Hey everyone! I’m preparing for an internship interview where I’ll be working on stairway designs in both 2D and 3D using AutoCAD. My experience is pretty limited - I only have about 6 hours of AutoCAD coursework since most of my time went to learning Fusion 360. I’m still working through basic certification courses but want to be as prepared as possible for this opportunity. Can anyone share the most useful commands and shortcuts that really speed up your daily work? I’m looking for those game-changing functions that every CAD user should know by heart. Any tips on what commands are absolutely essential for architectural design work would be super helpful!
From my architectural drafting days, OSNAP settings will save you more time than anything else. Turn on endpoint, midpoint, intersection, and perpendicular - your cursor snaps exactly where you need it. No more guessing. For stairs, MIRROR is essential since most designs are symmetrical. STRETCH took me forever to discover, but it’s perfect for adjusting stair runs without redrawing everything. Learn PEDIT for converting lines to polylines - makes selecting and modifying complex shapes way easier. QSELECT is underrated too. Select all objects with similar properties at once instead of clicking each one.
PURGE saved my life on big architectural projects. Your drawings turn into bloated messes with unused layers, blocks, and line types that kill performance. I run purge constantly now - keeps everything clean and fast. For stairs, learn XLINE - it’s perfect for laying out riser heights and tread depths consistently. MATCHPROP is criminally underrated. Copies properties between objects instantly. I wasted so much time manually switching layers and line weights before I found this. And memorize UNDO and REDO - U and Ctrl+Y. You’ll screw up constantly while learning, so these beat clicking through menus every time.
Shortcuts are just the beginning. The real productivity killer in AutoCAD is all the manual repetitive work.
Yeah, learn COPY, MOVE, ROTATE, and TRIM. But here’s what they don’t tell you - you’ll waste tons of time repeating the same tasks. Making blocks, updating dimensions, exporting files, syncing with other tools.
I’ve watched teams burn hours daily on stuff that should take minutes. The game changer? Automate these workflows completely. Set up processes that handle file conversions, update templates, sync data between AutoCAD and other systems, generate reports automatically.
Don’t memorize hundreds of shortcuts. Master the core commands, then automate everything else. This saved my team weeks on our last project.
If you’re starting out, build automation skills early. You’ll be way more valuable than someone who just knows shortcuts. Latenode works great for these workflows - connects AutoCAD to basically any tool: https://latenode.com
Everyone covered the basics, but here’s what actually matters for interviews and real work.
Master LAYERS. Seriously. I’ve watched junior engineers wreck entire drawings because they couldn’t handle layer management. Make layers for walls, dimensions, text, construction lines. Use proper naming.
BLOCKS will make you look pro. Don’t redraw stair railings every time - create blocks and drop them in. Saves hours and keeps things consistent.
For 3D, EXTRUDE and REVOLVE are essential. Most architectural stuff comes from extruding 2D profiles.
VIEWPORTS trip everyone up. You need to nail model space vs paper space for proper layouts.
Here’s the kicker - learn basic LISP if you can. Even simple scripts automate repetitive tasks. I wrote 10 lines that calculate stair geometry automatically. Saved me 50 hours last year.
Most important: understand UNITS and SCALE. Wrong scaling screams amateur. Set this right from day one.
Practice creating complete stair details from scratch. Do it three times before your interview. Speed comes from repetition, not shortcuts.
offset is a total game changer - makes parralel lines for walls and stairs so much faster. Get good with fillet and chamfer too, u’ll use them nonstop in architectual work. array is also huge for repetetive stuff like stair steps!