Pan, Orbit, and Zoom Tools

• Pan, Orbit, and Zoom: Overview
• Panning, Orbiting, and Zooming Using the Mouse Wheel (Recommended)
• Accessing the Pan, Orbit, and Zoom Tools as Keyboard Commands or Buttons
• Keyboard Commands
• Buttons: F/X CAD Users
• Buttons: AutoCAD (Not F/X CAD) Users
• Troubleshooting

The Pan, Orbit, and Zoom tools are handy ways to navigate your drawings. Here's what they do and how to use them.

Pan, Orbit, and Zoom: Overview

Here are brief descriptions of what the Pan, Orbit, and Zoom tools do:

• Pan: Changes your view of your drawing the view while keeping the viewing direction and magnification the same. More information
• Orbit: Rotates a 3D model around pivot points. More information
• Zoom: Raises or lowers the magnification of your view of a drawing or viewport. More information

Panning, Orbiting, and Zooming Using the Mouse Wheel (Recommended)

If you have a Windows mouse with a scroll wheel, you don't need to use buttons to pan, orbit, or zoom – just use the mouse wheel!

Pan: Hold down the mouse wheel as you move the mouse around your drawing.

 

Zoom in: Roll the mouse wheel forward (i.e., toward your computer).

 

Zoom out: Roll the mouse wheel backward (i.e., toward you).

 

Zoom to the extents of a drawing (aka Zoom Extents or Zoom to Extents): Double-click the mouse wheel.

 

Orbit: Hold down the SHIFT key while also pressing and holding the mouse wheel and moving the mouse around your drawing.

Accessing the Pan, Orbit, and Zoom Tools as Keyboard Commands or Buttons

Keyboard Commands

If you don't have a mouse wheel, or if you'd just rather use the commands themselves rather than relying on your mouse wheel, you can access these tools in F/X CAD or AutoCAD by typing their names and pressing Enter:

• PAN
• ORBIT
• ZOOM

Otherwise, if you'd rather use these tools as buttons, the access is different between F/X CAD and AutoCAD.

Buttons: F/X CAD Users

The ribbon panel where these three tool buttons are located in AutoCAD is not available in F/X CAD. If you need to access the Pan, Orbit, or Zoom tools via buttons in F/X CAD, you can add them to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Buttons: AutoCAD (not F/X CAD) Users

In AutoCAD, these tools are located on the Navigation panel on the View ribbon.

However, you might find that your View ribbon doesn't include the Navigate panel. To open the Navigate panel on the View ribbon, right-click in any empty part of the View ribbon. Select Show Panels from the menu that opens.

Select Navigate from the menu that opens. 

The Navigate panel will now be active on the View ribbon.

Pan tool:

Orbit tools:

Zoom tools:

You can also easily add any of these tools to the Quick Access Toolbar in AutoCAD.

Troubleshooting

Issue: Your Xrefs disappear when you try to zoom or pan