Tutorials CadCraft help Troubleshooting and limits
Troubleshooting
Messages CadCraft shows and problems you may meet, each with the cause and the fix.
Written for CadCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1.
Opening files
| Message or symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "CadCraft opens DWG and DXF drawings. "…" is neither." | The file is not a .dwg or .dxf. | Open the drawing file itself. PDFs and images cannot be opened. |
| "This is a binary DXF. Save it as ASCII DXF (or open the DWG) and try again." | Binary DXF is not read. | Ask for a text (ASCII) DXF, or the DWG. |
| "This file is not a readable DXF (bad group code on line …)." | The DXF is damaged or not really a DXF. | Ask for the file again, or for a DWG. |
| "This drawing could not be read. It may be damaged, or saved in a version the reader does not handle yet (…)." | The DWG reader could not read it. | Ask for the DWG saved in an older version, or a DXF. |
| "Could not open …" followed by a network message, on the first DWG | The DWG reader could not be downloaded: you are offline and CadCraft is not saved for offline use, or the connection dropped. | Go online and try again, or open a DXF. Click Save for offline and wait for "Offline ready" so DWG files open offline next time. See Working offline. |
| The offline button says "Could not save" | Some files did not download. | Check the connection and click the button to try again. |
| The offline button says "Offline not available" | Private windows and some managed computers cannot keep an offline copy. | Use a normal window, or stay online. |
| CadCraft does not open with no connection | It was not saved for offline use in this browser, or the browser cleared it. | Next time you are online, click Save for offline and wait for "Offline ready". |
| The drawing opens but parts are missing | Objects CadCraft cannot draw yet, or layers that are off or frozen in the file. | Read "About this file" in the left panel. Check the Layers panel. |
| A viewport shows the model turned differently from the original | Twisted viewports are shown square to the sheet. | Not built yet. |
| Text wraps onto two lines | CadCraft draws text in a Helvetica-style font, wider than some CAD fonts. | Shorten the text in Properties, or live with the extra line. |
The command line
| Message or symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Unknown command "…". Type HELP for the list." | No command or alias by that name. | Type HELP, or see Command reference. Some familiar commands are not built yet. |
| "No such command" next to the command line while typing | What you typed matches nothing yet. | Keep typing, or check the spelling. |
| "Point or option keyword required." | What you typed is not a point or an option. | Check the format: x,y, @dx,dy, @d<a, or a single number. See Coordinate and distance entry. |
| "Requires a positive number or two points." | A distance was negative or not a number. | Type a positive number, or click two points. |
| "Requires an angle in degrees or two points." | The angle was not a number. | Type degrees as a plain number. |
| "Requires a number." | A number was expected. | Type digits only. |
| "Invalid option keyword." | The letters do not match an option. | Type the capital letters shown in the square brackets. |
*Cancel* | You pressed EscEsc, or ReturnEnter where a point was required. | Start the command again. |
| Typing does not reach the command line | A box in a panel or a dialog has the cursor. | Press ReturnEnter or EscEsc, or click on the drawing. |
| The command uses objects you did not pick | They were selected before you started it. | Press EscEsc before the command. |
| A line went somewhere unexpected | x,y is absolute. | Use @dx,dy for relative points. |
| "Finish or cancel the current command first (Esc)." | You pressed ⌘SCtrl+S while a command was running. | Press EscEsc, then save. |
| "Could not save as DWG (AutoCAD 2000): … Try Save as, then DXF." | Something in the drawing could not be written as DWG. | Press ⇧⌘SCtrl+Shift+S, choose DXF R12 and click Save. |
| "Not saved." | You closed the Save a copy as dialog with Cancel or EscEsc. | Press ⇧⌘SCtrl+Shift+S again and click Save. |
Editing
| Message or symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| An object will not select | Its layer is locked, off or frozen; or you are on a sheet and it is the model inside a viewport. | Unlock the layer, or go to the Model tab. |
| "Nothing found there." | No object under the click. | Zoom in and click on the line itself. |
| "Nothing crosses that object there." | TRIM found no object crossing the piece you picked. | Check that the cutting line really crosses it. |
| "Cannot trim that object." | Trim works on lines, arcs, circles and polylines. | Explode blocks first, or erase and redraw. |
| "No boundary in that direction." | EXTEND found nothing to meet. | Pick nearer the end that should grow. |
| "Cannot offset that object." | Offset works on lines, arcs, circles and polylines. | Explode it first, or draw a parallel line. |
| "Cannot offset that far." | The offset would turn the shape inside out. | Use a smaller distance. |
| "Fillet works on lines so far." | You picked a polyline or an arc. | Explode the polyline first. |
| "Those lines are parallel, or the radius is too large." | Fillet cannot make that corner. | Pick lines that meet, or set a smaller radius with R. |
| "Pick a second, different line." | The second pick was the same line, or not a line. | Pick another line. |
| "Only polylines, block references and dimensions explode." | The selection had nothing to explode. | Select a polyline, block reference or dimension. |
| "That is the current layer. Make another layer current first." | You tried to turn off the current layer. | Click another layer's name, then turn this one off. |
| "There is already a layer called …" | Layer names must be unique. | Choose another name. |
| Undo did not undo a layer change | Layer settings are not undone. | Change the setting back by hand. |
| "Nothing to undo." | There is nothing left to undo, or you opened or started a drawing (that clears the history). | — |
Dimensions and blocks
| Message or symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Dimension text and arrows are tiny or huge | Sizes are in drawing units; the overall scale does not fit the drawing. | Set DIMSCALE to the plot scale; see Set dimension sizes. |
| "Pick a point inside the angle you want to measure." | The angular dimension's location sits on a leg. | Click inside the angle. |
| "Those lines are parallel." | Parallel lines have no angle between them. | Pick two lines that meet. |
| "Pick a linear or aligned dimension." | DIMCONTINUE or DIMBASELINE needs one to start from. | Pick a linear or aligned dimension. |
| "This drawing has no blocks yet: F inserts one from a file, L from the library …" | The drawing has no blocks of its own. | Type F or L, or make a block with BLOCK. |
| "No block called "…"." | The name is wrong. | The message lists the blocks there are. |
| "A block name cannot start with * or use …" followed by a list of characters | The name has a character blocks cannot use. | Use letters, digits, - and _. |
| "A block cannot contain itself." | The selection holds a reference to the block being made. | Leave that reference out. |
| "No objects selected; nothing made." | You pressed ReturnEnter before selecting. | Run BLOCK again and select the objects. |
Sheets and plotting
| Message or symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Viewports go on a layout. Open a layout tab (or make one with LAYOUT) first." | MVIEW on the Model tab. | Click a sheet tab first. |
| "Open the layout with the viewport first." | VPVIEW on the Model tab. | Click the sheet tab first. |
| A viewport scale looks ten times wrong | The drawing units are wrong. | Set Units in Current settings. |
| "There is nothing to plot yet." | The model is empty. | Draw something, or open a drawing. |
| "Pick the window to plot." | A window… is chosen and no window was picked. | Click Pick and pick two corners. |
| "… bigger than the paper: the edges are cut off." | The area does not fit at that scale. | Choose a smaller scale, a larger paper, or Fit to paper. |
| "The browser blocked the new tab, so the PDF was downloaded instead." | Pop-ups are blocked for the site. | Open the downloaded PDF, or allow pop-ups for the site. |
| Characters print as "?" | The PDF font has Western European characters only. | Not built yet for other scripts. |
| Construction lines show in the PDF | Their layer plots. | Click the layer's printer button. |
| All lines are equally thick | One pen width per plot. | Choose a Line weight in the dialog. Per-layer weights are not built yet. |
Keys and the screen
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| F3, F7 or F8 changes volume or opens Mission Control | Mac function keys. | Hold fn, or use the status bar buttons. See Keys, mice and trackpads. |
| F7 asks about caret browsing | Firefox's own use of F7. | Choose No; use the Grid button. |
| ⌘NCtrl+N opened a browser window | The browser keeps that key. | Click New or type NEW. |
| ⌘ACtrl+A selected the command line's text | The command line had the cursor. | Click an object first, or type ALL at a Select objects prompt. |
| fn DeleteDelete does not erase | The command line had the cursor. | Type E and press ReturnEnter. |
| Right-click does nothing on a Mac trackpad | Control-click may count as an ordinary click. | Click with two fingers. |
| Nothing pans on a trackpad | There is no middle button, and Space does not pan. | Drag with a right-click held, or zoom out and in at another spot. |
| The first EscEsc left full screen | The browser uses Esc to leave full screen. | Press EscEsc again to cancel the command. |
| F1F1 does nothing on a Mac | F1 is a brightness key. | Hold fn, or click Help. |
| Typing goes into the help's search box | The help panel has the cursor. | Click on the drawing. |
| The drawing went blank | You zoomed far away. | Click Extents, or double-click the wheel. |
| "Leave site?" when closing the tab | There are unsaved changes. | Stay, save with ⌘SCtrl+S, then close. |