scale annotations.