Draftsight is a CAD software whose free version offers all the tools needed for a 2D design.

Here are presented some of the most common configurations along with some tips in the use of Draftsight.

To change the colour background in the Sheet Views:
Tools > Options > System Options > Display > Element Colors > Sheet Background.

To remove the dotted borders of the printable area in the Sheet Views:
Tools > Options > System Options > Printing > General options and remove the tick from Display Printable area.

To remove the paper background in the Sheet Views:
Tools > Options > System Options > Printing > General options and remove the tick from Display paper background.

To rotate a drawing in the Sheet View without changing its orientation in the Layout View, do as follows:

1. in the Sheet View, active the viewport with a double-click inside its area;
2. from Tools > New CCS > 3 Point, set the new orientation of the X-Y plane;
3. give the command planview and choose the option Active CCS to set the view according to the new CCS.

To come back to the 2D view after rotation of a 3D object:
View > View Tiles > 3D Views > Plan View > World CCS.

An Xref is an external reference, that could be an image or a drawing. In the latter case, when it must be attached to another one, with Insert > Attach Drawing, it's important that the configurations of the two files are the same otherwise parameters'scale will be changed.

Let's suppose to have a file called xref.dwg that must be attached to file.dwg. The easy way to copy all the configurations is to:

1. create a copy of xref.dwg and call it file.dwg;
2. in file.dwg, delete and clean its content, than attach xref.dwg.

The leader dimension allows labeling objects so that the annotation and the pointing line are bounded by one another.

Best results are obtained with the following configuration:

Only in multiline mode, it's possible to write super- and sub- script text, with any character and font, using the carriage ^.

For subscript code:

1. type ^ before the text: ^sub;
2. select all, then click the Stack/Unstack button.

For superscript code:

1. type ^ after the text: super^;
2. select all, then click the Stack/Unstack button.