AutoCAD 2019 - Change Options Outside AutoCAD

By Justin Doughty

Knowing where settings are held can open possibilities that are not there inside the software. A lot of the “options” for AutoCAD are saved in the registry, and they can be changed here also. Changing them here would be beneficial as it would only edit that one value and keep all other users options. Also, AutoCAD LT does not have Profiles, so this may be the only option for making changes for multiple users of AutoCAD LT.

Registry changes can then be distributed to the users via a .reg file or similar. Common examples of things to change would be the format of .dwg, and the default location for plot styles.

The example below describes how to change the default save format for AutoCAD using this method.

DISCLAIMER

This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to create a backup and restore it if a problem occurs (Microsoft Link), as this can render your system inoperable. You edit the registry at your own risk.

To change the .dwg save format, navigate to the following registry key:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R23.0\ACAD-2001:409\Profiles\<<Unnamed Profile>>\General
The part in BOLD will vary with version.

Look for DefaultFormatForSave

Here the “Value data” corresponds to DWG version and can be changed:

64 - 2018
60 - 2013 
48 - 2010
36 - 2007