TCOUNT for AutoCAD for Mac

I have not written for my blog for a long time. Most of my activity was focused on the AutoCAD for Mac Forum. But today I want to offer you a pretty useful AutoLISP routine from the AutoCAD for Windows Express Tools collection – TCOUNT.

I made an attempt to adapt this command to AutoCAD for Mac, and looks like I did it. At least in my home tests, it works on Mac the same way as on PC.

You can try it yourself: download it here:

TCOUNT-MAC.LSP

Unzip, than APPLOAD command to load the routine and start using new TCOUNT command.

For those who are not familiar with all TCOUNT command options I post here an excerpt from online Help for this command:

TCOUNT (Express Tool)

Adds sequential numbering to text and mtext objects as a prefix, suffix, or replacement text.

Numbering is added to individual text objects and to each line of multiline (mtext) objects.

Command: TCOUNT

Select objects: Use an object selection method

Sort selection set by X, Y, or Select-order <current>: Enter an option or press Enter

X	Determines numeric order by increasing x-coordinate values of the selected text.
Y	Determines numeric order by decreasing the y-coordinate value of the selected text.
Select-order	Determines numeric order according to the order in which the text was selected.

Enter count [Start, increment] <current>: Enter the starting number and increment, separated by a comma, or press Enter

Start	Specifies the first number in the sequence.
Increment	Specifies the difference between the numbers in the sequence.

Note: Negative increments (decrements) are supported. Precede decrements with a minus sign.

Placement of text- Overwrite/Prefix/Suffix/Find&replace../ <current>: Enter an option or press Enter

Overwrite	Replaces selected text strings with numbers
Prefix	Adds the number as a prefix to text
Suffix	Adds the number as a suffix to text
Find&replace	Replaces a user specified text string with a number

Examples

Starting number = 1, increment = 1 added as prefix:

Starting number = 20, increment = -10 added as suffix:

Starting number = 2, increment = 2, Overwrite:

I also would like to note that when I created this routine, I took advantage of the valuable information from Lee Mac Programming site.

I’m waiting for your feedback on the routine, and I’m ready to make corrections if they are needed.

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AutoCAD 2015 for Mac Update 1 is here

I want to inform you about availability of Update 1 for AutoCAD 2015 for Mac.

Actually, if you are connected to the Internet, you should receive an alert in Notification Centre on your Mac:

Just click on notification to start downloading the Update. When download will be complete, you will find AutoCAD2015Update1.dmg installation image in your Downloads folder. Double-Click on it to mount image, then double-click AutoCAD2015Update1.pkg in the new mounted volume to run the installer.

This update resolves some compatibility issues on the new Mac OS X Yosemite. It also resolves some stability issues reported by the Customer Error Reporting (CER) utility and improves the overall stability.

Primary Issues Resolved by This Update

Trackpad

• On Yosemite, two fingers moving on Trackpad triggers zoom instead of pan.

Selection

• AutoCAD hangs when selecting some special splines.

Page Setup

• Crash when close the Page Setup Manager dialog.

AutoCAD 2014 for Mac SP3 released for full and LT versions

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m glad to announce that Service pack 3 for AutoCAD 2014 for Mac family which resolves compatibility issues on the new Mac OS X Yosemite is available for download from within AutoCAD 2014 itself:

Be sure that you are connected to the Internet and launch AutoCAD. You will be notified that “Patch is available”, click on message to start downloading Service Pack, then follow instructions to install updates. You can also use “Check for updates” from AutoCAD 2014 menu to check for availability of the update manually.

SP3 also resolves problems reported by the Customer Error Reporting (CER) utility and improves the overall stability and usibility for AutoCAD 2014 for Mac and AutoCAD LT 2014 for Mac.

Here is the list of updates included in this Service Pack:

Problems Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility

As a result of detailed information from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting (CER) utility, a number of problems were identified and fixed. Updates have been made to the following features:

As a result of detailed information from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting (CER) utility, a number of problems were identified and fixed. Updates have been made to the following features:

CUI

• Crash when reset defaults in Customize dialog.

Dimension

• Crash when select a dimension if the dimension text has filled color.

Light

• Crash when select light objects.

Open/Save

• Several issues that may cause crash when save a drawing.
• Random crash when quit AutoCAD.
• Crash when replace missing shx fonts when open a drawing.
• Crash when trying to open the recovered files from last crash quit.

Other

• Random crash when load thumbnail in various UI dialogs or palettes.
• Crash when right click, when CUI is not successfully loaded.
• Crash when right click commandline window.
• Crash when using localization keyboards.

Plot

• Several issues that may cause plot crash.

Startup

• WHIP crash when initiate drawing window.

Viewport

• Crash when delete a named viewport.

General Service Pack Updates

The following general changes and improvements have been made:

Command Line

• Command Line window always missing after re-launch AutoCAD.

Drafting

• Small pause/lags after command completed, like trim, erase, etc.

Layer

• After changing the setting of a layer in xref group, the layer list refreshed and target layer is out of view.

Mouse/Trackpad

• On Yosemite, two fingers moving on Trackpad triggers zoom instead of pan.
• Cursor gets stuck in dragging mode, and file sticking with the cursor cannot be dropped.

Other

• Adaptive Degradation setting cannot be remembered.
• Drawing window shows slim size when maximize window button clicked.
• Welcome screen shows wrong drawing preview scale.

Xref

• “Found at” browse button in the Reference Manager palette does not show correct file location.

To check the update installed correctly you can click menu AutoCAD 2014, select About AutoCAD, the dialog should show Product Version as “I.18.M.507”:

 

Those who took part in Beta testing of SP3  should not worried about update as if you have installed Beta version, than it is the same as final release of update.

AutoCAD 2015 for Mac: the most worthy upgrade ever!

October became a traditional month for a new release of AutoCAD for Mac. Last year it was on October 22, this year the new release is ready even earlier. While all are awaiting Apple event in a few days with new Mac OS release, AutoCAD 2015 for Mac is already here.

This year, developers have done a great job. They added not only new features that have become available in AutoCAD 2015 for PC, but also those features that AutoCAD for Mac still lacks in compare to PC version. So let’s start with those long awaited features.

Dynamic Blocks – yes, AutoCAD for Mac now received an ability to author Dynamic Blocks. AutoCAD 2015 for Mac supports creating and editing Dynamic Blocks that add flexibility and intelligence to block references. You can now insert one block that can change shape, size, or configuration instead of inserting several static blocks. For example, instead of creating multiple interior door blocks of different sizes, you can now create one resizable door block.

Dynamic Blocks in AutoCAD 2015 for Mac contain parameters that are used to manipulate the appearance of the block reference. Each parameter needs to be assigned an action to define the behavior of the block manipulation. To create Dynamic Blocks, you use the Block Editor visor, which was redesigned to allow Dynamic Block creation and editing.

The Block Editor visor provides a list of parameters that can be used to manipulate a block reference and a list of actions needed to associate with the parameters.

When you add a parameter to a Dynamic Block definition, grips are displayed at key points of the parameter. Key points are the parts of a parameter that you use to manipulate the block reference. For example, a linear parameter has key points at its base point and end point. You can manipulate the parameter distance from either key point.

Actions allow you to define how the geometry of a dynamic block reference will move or change when its grips are manipulated. You can manipulate a block containing action parameters with grips.

This release also introduces the Enable Visibility parameter, a visual control feature for dynamic blocks. Using visibility states, you can create a block with different graphical representations. A visibility state is a custom property that allows only specified geometry to display in a block reference. For example, using visibility states, you can combine the following commode views into a single dynamic block.

You can add new visibility states using Visibility States dialog.

You can control the way parameters are displayed using the Properties Inspector. When you select a parameter or action in Block Editor space, block properties are listed in the Properties Inspector. You can edit various properties like assigning labels to parameters, assigning the number of grips to a parameter, controlling the base location, value sets etc.

To help AutoCAD users to get comfortable with Dynamic Blocks now theycan find the sample Dynamic Blocks in Content Palette. All the Dynamic Blocks are sorted in different libraries.

Quick Select – yes, now Quick Select feature available in AutoCAD for Mac. The interface of this feature has Mac look and feel.

You can create a selection set of objects in your drawing based on your filtering criteria. The filtering is done by object type and property parameters.

You can launch Quick Select: using QSELECT in the command line, from the Edit menu, from the right-click context menu or with Quick Select icon from Properties Palette. The “Where to Select” pane provides you two options to choose from the drop-down menu: “Current Selection” and “Entire Drawing”. Using Selection Rules, you can specify the filtering criteria for selecting objects in your drawing. “Object Type” allows you to specify the types of objects to include as filtering criteria. If the filtering criteria are applied to the entire drawing, the “Object Type” list includes all object types. Selection rules also include property elements to add to the filtering criteria. This list includes all possible properties for the selected object type.

“Preview” option is turned ON by default and allows you to see selected objects in the Drawing area.

Layer States – in AutoCAD 2015 for Mac you can save your layer settings as layer states. The layer states can store information like color, linetype, and also information whether a layer is turned off, frozen or locked. Through the Layer State Manager dialog, you can create and manage sets of layer settings. You can also restore layer properties using this feature.

You can edit existing layer states by clicking the “Gear” drop down menu and selecting Edit. This opens the Edit Later State dialog.

Data Link Feature – in AutoCAD 2015 for Mac you can link a table to data in a Microsoft Excel (XLS or XLSX) file. You can attach an Excel file through three ways: use the Reference Manager palette, type DATALINK in the command line, Click Data Link… from the Insert menu.

Through the New Excel Data Link dialog, you can select the sheet from the Excel file. You can now link to a range in the Excel sheet. After you click the OK button, the table is attached to the cursor. You can specify an insertion point to insert the table to the drawing. With DATALINKUPDATE command to update to or from an established external data link. You can either update the linked data in a table in your drawing with data that has been changed in the external source file or update the linked data in an external file with data that has been changed in the table in your drawing.

Toggle Viewport Model Space control – AutoCAD 2015 for Mac now has Paper/Model toggle button in Statusbar and allows you easily switch between Paper and Model space:

Copy Nested Objects (NCOPY) – this command now is a feature in AutoCAD for Mac too – you can copy objects contained in XREFs and blocks. Instead of exploding an xref or a block, you can now directly copy objects nested within them.

New features which became available in AutoCAD 2015 for PC, and now they are in Mac version too:

    •    Command Preview – the Command Preview feature shows you exactly how the objects would look when the command is executed. As you make the changes within the command, you can instantly preview the final result. The interactive preview applies to the following commands: TRIM, EXTEND, LENGTHEN, BREAK, MATCHPROP, FILLET, CHAMFER, OFFSET. BTW – MATCHPROP is my favorite one.
•    Lasso Selection – you can click the cursor in a blank area of the drawing and then drag around objects to create a lasso selection. For a traditional rectangular window or crossing selection, click and release to pick each corner of the rectangle. During Lasso selection, you can press SPACE to cycle Lasso selection options.
•    Create and Edit Enhancements – improved visual feedback when creating and editing objects. For example, during a Move operation, the selected objects are displayed in their original position with a faded deletion effect instead of a dashed selection effect. Unlike Command Preview which displays a preview of the result of your action, create and edit enhancements provide a view of the old state prior to your action in gray color.
•    Dimension Enhancement – AutoCAD now offers a more intelligent object snap behavior when creating dimensions. When you place dimensions, existing dimension extension lines are ignored to prevent them from being inadvertently snapped to while attempting to pick nearby geometry. When you create continuous or baseline dimensions with the DIMCONTINUEMODE system variable set to 1, AutoCAD inherits the layer in addition to the dimension style of the dimension that is being continued or used as a baseline.
•    Cursor Enhancement – The cursor is enhanced to provide contextual feedback. It includes badges to reflect the state of many common operations. The crosshairs have been removed from the inside of the pick box to make it easier to see what you’re picking. An inspection badge is displayed when using inquiry tools such as Distance, Radius, Angle, Area, Volume, List, and ID. Rotation badges are displayed when specifying the angle of rotation during a Rotate operation. Relevant badges are displayed for other editing commands including Copy, Move, and Scale. Zoom and Erase/Delete also display relevant badges. FYI: If you don’t like Cursor Badges you can turn them OFF with new CURSORBADGE System Variable, just set CURSORBADGE=1.
•    Model Space Viewports Enhancements – Model space viewports have been significantly enhanced in AutoCAD 2015 for Mac offering more flexibility and greater ease-of-use. After creating multiple viewports in model space, a bright blue boundary clearly identifies the active viewport. You can easily resize any of the viewports by dragging the horizontal or vertical viewport boundaries. New “+” icons on the viewport boundaries enable you to easily add more viewports by simply clicking on the icon and dragging to size the new viewport. You can also hold the ‘Ctrl’ key while dragging the boundary to split a model space viewport. Model space viewports can be e joined or removed by dragging a boundary to the edge.
•    MTEXT Enhancements – the MTEXT editor is updated to offer better visibility and control. The background is now transparent, so you can see drawing geometry even when the editor opens on top of it. A corner resizer offers more obvious and intuitive resizing of columns allowing you to adjust both the height and width at the same time. If you pass the cursor over the bottom or right edges of the text editor, you can change either the height or width individually.
•    Text Alignment – The new TEXTALIGN command enables you to quickly align single and multi-text as well as attribute text. You can do this by selecting the text objects to be aligned and then picking the text you want them to be aligned to or selecting points to manually define the alignment line. You can also choose from a variety of spacing options including the ability to distribute them evenly, set a spacing value, maintain the current vertical spacing, or maintain the current horizontal spacing.

There are some other enhancements, but I think I’ve already convinced you that AutoCAD for Mac 2015 is a fantastic release with a lot of significant new features.

Ah, yes – one of the main things I forgot to mention – AutoCAD 2015 for Mac will be fully supported in the upcoming Mac OS X – Yosemite (of course the current OS X Mavericks is supported too).

Now it is a time to think about this great upgrade…

AutoCAD 2014 for Mac Service Pack 2: small, but important update

     

 

If you use Autocad on a regular basis and you have Internet connection on your Mac enabled, you must have noticed the message that appeared recently when you launch the application.

The message is about new patch available for AutoCAD. Maybe you already downloaded it, and now you want to know about fixes this update contains.
The update contains important fixes of the problems reported by the Customer Error Reporting (CER) utility from users running AutoCAD 2014 for Mac on Mavericks OS:

1. Random crash during drafting when dynamic input mode is on.
2. Repeatedly startup crash due to errors when welcome screen dialog load recent files.
3. It also contains fix for the License transfer utility which does not work for some kind of license types.

For the moment you can download the update only from inside AutoCAD. If you have not received an update notification message, you can try to select “Check for updates” menu item from “AutoCAD 2014” menu while you have Internet connection established.

After downloading update quit AutoCAD, go to Downloads folder, double-click on autocad2014sp2.dmg file to mount it:

then double-click on AutoCAD2014SP2.pkg to start update.

EDIT:

SP2 also avaliable for AutoCAD LT 2014 for Mac.

New way to reset AutoCAD for Mac settings (2014 version with SP1)

Have you ever had a situation when you can not start AutoCAD  because of some corruption in AutoCAD settings? In such cases AutoCAD crashes at startup and doesn’t allow to Reset Application Options from “Application Preferences” dialog.

After applying Service Pack (SP1) to AutoCAD 2014 for Mac you have new option for launching it: if you want to reset AutoCAD options to default settings, you need to launch AutoCAD from Dock by holding Shift key on keyboard and clicking on AutoCAD icon (you need to hold Shift for at least a few moments after you click on icon). This helps in the case when you cannot start AutoCAD normally.

During resetting settings AutoCAD also creates archive with your previous settings inside ~/Library/Application Support/Autodesk folder. The file have the name in a form: “Settings Backup XX-XX-XXXX xx.xx.xx.tgz“, where XX-XX-XXXX is the date and xx.xx.xx is the time when archive was created. You can use the contents of this archive in case if you need to find some of your previous customization files.

AutoCAD 2014 for Mac (full and LT) SP1 is here

I’m glad to announce that Service pack 1 for AutoCAD 2014 for Mac family which resolves compatibility issues on the new Mac OS X Mavericks, as well as the issues that have been reported while using the software on the latest versions of Mac OS X Mountain Lion. It also resolves problems reported by the Customer Error Reporting (CER) utility and other general problems identified after AutoCAD 2014 for Mac and AutoCAD LT 2014 for Mac was made available. is available for download from within AutoCAD itself:

Be sure that you are connected to the Internet and launch AutoCAD. You will be notified that “Patch is available”, click on message to start downloading Service Pack, then follow instructions to install updates.

Here is the list of updates included in this Service Pack:

Problems Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility

As a result of detailed information from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting (CER) utility, a number of problems were identified and fixed. Updates have been made to the following features:

Block

• Crash when making blocks in some situation.

Copy/paste

• Crash when copy/paste in some drawings.

Drafting

• Random crash during drawing and editing.

Startup

• Crash at startup due to some user profiles missing.
• Random crash at startup when getting the Displcay Card infomation.

View

• Crash when click the viewport control label.

General Service Pack Updates

The following general changes and improvements have been made:

AutoCAD LT

• Align command missing in LT.

Image

• Image underlay shows twisted or white/black bands when zooming in canvas.

License

• Cannot activate AutoCAD with some suite serial number, like Education Master suite serial number.

Other

• System animation(scrolling or switching desktop) glitches after force quit AutoCAD in some situation.
• Typo in lynda.com link in AutoCAD.
• Mis-use of Lucida Grande font.

Plot

• AutoCAD hangs when plotting drawings in some situation.
• Plot stamp now shows the system time on local machine.
• Image underlay is not fully displayed in plotted result.

Enhancement: Reset AutoCAD when startup

Now you can Reset AutoCAD at startup by holding Shift+click AutoCAD(or AutoCAD LT) icon. This helps in the case when you cannot start AutoCAD normally.

AutoCAD 2013 for Mac (full and LT) SP2 is here with Mavericks support

I’m glad to announce that Service pack 2 for AutoCAD 2013 for Mac family which resolves compatibility with new Mac OS 10.9 (Mavericks) is available for download:

SP2 for AutoCAD 2013 for Mac
SP2 for AutoCAD LT 2013 for Mac

for those who purchased AutoCAD for Mac in Mac App Store:

AutoCAD 2013.2 in Mac App Store (iTunes link)

Besides added support for Mavericks SP2 resolves the issues that have been reported while using the software on the latest versions of Mac OS X Lion and Mac OS X Mountain Lion. It also resolves problems reported by the Customer Error Reporting (CER) utility and other general problems identified after AutoCAD 2013 for Mac Service Pack 1 was made available:

Block

• Crash when switch drawings with block editor and paper space.

Modify

• Crash when grip edit object in some situation.

Object Enabler

• Crash when opening some drawings with AEC objects.

Open/Save

• Crash when open some drawings.
• Random crash after save a drawing and modify.

Quit

• Crash when quit AutoCAD in certain situations.

The following general changes and improvements have been made:

Issues on Mavericks including

• Command line layout is messed up
• Crash when insert PDF underlay
• Crash when rename layer
• Crash when cancel PDF layer dialog
• Crash when close UCSICON dialog
• CUI dialog shows in wrong size
• Double clicking a drawing does not open the drawing in AutoCAD
• Hangs when close Attribute Editor dialog
• Hangs when close the Modify Dimension Style dialog
• Image file cannot be detached from Reference Manager palette
• Palettes dock behind menubar on dual monitor
• Sectiontoblock shows error
• Slidebar in Properties Inspector shows wrong
• Some labels in dialog are messed up
• Visor does not show

Block

• The Uniform Scale setting in Insert dialog is not remembered in some situation.

CUI

• Newly created button does not show in the Tool Sets palette.

Find and Replace

• Find and Replace dialog now keeps the view with finding result after dialog dismissed.

General UI

• Palette position is not remembered in certain situation on single monitor.

Hatch

• AutoCAD hangs when import some kind of corrupted hatch patterns.

Layer

• Slow response when move cursor over the layer dropdown menu on Layers palette.

Open/Save

• AutoCAD hangs when open some drawings with excessive layer filters.
• The OPEN dialog now responds to the File Format selection.

Performance

• Performance becomes slow when using Hatch a lot.

Plot

• The plotted PDF file size is too large if the plotstyle is using Milter/Bevel/Round Line join style.
• Page setup dialog now shows correct paper size when a different printer is selected.
• Page setup dialog now shows readable paper size name.
• AutoCAD now does not show the Select template dialog when plotting drawings with unreconciled layers.
• Object plot style property cannot be changed through the Properties Inspector.

Status Bar

• Status Bar refreshes heavily when work in Layout.

Select

• Sometimes the SELECTIONPREVIEW system variable is set to 0 during drawing edit and zoom.

AutoCAD 2013 for Mac SP2 Beta with Mavericks support available for testing!

Hello all!

There are good news for AutoCAD 2103 for Mac users, who cannot afford to upgrade to the new release of AutoCAD now.

Beta 1 version of the AutoCAD 2013 for Mac Service Pack 2 is now available for testing on Autodesk Feedback Community site. This service pack fixes the compatibility issues on Mac OS X Mavericks, as well as some other serious issues.

To participate in this program, please click the link below.

http://beta.autodesk.com/callout/?callid=5AC170CC43094C76BA5EB4B8A0DE1FED

Please make sure to download and check the ReadMe file prior to the Service Pack 2 Beta 1 installation and submitting of feedback.

See the AutoCAD Futures Downloads section at https://beta.autodesk.com for these files
– AutoCAD 2013 for Mac SP2 Beta1 ReadMe
– AutoCAD 2013 for Mac SP2 Beta1

Here are the list of general changes and improvements have been made:

Mavericks Support

• Compatibility issues on Mac OS X Mavericks.

Block

• The Uniform Scale setting in Insert dialog is not remembered in some situation.

CUI

• Newly created button does not show in the Tool Sets palette.

Find and Replace

• Find and Replace dialog now keeps the view with finding result after dialog dismissed.

General UI

• Palette position is not remembered in certain situation on single monitor.

Hatch

• AutoCAD hangs when import some kind of corrupted hatch patterns.

Layer

• Slow response when move cursor over the layer dropdown menu on Layers palette.

Open/Save

• AutoCAD hangs when open some drawings with excessive layer filters.
• The OPEN dialog now responds to the File Format selection.

Performance

• Performance becomes slow when using Hatch a lot.

Plot

• The plotted PDF file size is too large if the plotstyle is using Milter/Bevel/Round Line join style.
• Page setup dialog now shows correct paper size when a different printer is selected.
• Page setup dialog now shows readable paper size name.
• AutoCAD now does not show the Select template dialog when plotting drawings with unreconciled layers.
• Object plot style property cannot be changed through the Properties Inspector.

Status Bar

• Status Bar refreshes heavily when work in Layout.

Select

• Sometimes the SELECTIONPREVIEW system variable is set to 0 during drawing edit and zoom.

Good lack in testing!

AutoCAD for Mac 2014. Long awaited, it is here

This spring, architosh ™ (the leading Internet magazine dedicated to Mac & iOS CAD and 3D professionals and students worldwide) published an interview with Micah Dickerson, AutoCAD for Mac 2013 Product manager. In this in interview he spoke about the present and the future of AutoCAD for Mac, talking about the future, he noted that “With AutoCAD for Mac we want to be more aligned with Apple’s OS X roadmap. We want to take better advantage of their software and hardware advances.”

As you probably know the new release of Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks was launched today at Apple October event. So it is a time for new AutoCAD for Mac release. And it is here now!

You may be curious of new features of AutoCAD 2014 for Mac, so let me tell about them. But at first I want to note that there aren’t a lot of new features in the new release, but a lot of “old” bugs are corrected. So I begin with new set of features:

– Long awaiting support for Retina display. AutoCAD now fully supports this high definition experience. If you owned one of MacBooks with Retina display, you will find high-definition graphics throughout the AutoCAD UI – desktop application icon, toolbars and tool icons, in-canvas transient graphics (UCS, View Cube, etc.), in-canvas line rendering.

– Package Drawing (aka eTransmit) – Similar to eTransmit in AutoCAD for Windows, Package Drawing allows you to quickly collect related files into a compressed folder for easy distribution or storage. AutoCAD now includes Package Drawing settings dialog, where you can adjust settings for creation of drawing archive.

– Drawing Sync – AutoCAD 2014 for Mac allows you to directly access your files from Autodesk 360 and synchronize them between your computer and the cloud. To use Drawing Sync, you’ll first need to be signed into Autodesk 360. You can sign-in from within AutoCAD using the “Connect” Menu or when AutoCAD isn’t running, you can also sign in from the OS X Menu Bar by clicking on the A360 icon. Once you’ve successfully signed in, you can access your Autodesk 360 cloud drive from: the AutoCAD menu bar (Connect > Open Autodesk 360 Drive), the AutoCAD Menu bar (File> New Drawing…/Open… > Autodesk 360), the OS X Finder Sidebar (“Autodesk 360”), the OS X Menu Bar (“Open Autodesk 360 Drive”). You can also enable automatic sync in application Preferences.

– New redesigned Welcome Screen – Now it’s easier to work with files when creating a new drawing or working on an existing one. The new Welcome Screen also gives you quick access to learning materials, your cloud storage, and helps you connect with other AutoCAD for Mac users so you collaborate, share information, and solve problems. One of the cool features of new Welcome Screen is that it pop-ups automatically if AutoCAD is running, but all drawings are closed and you pick AutoCAD icon in the Dock.

– New Preview Button in Print dialog allows you to open Preview application with PDF preview of the drawing file you want to print.

– Default Save-as-Previous Version drop-down list now added to AutoCAD Preferences dialog. You can forget about Terminal commands and AutoLISP expressions that you used to change default format for save.

– Software Security Enhancements – AutoCAD 2014 for Mac enhances software security and helps prevent loading and running of unauthorized or malicious AutoLISP applications. You can allow executable files to be loaded from all search paths or only from the trusted locations, specified by TRUSTEDPATH system variable. And you can choose to display a warning before loading executable files outside the trusted locations via SECURELOAD system variable. AutoCAD also renames ’-nolisp’ startup switch to ‘-safemode’, and expand ‘safemode’ startup switch to block all executable code (vs. just LISP)

– New Find Dialog behavior – when you search a text in a drawing, the view will not switch back and will remain after the text found and located. It is more convenient to search a text in a big drawing.

– New Online Help – you can press F1 from anywhere within the AutoCAD for Mac application to be directed to relevant help topics. The new Online Help homepage is less cluttered and thereby easier to search and find relevant information. The new Online Help gives you focused search-based access to the information you need. You can refine your search results by choosing the following topic types: Documentation, Installation & Deployment, Developer’s documentation.

And now – about “old” bugs that was corrected with tis release:

– During your work with AutoCAD you may be noticed that when the number of layers in a drawing is higher than 10 (or slightly more) Layers drop-down list on Layers palette become extremely slow responsive. Now Layers drop-down flies as a rocket, even with dozens of Layers!

– In all previous releases of AutoCAD for Mac if you have viewport locked in a drawing and are trying to zoom with mouse wheel inside this viewport with Status Bar opened, zooming works with significant delays. Now this have been fixed – no more ZOOM delays!

– Crashes when user trying to render drawings with image assigned to background Image (in Windows version of AutoCAD) now doesn’t occur in most cases.

– When you change default Printer in Page Setup Manager (by selecting it from Printer drop-down list) Paper Size list now updates automatically to reflect selected Printer.

– When you have a lot of Custom Hatch patterns files on Support Files Search Path noticeable delays when switching between opened drawings now doesn’t occur anymore!

And now about Operating Systems compatible with AutoCAD 2014 for Mac:

The following versions of Apple Mac OS X are supported:

■ Mac OS X Mountain Lion – 10.8 or later

■ Mac OS X Mavericks – 10.9 or later

Now you are faced with having to decide – whether to upgrade or not.