Yes, every regular AutoCAD command works in Advance Steel, because it runs on AutoCAD. Most of them just aren’t on the Advance Steel ribbon. Type the command or its shortcut (like O for Offset or DIV for Divide) and press Enter. The cheat sheet below lists the useful ones.
Advance Steel runs on top of AutoCAD, so all the regular AutoCAD commands work in it. The catch is that most of them aren’t on the Advance Steel ribbon. If you came to Advance Steel without an AutoCAD background, you might not even know they’re there. They’re the ones you need for helper lines, grids, and cleaning up the model, so here they are in one place.
You can type the full command name in the command window, or just the shortcut, and press Enter:
What are the most useful AutoCAD commands in Advance Steel?
| Command | Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Move | M |
Moves objects from a base point to a new point |
| Copy | CO |
Copies objects |
| Rotate | RO |
Rotates objects around a base point |
| Mirror | MI |
Makes a mirrored copy across a line |
| Stretch | S |
Stretches the part of an object inside a crossing window |
| Scale | SC |
Scales objects up or down |
| Trim | TR |
Cuts lines back to other lines |
| Extend | EX |
Extends lines to other lines |
| Fillet | F |
Rounds or squares off a corner between two lines |
| Chamfer | CHA |
Bevels a corner between two lines |
| Blend Curves | BLEND |
Joins two open curves with a smooth spline |
| Erase | E |
Deletes objects |
| Offset | O |
Makes a parallel copy at a set distance |
| Array | AR |
Copies objects in a rectangular, polar or path pattern |
| Explode | X |
Breaks a block, polyline or array into separate objects |
| Lengthen | LEN |
Changes the length of a line or arc |
| Break | BR |
Breaks an object between two points |
| Break at Point | BREAKATPOINT |
Splits an object into two at one point |
| Join | J |
Joins lines and arcs into one object |
| Edit Hatch | HE |
Edits an existing hatch |
| Edit Array | ARRAYEDIT |
Edits an associative array |
| Edit Polyline | PE |
Edits a polyline, or turns lines into one |
| Edit Spline | SPE |
Edits a spline |
| Line | L |
Draws a line |
| Divide | DIV |
Places evenly spaced points along a line |
| Dimension | DIM |
Adds a dimension |
A handy habit: draw plain lines first, at the right spacing, and then turn them into beams with Beam from Line. I explain that in spacing beams and columns in Advance Steel.
