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Customized Border in Inventor IDW/DWG
For those of you who would like to create a custom border for Inventor that will adjust with changes in your sheet size, simply follow these steps:

Browse to your templates folder and Open the template that you wish to change. Do a Save As to a new file name so that you are not modifying your original templates. With the new file open, expand the Drawing Resources and right mouse click on Borders. Select Define New Border.
Create a rectangle that will represent your final border. When creating the rectangle, you must keep in mind the maximum printing extents of your printer or plotter. You will want to anchor all four corners of your rectangle to the projected points located at each corner. Do not dimension the rectangle, only the corners. This will allow the rectangle to shrink or grow with the sheet size.
You may change the line weight, line type, or color by selecting on the rectangle objects, right-clicking and selecting Properties.
If you add other objects to your border design, be sure to consider how the added dimensions to the objects will reposition them when the sheet size changes.
Once everything has been added to your custom border, right-click and select Save Border. The border is now ready for use. When saving your template file, be sure to place it back in the template folder.

Multi-Select Objects in Inventor
Multiple selection of objects within Inventor follows standard Windows conventions. Whether you are in an active sketch, an assembly file, or in a IDW, holding the control key will allow you to select multiple items. This holds true in the browser as well.

Holding down the shift key while selecting objects allows you to select the first and last object in the browser, permitting all objects in between to be selected.

Other selection methods also apply. Inventor permits selection by window or crossing. If you select from the right side of the screen while holding the left mouse button down, you will activate crossing mode where everything touching or inside of the rectangle will be selected. If you select from the left side of the screen, dragging to the right, you will be in window mode where everything totally inside the rectangle will be selected. If you are an AutoCAD user, you already know what to do.

Repeat Last Command
A big help in repetitive commands is the ability to repeat the last command (Dimension, Line and most other commands) by simply hitting the space bar on your keyboard.

Commands can also be repeated by right-clicking between commands and selecting Repeat ... at the top of the in context menu.

Ctrl Key For Trim and Extend
New functionality in Inventor 2009 allows options for the Trim and Extend commands. Holding the Ctrl key down while initiating the selection of objects permits the use of boundaries or extents for the command.

Once you have selected the boundaries, right-click, select Continue and pick on the objects to be modified.

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Dennis Jeffrey is an Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert and Autodesk Implementation Certified Expert. He is the founder of Tekni Consulting LLC, a firm specializing in Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions implementation, training and consulting. Dennis has been using Autodesk Mechanical 3D Products since 1987 and has been training and supporting manufacturing customers with Autodesk products since 1986. He has authored numerous book including Creative Design With Mechanical Desktop and Creative Design With Autodesk Inventor, and has co-authored a new book, Mastering Autodesk Inventor 2009 due out in Fall 2008. He will be returning this year to Autodesk University 2008 as a seventh year instructor. Dennis is a moderator for the AUGI manufacturing forums, an AUGI Wish List reviewer, and a columnist. Dennis has released a Live Web Training version of Creative Design With Inventor 2008.

You can contact him at djeffrey@teknigroup.com and visit his website at http://teknigroup.com .

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