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TD0148 - Creating an AutoCAD Electrical
Drawing Template

Step 1:

The first step is to do one of two things; either you can draw up a sheet border and add the electrical
attributes to it. Or the simplest way is to start a New drawing using Acad_electrical_iec.dwt from the default
template list and customise it to suit.



Step 2:

If you go down the route of using the existing electrical template, the first thing you will need to do is Explode
the current border. After which go to File menu > Drawing Utilities > Purge, to purge all unwanted blocks from
the template. The only block you need to keep is WD_M, but you can easily purge all, and then add this block
back in later.





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Step 3:

If you require an X-Y grid setup on the template, you will need to go to Drawing Properties, which can be
found in Projects menu > Drawing Properties.

If you purged the WD_M block in Step 2, AutoCAD Electrical will at this stage prompt you to insert the block
again, select OK if you see the window below.



Once the Drawing Properties dialogue box has opened, switch to the Drawing Format tab and select X-Y Grid
in the Format Referencing area. Then select Setup..., as shown below.



This will open the X-Y Grid Setup dialogue box; from here you will need to Pick the origin point of the X Y
setup. Alongside this you will need to set both the Horizontal and vertical spacing of the border. If you are
modifying the Acad_electrical_iec.dwt file then the spacing is Horizontal 45, Vertical 50. The Vertical labels
may need changing to suit your needs, again if you are modifying the Acad_electrical_iec.dwt file they will
need to be A to F.





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Step 4:

It is a good idea to create your own DEFAULT_WDTITLE.WDL file. This file contains all of your required drawing
attributes. Its location can either be in one of the default Support File Search Paths or a search path of your
choosing. See Tools > Options > Files (TAB) > Support File Search Paths, for a list of available locations or click
Add to create your own.

NOTE: If you are in a multi user environment it is worth setting up a shared Support File Search Path on a
server, then you can all work from the same files.

To do this open My Computer and navigate to the place where you wish to store your
DEFAULT_WDTITLE.WDL file. Then right click in the folder, select New and select Text Document from the list.
Then rename the file to DEFAULT_WDTITLE.WDL, not forgetting that the .wdl extension must replace the .txt.
If done correctly the file should appear as below:



Step 5:

Now you will need to open the newly created DEFAULT_WDTITLE.WDL file and add your required attributes.
These will be married up with the border inside the template. The attributes will need adding into the file as
below:

LINE1=JOB NO
LINE2=ORDER NO
LINE3=DRG NO

The attribute name, i.e. JOB NO, ORDER NO, can be whatever you need, but the LINE1= etc must stay the
same.

Step 6:

Next you need to map the information from Step 5 to the attributes on the border. Firstly select Projects
menu > Title Block Setup, and select Method 2 from the Setup Title Block Update dialogue box. Click OK to
continue.





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Step 7:

The Title Block Setup dialogue box should appear. This will show your project values from the
DEFAULT_WDTITLE.WDL file and the Attributes of the border in the new template drawing.

To change or allocate a value against your project values from the DEFAULT_WDTITLE.WDL file, you just need
to Click on the Attribute next to the project value. In the example below the Project Value is JOB NO, and we
want the Attribute to match, therefore we pick JOB# from the Attribute list. Now repeat this for your other
project values.



Step 8:

Now select Drawing Values (see the screenshot above) and map as per list or requirements. The Process is the
same as discussed in Step 7. Click OK to complete.



Step 9:

The next step is to make any visual changes to the drawing border, i.e add company logos etc. This is just a
process of using common AutoCAD tools and is the same as any other AutoCAD template.



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Step 10:

Now we want to create a block from the new border, this is either because you have constructed from fresh or
because we exploded the original Title Block in Step 2. To do this type in the command Block, this will bring up
the Block Definition window, as shown below. Enter a name for your new border block, i.e. Electrical Title
Block.



Step 12:

The next step is to set the Base Point, which you can either specify On-screen or Pick point via this dialogue.
Also you will need to select the objects to be used in the new Title Block, click the Select objects (see below).
The Block Definition window will disappear; now drag a bounding box over the whole drawing, Right click or
hit Enter to continue.

Once you are happy that you have the correct details and the Block Definition window looks something like
below, Click OK to complete.



Step 14:

Check that all of the new and existing Drawing Properties are as you require.

Step 15:

To finish Save the drawing to your Template area, e.g. A3_Electrical.dwt.

NOTE: If you are in a multi user environment it is worth setting up a shared Template folder on a server, then
you can all work from the same Templates. This can then be mapped in Tools > Options > Files (TAB) >
Template Settings > Drawing Template File Location.