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15 Best Online Free Resources For Mastering AutoCAD

Creating CAD Drawing

Learning how to use AutoCAD doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. With free online learning tutorials, courses, videos and other totally free learning materials, it can be easy to find the help you need. The only problem lies in sifting through search results, doing your research, and picking the right resource.  

To help cut down on the search time, we went ahead and did the research for you. And from our findings, we created a list of top free AutoCAD tutorials and tips on the Web. We even listed the top AutoCAD blogs in the industry to follow if you want to become and stay  a top AutoCAD user and professional.

So, without further ado here are 15 best online free resources for mastering AutoCAD:

myCADsite

myCADsite offers free online AutoCAD tutorials for both new and experienced users with no registration needed. Tutorials are organized into 4 levels: beginner AutoCAD, intermediate AutoCAD, introduction to 3D and advanced topics. Each set of lessons is followed by a quiz to test your knowledge. You’ll also find sample CAD files and videos to accompany the HTML AutoCAD tutorials. To stay current with news and tutorials as they’re produced, you can follow myCADsite on Facebook or Twitter.

Cadalyst

Cadalyst provides a wide array of AutoCAD and other CAD software tutorials, tips and training resources. They also have an extensive CAD tips video gallery with clips that teach you how to perform specific tasks in AutoCAD. For example, you can find videos showcasing three different ways to put a frame around your text in AutoCAD, how to scale object with a reference, and many more.

CADTutor

CADTutor offers free tutorials, tips and articles for AutoCAD, 3ds Max and associated software applications. Not only that, but CADTutor can easily put you in touch with other CAD learners and professionals their AutoCAD forums, which are a great free learning resource you can’t afford to miss out on.

Tutorial 45

This is another must-visit AutoCAD site to have on your list. Why? Tutorial 45 provides a set of free AutoCAD tutorials including practice exercises, lists of AutoCAD commands, 3D projects and easy to follow how-to articles. It offers all the basics you’ll need!

Ellen Finkelstein

Ellen Finkelstein’s AutoCAD tips blog is a huge repository of free AutoCAD tips, techniques and tutorials organized into categories that make it easy to navigate this rich AutoCAD resource. Sift through the number of categories that include: drawing, editing, text and dimensions, 3D, plotting and presentation, troubleshooting, AutoCAD customization, and layers. With the amount of resources available, you’re sure to find the help you need.

AutoCAD tutorial by Computer Aided Design Guide

Computer Aided Design Guide is actually a blog on all things CAD. Here you’ll find all AutoCAD related articles organized into a comprehensive list that makes for a good free AutoCAD tutorial resource you can bookmark.

The CAD Setter Out

The CAD Setter Out is another blog with all AutoCAD posts gathered under the AutoCAD tutorials category. To help readers and learners find the exact AutoCAD tutorial they need, their AutoCAD posts are further broken down with post tags like AutoCAD create, AutoCAD Edit, AutoCAD Productivity, AutoCAD Document, and AutoCAD Customization.

Draftperson.net

Draftsperson.net provides a set of free AutoCAD tutorials, tips and tricks, and articles. The resources don’t stop there though. You can find other free resources such as AutoCAD blocks, reference, and more.

CadOasis

CadOasis offers some free AutoCAD tutorials specifically designed to introduce AutoCAD functions to CAD users. So if you’re looking to get a good overview to the essentials on AutoCAD functions, this is the site to check out.

Blue Print Floor Plan

AutoCAD blogs

Lynn Allen

Lynn Allen’s blog is an extremely valuable AutoCAD learning and news resource adequate for both the beginners and experienced CAD users who want to stay current on industry news, events, and the latest on software updates and features. Lynn traditionally provides her blog followers with AutoCAD tips and tricks booklets you can download in PDF. From HTML how-to tips and tricks to videos that walk you through a new technique, you’re sure to learn your way around AutoCAD like a pro. Learn how to put a frame around your text, how to embed an image file in AutoCAD or even something as common as keeping track of your drawings. This site has it all.

AutoCAD Tips Blog

AutoCAD Tips is a blog that provides helpful AutoCAD tips for everyday users. Each tutorial is informative,  easy to follow, and with helpful screenshots to walk you through it, this blog is the perfect starting point for learning your way around both basic and advanced functionalities.

CADnotes

This blog is a treasure trove of AutoCAD learning material. CADnotes is a blog featuring AutoCAD tutorial series for beginners and other AutoCAD tutorials, articles and productivity tips.  

The CAD Geek

The CAD Geek aims to empower CAD professionals with informative and timely posts on AutoCAD and other CAD software. Owned by author and CAD thought leader, Donnie Gladfelter, this blog contains posts that go beyond the tutorial and software usage tips to give you a well rounded view of the CAD industry.

Through the Interface

Through the Interface is one of Autodesk’s blogs with over 900 articles on AutoCAD.  AutoCAD DevBlog is the number one go-to resource for software developers who work with AutoCAD and other Autodesk technologies. It abounds with information needed to quickly solve  programming problems and learn more about working with AutoCAD on a highly technical level.

Being Civil

Being Civil is one of AutoDesk’s blogs on AutoCAD Civil 3D. Its purpose is to provide value to users based on the support requests received every month from around the globe. This is a great blog to follow if you like staying in touch with the AutoCAD Civil 3D community or simply like learning how AutoCAD Civil 3D is being used. You’ll be able to find a ton of answers to user-submitted questions that you’ve probably had yourself!

Top Excel Tips For Data Analysts

Top Excel Tips For Data Analysts

It’s an obvious, well-known fact that data and business go hand in hand. You can’t manage one without affecting the other. And whether you’re analyzing a client’s data or using your company’s data to make executive decisions, your tools have to be able to handle the tasks you perform with that information.

For instance, if you’re a data analyst, most of the time you go through these stages of data analysis:

  1. Data Cleaning: Transform and rearrange the data in a way suitable for data analysis
  2. Data Analysis: Perform the necessary calculations to extract useful information
  3. Data Visualization: Use graphs or other type of visualization technique to show your results

While these may be impossible to handle manually, they’re perfectly manageable with Microsoft Excel. The application is advanced yet user friendly enough for the average user.

However, the tricky part you probably struggle with is knowing how to access and apply the right functionalities to your data. Well, it’s time to stop the struggle.

In this post, I’ll show you some Excel tips you can use at each of the data analysis stages.  Click through to jump to a specific section or tip.

Continue reading →

Why Accounting Firms Need A Document Management System

Performing Manual Calculations

For any financial services company, a client’s financial data is at the heart of its operations. As such, it becomes crucial for them to invest in a document management system and all the tools and processes it entails.

Underscoring this fact, CPA Practice Advisor outlines a number of pros and cons for having a paperless office with a document management system in place. As expected, the benefits presented by the pros outweigh, by far, the struggles imposed by the cons.

A document management system can drastically improve the workflow for accounting firms and clients alike.  

For one thing, it saves business costs on paperwork. Businesses and customers can reduce paper dependency, ultimately making documentation, transactions and records easily accessible online.

For another, it allows companies to automatically create an electronic audit trail that can keep documents accurate and in compliance with industry standards. Document workflows can be set up and incorporated into daily processes, making routine procedures easy for accountants.

However, one important caveat to keep in mind is that simply having a document management system in place doesn’t mean your workflow is fool-proof. Depending on the dynamics of your clientele and your document processing routine, your needs can shift and change from day to day. In fact, companies that incorporate document management systems can still struggle.

CFO Momentum
Momentum, a renowned financial and credit services  company, is one such example. They keenly  felt the affects of a document management system that quickly became inadequate. “Our working volumes grew exponentially and then came to a point where the manual process no longer made any sense,” Riaan Verbeek, CFO of Momentum explains.

Turning A Flawed Document Management System Around

As one of the leading services in the area of financial advising, insurance, investment and health, Momentum had client data already digitized in the PDF format. But there was a weakness in their document management system.

The company quickly found that they needed a dedicated PDF to Excel converter in order to improve, complete and streamline their document management system.  They needed to efficiently extract the vast amounts of PDF data to Excel and handle the data generated by the accounting department, as well.

Improving Document Management With Able2Extract

With this in mind, the company added Able2Extract to their document management system to fill that need.  A case study on Momentum shows that the company’s workflow did nothing but improve from the addition. You can read the full Momentum case study here. Successful highlights from the case study include:

  • Saved $30,000 annually
  • Saved 100% of their time on information assembly
  • No training required to start converting PDF to Excel
  • Experienced accurate data conversions

By making an adjustment in one troublesome area in their document management system, Momentum was able to start processing and handling their client data more effectively.  

Implementing a document management system can do wonders for the productivity of accounting firms. But that system must be flexible enough to change with your daily activity and routine.  

If your firm has a system already set up, make sure it has a tool for every step in the process. Tailor the workflow and make adjustments as needed. If the addition of one PDF converter can improve Momentum’s metrics, think of what it can do for your firm.

Exploring Document Management Needs For Insurance Companies

Document management in the insurance industry is important. Clients submit documents in a number of different methods and formats. As such, insurance companies need to be prepared to handle any type at any time, whether paper-based or electronic.

However, with PDF files being the de facto standard for document submission, insurance companies can expect to deal with high volumes of digitized data. This means being able to handle, process, and store those files.

Document Management Folders

Despite this obvious fact, some insurance companies are still hesitant to invest in document management software or individual tools. But for some companies, the onslaught of data and documents that need analysis is pushing them forwards, forcing them to explore their options.

Insurancenewsnet.com, in fact, provides a timeless guide for companies who need to start thinking about it and make sound decisions in choosing a document management software tool.

How To Start Your Search For Document Management Tools

To start, there are a few main questions you should keep in mind: How easy is scanning? How are documents organized? Are documents editable?

These are essential questions to think about. For instance, as you get into analyzing those documents, editability will determine the tools you use and the work you perform.  Not only that, but it will determine the time spent on working to convert the data from one format to another.

Document organization determines how efficient you’ll be–how do you store, name and retrieve files later on? 

With paper-based workflows still largely in existence among clients and third parties, you can expect many setbacks before that data is even ready to be digitally processed and analyzed. How can you get them quickly into an electronic format?

Struggling With Extracting Data From PDF Documents

As a case in point, one insurance company, AgencyOne, struggled especially with making the data they received in PDF files editable. But dealing with PDF files without a specific tool in place affected their efficiency as an insurance company, an issue not uncommon in the industry.

“It was frustrating that I could find no way to speed up the process of data extraction or take real advantage of the import capabilities,” says Alexandra Smolen, Commission Specialist at AgencyOne. “It used to take me all week to get my work done auditing commission statements.”

AgencyOne Commission Specialist

Finding The Key To Improving Document Workflows

They struggled with PDF files and, later on, found success with data extraction using Able2Extract Professional. The benefits the company experienced include:

  • 3x increase in efficiency
  • Time previously wasted was converted into time spent on strategic activities
  • Affordable for company budget
  • Week-long data extraction tasks turned into a few days’ work
  • Increase in productivity led to an employee’s raise in wage

Without doubt, insurance companies need to start looking at document management solutions. As technology becomes more and more advanced, things such as electronic submissions will quickly become the basic standard. The key to tackling the new digital document age is to make sure your insurace company stays one step ahead of the game.  

Read the full AgencyOne case study here for inspiration on how you can get your own insurance company’s workflow up to speed.

How To Stay Focused And Energized At Work When You Don’t Feel Like It

How long can you last a typical work day? When you work 8 hour days at a computer, it can be easy to lose focus. The 9-5 grind can have you exhausted before your day is even over. With eye-strain, constant distraction and long periods of sitting, it’s no wonder the current work force is obsessed with improving the concept of the ideal work life.

From the 4-day work week to setting up a work-from-home day, the perfect work-life balance is the holy grail of working professionals and productivity gurus. While you can find tips on the most popular productivity tools, the best mobile apps or productivity tips to help in that area, sometimes what you need is guidance on improving more than just your workflow.

In fact, such tips can typically miss out on one common problem. People call it many things—zoning out, mentally fading, the afternoon slump, spacing out, whatever you call it, you’ve undoubtedly felt it multiple times during the week.  It’s not exactly what you’d call being distracted, but the results usually amount to the same thing: low productivity, higher risk of errors, and time wasted.

Though going for a cup of coffee is usually the number one solution, it’s time to get creative. There are other things that can help you get energized and back on track.

Play Mentally Challenging Games

One good way to keep your mental wheels oiled is to keep yourself intellectually challenged. Try going for popular brain teaser games and training apps or programs like Lumosity. There’s some debate about whether or not these scientifically work to raise your IQ, but what can’t be denied is that they can keep you mentally active.

A short session here and there on your lunch break can help you switch your frame of mind. Other similar services include Congnifit and Fitbrains.  If you prefer to do so on your mobile, you can also try brain teaser games like Sudoku, 2048 or Can You Escape.

Perform Rote Work And Unchallenging Tasks

This may sound counter-intuitive, but this tip will actually give you that much needed momentum during your low energy times. These tasks can be anything–deleting your junk mail, cleaning off your desk or organizing your filing cabinet (or washing dishes if you work from home).

Messy Desk Clutter

A short study has shown that shifting focus to unchallenging work can actually help to boost your mood. The psychology behind this is that when you complete a task, you gain a sense of accomplishment. This can give you the drive needed to build yourself up to a more focused state going into another task.

Create a to-do list on the side of necessary rote tasks you can turn to when needed. This way you’re still taking care of something that needs to get done and not wasting time.

Use Notifications, To-Do Lists, and Timers

There’s nothing like having deadlines to keep you on your toes. Holding yourself accountable when things get slow and sluggish at work can be an effective method to try on yourself. When we’re working against the elements, be it time or resources, we tend to work with more focus to get the job done.

Creating To Do List

For this, set up notifications, create short yet manageable to-do lists and even use the trusted go-to timer strategy (think Pomodoro technique). Lighting a fire under a task will push you to work with more energy, giving you a second wind.

Schedule In De-Stressing Time Online

Unwinding is a huge part of staying alert and keeping your mind fresh. If you find yourself getting stressed out or tired from long periods of intense focus, take a mental break. As little as 15 minutes can mean a world of difference to your productivity.

We covered a few ways to reduce your stress online before. From customizing your musical mood to playing PacMan online, you’re sure to find one tip that’ll do the trick.

Change Your Location,  Your Workspace Or Your Workstation

Another thing you can try is to change your physical setting. Your surroundings can have an effect on your mental state day after day… after day. This includes disruptive noise from neighbouring cubicles, low lighting, and just being in the same drab, dull setting—factors that can elevate or drop your energy levels significantly.

Mobile Workstation

Try and make the modern day office work for you by rearranging your workspace, working in a different area (if you work on a mobile device), decorating your desk or even trade in your PC for a laptop if you can. Your work space matters and a quick switch can turn things around instantly.

We can’t be on the ball at the computer for 8 hours straight, 7 days in a row, on command. Hopefully, these can help give you that jump start you need when you’re drained, low on energy, and losing focus.  Everyone is different, so let us know what works for you.