Adding Door and Window Symbols with Attributes in AutoCAD

In this video, we will add our door and window symbols. Please remember that these are going to come in as block instances, and we will be adding a specific value to each of the attributes for every block instance.

So for now, let's prepare our drawing by opening our blocks dialog box by pressing I and Enter on the keyboard. We can see that we do not have our door and window blocks in the current drawing. Before we begin inserting these blocks, however, let's think about what they are and where we are bringing them.

To start, let's go to the Home tab and make sure we are on Layer Zero. Remember, every time we bring in a block, we want to select Layer Zero as our current layer. Additionally, we are about to bring paper space elements into model space.

These elements were drawn very small. If we brought them in, they would appear as small as a penny on the floor of our building. In this case, our uniform scale needs to be updated to 48 to match our quarter-inch equals one foot scale factor.

Additionally, because these will be placed in multiple locations, let's turn on repeat placement. Okay, now that we're ready, we can browse. Let's start with our door symbol.

And now when I select the door symbol, I can see my preview includes that attribute. Let's hit Open. My first one will be in Door A, as shown in the handout. I won't place this on any specific point, but somewhere in the door swing is a great place to place the door symbols.

Each time I place a symbol, it will ask me to type in the attribute value. Enter door symbol. Again, I'm checking the handout.

This is A, and I'll hit OK. Since repeat placement is activated, it will prompt me to place another symbol. I'll click up here.

This is a value of B, and I'll hit OK. I'll place it again over here. B, OK.

I'll place it in this door. C, OK. And I'll place it down here in the bathroom door.

And this is D, and I'll hit OK. When I'm done, I need to hit ENTER to confirm or ESC to cancel. If you ever want to change an attribute value, it's as simple as double-clicking on the text, just like double-clicking on Mtext.

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You'll notice that the Enhanced Attribute Editor will open. If there are multiple attributes, it will allow you to select between them and modify the value here.

If you want to edit it as if it were multi-line text, hold Control on the keyboard and double-click on the attribute.

Then, it will edit the attribute text as if it were single-line or multi-line text. Let's zoom extents and press Control-S to save. Before we bring in our window symbols, I want to introduce a new tool.

Just to the left is Object Snap Tracking. Object Snap Tracking is an important tool to use when placing objects where we would normally use tracking.

But we might not need a specific distance from those tracking points. We're about to place four window symbols.

These window symbols will be placed to the left, right, or below our windows.

But we don't need to know exactly how far from those objects we need to place them. This is where Object Snap Tracking comes into play.

I'll show an example by drawing a simple circle for now. When asked to specify the base point, I'll hover over the midpoint of this window.

When I hover, I'll see a green plus sign appear. It may be hard to see on the window. When I move my cursor to the left, tracking will begin.

This isn't as locked in as the 'TRA' enter for tracking, but it still allows me to click anywhere along the green dashed line, ensuring my circle is drawn at the exact Y value of that midpoint.

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Now, let's bring in our window symbol and place it using Object Snap Tracking. I'll go to Browse, scroll down, and find Window Symbol, and hit Open.

Remember, our options were set from the door symbol, with a scale factor of 48 and repeat placement. Now, I'll zoom in on the window, hover over it to find the midpoint.

When I see the plus sign appear, I'll drag to the left and click to place.

This window is a value of one, and I'll hit OK. I'll pan over and do the same thing over here. Hover over the midpoint until I see the green plus sign appear, slide to the right, and click to place.

One again, and I'll do the same thing here. Hover, move to the right, click to place, one, Enter, OK.

Hover over this midpoint, wait for the plus sign to appear, move down, click, two, and hit OK.

Press Escape to confirm I'm done, zoom extents, and press Control-S to save. Object Snap Tracking might interfere when adding dimensions, so I'll turn it off for now.

But know that it's a helpful tool when you need quick datum references while drafting.

In the next video, we'll begin placing our dimensions.