If some of your dimensions use suffixes and some don’t (for example, angular dimensions), you can accommodate both by creating the initial dimension style with your desired suffix (e.g., mm). Another option is to create a dimension style that applies a suffix to all dimensions except angular. This involves creating child styles for linear, radius, diameter, and ordinate dimension types. Select Dimension Style from the Format menu. In the Dimension Style Manager, select the appropriate style, then select New. In the Create New Dimension Style box, select Linear Dimensions from the Use For menu, then select Continue.

Caption: When you create a new dimension style, you can specify the type of dimension it applies to.

In the Modify Dimension Style dialog box, type mm in the Suffix box in the Primary Units tab.

Caption: Set your desired suffix on the Primary Units tab.

Lines form two different angles when they meet—the major angle greater than 180 degrees and the minor angle less than 180 degrees. How you specify the angle and where you place the dimension arc determine which angle you end up dimensioning. To dimension a major angle, start the Dimangular command and press Enter for the default action, Specify Vertex. Then select the angle vertex and the two lines. When prompted to Specify dimension arc line location, place the dimension arc line outside the angle.

Caption: To dimension a major angle, select the Specify Vertex option in the Dimangular command and place the dimension line outside the angle.

To dimension a minor angle, start Dimangular and select the two lines, or press enter and select the vertex, then the lines. At the Specify dimension arc line location prompt, place the dimension arc line inside the angle.

Caption: For a minor angle, place the dimension arc line inside the angle. It doesn’t matter whether you specify the vertex or the two lines.

To dimension a supplemental angle (the difference between 180 degrees and the minor angle), start Dimangular, select both lines, and place the dimension arc line outside the angle.

The Stretch command can stretch or shrink an object or group of objects. You can’t stretch circles, text, or blocks. Start the Stretch command by selecting it from the Modify toolbar or typing it in at the command line. You will be prompted to Select objects to stretch by crossing window or crossing polygon. To use a crossing polygon, type cp at the command prompt. The crossing window determines what will stretch and what won’t. The Stretch command operates on an object’s defining points, such as the endpoints of a line and vertices of a polyline. If a defining point is within the crossing window, AutoCAD moves the point and updates the object accordingly. If an entire object is within the window, it will move.

Caption: In this example, the left endpoint of the line is within the selection window.

Caption: The Stretch command lets you move the left endpoint and will redraw the line based on the new position. Note that you can make the line longer or shorter, depending on the displacement value you select. You may also want to turn Ortho on so the object isn’t warped.

You can create multiple crossing windows, if needed. Once you create a window, the selected objects will be highlighted. You can remove objects by typing r at the command prompt, then picking objects you don’t want to move or stretch. If you need a finer selection, you can also pick individual objects or use a fence selection with the Stretch command.

To maximize screen space for drawing, press Ctrl-0 to hide AutoCAD’s title bar, toolbars, palettes, and status bar. Press Ctrl-0 again to bring them back. You can get the same results by clicking on the Clean Screen icon at the right side of the status bar.

Select Close All from the Window menu to close all open drawings. AutoCAD will prompt you to save changes for any that have unsaved changes. If you have AutoCAD’s Express Tools installed, you can select Quick Exit from the File Tools section of the Express Tools menu. That will close all open drawings (prompting you to save any that need it), then shut AutoCAD down.