Have you ever had a layout set up perfectly, only to have the scale and orientation of the viewport destroyed by someone (maybe even you) using a pan or zoom command while the viewport is active? I know, it’s not the end of the world, but it is very annoying, and it can be prevented. The secret here is a new option that came along in AutoCAD 2000 that allows you to lock your viewports. When a viewport is locked you are still allowed to pan and zoom. But if you pan or zoom while the viewport is acitive, or while you are working in the model space viewport, then the pan or zoom actually takes place in paper space.
Now let’s look at the process. As with most things in AutoCAD there are several ways to lock a viewport. I won’t try to list all of them here but I will show you three of the most common.
- Right-Click
- Select the Viewport
- Right-click
- Select Display Locked >> Yes
- Use the Properties Command
- Select Modify >> Properties to open the Properties window
- Select the Viewport
- Change the Display Locked property of the viewport to Yes
Note: You can also set the scale of the viewport in the Properties window
- Use the Command Line
- Type MVIEW or -VPORTS at the command line
- Then type L for the option Locked
- Next type ON to turn locking on
- Finally you will be prompted to select the viewport you wish to lock
You can unlock the viewport if you need to by using the same procedure and just setting the lock option to No. The hardest part seems to be just getting in the habit of remembering to use the lock option. Other than that it is an easy thing to do and it can be a big time saver.
