AutoCAD commands and shortcuts that work in CADCraft

Updated October 14, 2026. Written for CADCraft 0.6.2 (what changed since).6.2.

CADCraft copies AutoCAD's command names and its standard short aliases, so the lists below hold no surprises if you learned on AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT. In version 0.6.2, 245 of the 491 menu items in AutoCAD for Mac have a working command; for the 2D menus alone it's about 65%. The commands below work the same in the browser editor and the desktop app.

Command aliases

Type either the full name or the alias, then Enter or Space. Case doesn't matter.

Draw

Modify

Dimensions and inquiry

Layers, properties and view

A few have no alias but exist under the AutoCAD name: ID, QDIM, MEASUREGEOM, LAYISO, LAYOFF, LAYFRZ, OVERKILL, SELECTSIMILAR and QSELECT (QS).

Function keys and Ctrl shortcuts

On a Mac the Ctrl shortcuts use Cmd. Redo is Ctrl+Shift+Z rather than Ctrl+Y. In a browser tab, a few keys belong to the browser before CADCraft sees them: Ctrl+W closes the tab and Ctrl+N opens a window, so use the drawing tab's close button and File › New Drawing… instead. If a function key does something in your browser, click the matching button in the status bar or type the command name (ortho, osnap, otrack).

Command-line habits that carry over

• Coordinates: x,y absolute, @dx,dy relative, @distance<angle polar, #x,y forced absolute, and direct distance entry with ortho or polar tracking.
• Repeat and cancel: Enter, Space or a right-click repeats the last command; Esc cancels.
• Options: words in [brackets] at a prompt can be clicked or typed by their capital letters. AutoComplete lists matching commands as you type.
• Transparent commands: 'zoom or 'pan in the middle of another command.
• Snap overrides at a point prompt: END, MID, CEN, INT, PER, TAN, NEA, NON, plus FROM, M2P and TK. Shift+right-click opens the snap menu, and Tab cycles between snap candidates.
• Selection: drag right for a window, left for a crossing, or type W, C, F, WP or CP at a Select objects prompt.
• Grips: click a grip, then press Space to cycle Stretch, Move, Rotate, Scale and Mirror.

A short run to check your hands still know it: rec, 0,0, @120,80, then o, 10, pick the rectangle and click inside, then dli, two corners and a spot for the dimension line. The 2D drafting walkthrough builds a full part this way.

Bring your own aliases

ALIASEDIT reads AutoCAD's .pgp format (ALIAS, *COMMAND lines), so your own shortcuts can come along. Lines that would launch an external program are skipped, and a real command name always beats an alias. In the browser there is no file path to point at, so add aliases with JSON after the command:

aliasedit {"set": {"cc": "copy", "zz": "zoom"}}

You can also paste a whole file's contents as {"text": "..."}. Added aliases last until the tab is closed or reloaded, so keep the line in a text file and paste it in at the start of a session.

One thing AutoCAD doesn't have

Any CADCraft command takes its options as JSON on one line, which is handy when you know exactly what you want. new {"metric": true} starts a metric drawing, and saveas {"path": "plate.pdf"} downloads a PDF of the drawing in the browser, which the DXF to PDF guide covers in full.

What doesn't carry over yet

• Blocks: BLOCK, INSERT, attributes and nested blocks work, but there is no block editor (BEDIT), no REFEDIT, and dynamic blocks from other drawings lose their behaviour.
• AutoLISP and customisation: no APPLOAD, no .lsp routines, no CUI or workspaces.
• Dialogs: there's no Dimension Style Manager and no Hatch dialog yet; set dimension styles and hatch options at the command line. MTEXT is edited in a dialog box rather than in place.
• System variables: typing a variable name such as OSMODE as a command doesn't change it; type setvar first.
• STRETCH selects with a crossing window only; polygon and fence selection print "not available yet".
• Fonts and 3D: SHX fonts aren't read (text falls back to CADCraft's stroke font), and there's no 3D modelling.
• In the browser only: no DWG (DXF only), no autosave, and the Print dialog doesn't produce a file.

If those gaps decide it for you, the comparison of free AutoCAD alternatives covers LibreCAD, QCAD and FreeCAD too.

Finding a command that isn't listed here

Start typing its AutoCAD name at the command line and watch AutoComplete, or press F1 and search the Command Reference. To practise on a real drawing with layers, dimensions and hatches already set up, open the sample drawing and try your usual sequence on it.