Palette Auto-hide Speed for AutoCAD

Click here to download the Palette Auto-hide Speed freeware.

Did you know that you can change the time it takes to show/hide or roll-up/roll-out the palette windows in AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture or other verticals when you have activated Auto-hide? It is possible but is not so obvious and easy. Until now.

Here you can download PaletteAutoHideSpeed.exe that helps you with this. There is no install provided since it's only one file so place it anywhere you want and run it. If you have different versions or verticals of AutoCAD you have to open the one you want to change and close it before running this application. With the introduction of AutoCAD 2010 the settings are saved in the profile. (If there are problems to run it from a network location try to place it locally.)

Hoover the mouse over "Tip here" in the application for a useful tip.

There is no support for this freeware but if you run into any problems or have any questions it's free to ask and we might be able to do something about it.

If you like it and would like to support the work to provide free tools like this please use PayPal below (takes major credit cards as well). Pay what you like. $1, $5 or whatever. If you want customized plug-ins like this created for your company please contact us.

For those wanting to know what the application does. Here's what. It locates the file fixedProfile.aws for the last run AutoCAD based application or Profile.aws for the current profile in AutoCAD 2010 or newer. It then changes the delay time in the file that is in XML format. In ADT 2006 it looks like this as default:

< paletterollupdelay="600">< paletterolloutdelay="200">

If you go in there and changes the Roll-up speed it will not work because of a minor spelling error. (Update: This has been corrected in ADT 2007) You also have to change PalleteRollupInfo to PaletteRollupInfo. The spelling error is corrected by the application.

In AutoCAD there is no existence of these rows so they have to be added at the correct location.

The “holdopen” delay is an additional delay that keeps the palette open for a specified time when it is opened programmatically; if the mouse does not move over it in this time it automatically rolls back up.
<PaletteRollupInfo PaletteRollupDelay="600" PaletteHoldopenDelay="3000" />
But is does not affect all palettes. You can see the effect with the palettes Properties, Quickcalc, External References, Sheet Set Manager, Markup Set Manager, Visual Styles Manager set to auto-hide. Try for example CTRL+1 one or two times. But it seems to only affect External References when starting AutoCAD.

The requirement for the application to run is to have Microsoft .Net Framework v2.0 or later installed. It can be downloaded here. If you don't have it installed you will get a message when trying to start PaletteAutoHideSpeed.exe. We have no plan on supporting older versions of .Net Framework.

Compatible with all existing AutoCAD based versions and verticals that uses palettes.

Some have reported that AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD 2012 might have problem to accept some of the settings.

Revision History

2009-03-01 - version 1.3
- Added support for AutoCAD 2010 and verticals that now save these settings with the profile. Only the current profile is updated.
2008-01-15 - version 1.2
- Added support for AutoCAD LT products.
2007-09-15 - version 1.1
- Added support for PaletteHoldopenDelay.
2006-02-18 - version 1.0

System requirements

Compatible with all AutoCAD versions (AutoCAD versions up to AutoCAD 2014). All flavors based on AutoCAD should be working like AutoCAD Architecture (ACA), Architectural Desktop (ADT), AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Electrical , AutoCAD Map 3D, AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD MEP (AMEP, ABS), AutoCAD P&ID.

Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.