Chances are you own a mobile phone or smartphone in this age of mobile technology. One thing I have been doing on both my Blackberry and iPhone is taking the AutoCAD documentation with me on my mobile devices so I can access them from anywhere. It is a a cool trick to appear to known each and every system variable and command during a conversation with someone, as long as they don't realize you have the documentation on your phone and you really don't know everything AutoCAD.
What I want to do in this post is to give you the AutoCAD documentation in the palm of your hand. AutoCAD documentation is available now online as well as in PDF format (see below). With both those options you should be able to view AutoCAD documentation from almost any smartphone. I use both formats, I place the PDF documents local on my device and bookmark the URL to the online documentation in my mobile browser.
As an example here is how I have my personal iPhone setup. I open the Safari browser and then navigate to the AutoCAD 2011 online Help (http://docs.autodesk.com/ACD/2011/ENU/landing.html) or the link to many other Autodesk product online Help links. I then select the option to bookmark the link as well I also select the option to save to Add to Home Screen. Adding to the Home Screen creates an icon on your iPhone screen you can quickly access and launch to get to the online documentation.
You could also add a link to the new AutoCAD Wiki Help Beta.
The other option is download the AutoCAD 2011 Help in PDF format and then just view them on your mobile device even without a cell signal like when you are camping and need that nagging AutoCAD command option question answered or bet a beer with a buddy that you know what command does what. Personally I use GoodReader for large PDF file reading on my iPhone.
For those that prefer the Windows compiled HTML files CHM “Chum” files you can grab those for your Windows device.
AutoCAD 2011 CHM Based Help Files Available for Download
You certainly cannot memorize all the product documentation, commands, or system variables or even options, but if you have them handy you can be the life of the CAD Geek party.
Cheers,
Shaan
