Many of us are users of AutoCAD, but how many of you actually see and hold the install CD for AutoCAD? If I was to guess, I would have to say well below half of all users actually ever see the AutoCAD install CD, mainly it is the CAD manager or IT personnel that see the install CD in the corporate environment. The AutoCAD install CD includes PDF documents on it that are not available through the install, and if you are on subscription you might have gotten the Build Your World book which covers many of the new conceptual and visualization tools that are new to AutoCAD 2007. If you are under subscription and are using a network install, most likely your company received a single CD and a single hardcopy of the Build Your World book, which is hard to share with everyone in the office so often the book is tossed into someone's overhead bin never to be seen again.
The install CD not only includes a PDF version of the Build Your World book, but also has the other guides which include the User Guide, Command Reference Guide, and even the Customization Guide, among others in PDF format. While all these documents are available in the online help, they are not easy to print from the online help if you wanted an entire section. If you are like me, I prefer to read a hardcopy version of content at times over an electronic version so I can make notes on it for future reference and place it in a resource binder. If you are a die hard individual that wants the PDF in hardcopy, you could print the entire thing out yourself or you could purchase a hardcopy of the PDF as a book directly from Autodesk through their eStore.
If you can get a copy of the CD, the PDF files are located under the Documentation tab on the Media Browser but if you can't get the CD, contact your CAD Manager or IT staff to have the files copied from the Docs folder on the CD from under Bin\acadFeui folder off the root to a network location. Then you will have access the all the documentation that was shipped with AutoCAD.
Sincerely,
Lee
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