How to Turn Off Global Width in AutoCAD?

Understanding Global Width in AutoCAD

Global width in AutoCAD specifies the thickness of polylines and splines, impacting how these elements are displayed in your drawings. Turning off or modifying global width settings can be essential for achieving the desired visual style in your projects.

Steps to Disable Global Width in AutoCAD

1. Open the Drawing: Launch AutoCAD and load the drawing that contains the polylines whose global width you want to modify.

2. Access the Properties Palette:

   • Ensure that your Properties palette is visible. If it’s not displayed, you can access it by typing PROPERTIES in the command line and pressing Enter.

3. Select Polylines:

   • Use the selection tool to click on the polyline(s) you wish to modify. If you want to select multiple polylines, hold down the Shift key while selecting each one.

4. Modify the Global Width:

   • With the polylines selected, look for the "Global Width" setting in the Properties palette.
   • Change the value to zero (0). This effectively turns off the global width feature for the selected polylines.
5. Confirm Changes:
   • After making the adjustments, click outside of the Properties palette to deselect the polylines and verify that the changes have taken effect in your drawing.

Tips for Managing Global Width in AutoCAD

• Using Quick Select: For drawings with numerous polylines, utilize the QSELECT command:

  • Type QSELECT and press Enter.
  • Choose the object type as “Polyline” and set the operator to “Equal to”. Input the value you want to filter, then set the desired global width.
  • This will allow you to quickly select and modify multiple polylines simultaneously.
• Editing Individual Polyline: If you want to edit a specific polyline, right-click on it and choose “Properties” from the context menu. Adjust the global width here as well if needed.

Additional Considerations

• Default Settings: If you frequently work without global width, consider adjusting your default settings so that new polylines automatically have a width of zero.
• Line Types: Be aware that other attributes like line types and weights can still affect how polylines appear even when global width is turned off.

FAQ

Q1: What is the impact of setting global width to zero?
Setting the global width to zero means that the selected polylines will have no thickness, making them appear as simple lines rather than thick outlines in your drawing.

Q2: Can I change global width for splines?
Yes, you can change the global width for splines by converting them to polylines using the PEDIT command and then applying the desired width settings.

Q3: How do I reset polylines to default settings?
To reset polylines, you can select them and access the Properties palette to adjust the global width back to a default value or use the Pline command followed by 0 to set it to a neutral thickness.