AutoCAD 2015: What's New? - Part 4

By Martin Phelps

AutoCAD 2014 introduced “LAYER” listing using natural sort order, so instead of the named layers being displayed as 0,1,10,12,2,20,3,30,33,4,40,42, the layers are displayed as 0,1,2,3,4,10,12,20,30,33,40,42.

As below in the 2014 “LAYER PROPERTIES MANAGER”

This has also been carried across to 2015 as below.  A other few minor changes have also been made to the “LAYER PROPERTIES MANAGER” dialogue box, such as the title is now all in capitals instead of the initial letter of each word, very minor I know but it’s still a change, unlocked layer is now indicated by an open yellow padlock instead of a grey one, non-plot icon is smaller, and of course the dark grey background. Its only when you see the two boxes side by side that the differences are really highlighted.

AutoCAD 2015 has a new system variable “SORTORDER” which when set to one (1), will display the layer names in natural order as below.

When set to zero (0) this will display the layer names in ACSI order as in versions prior to 2014.

As with many other functions, it is down to the users to decide how they wish AutoCAD to be displayed and operate.