AutoCAD 2008 InfoCenter - "It’s help Jim, but not as we know it”

Apologies for the Trekkie rip off but InfoCenter does take “Help” from the Help menu and creates an information resource for the user. It combines serveral existing help/info features with a powerful...

ACAD2008Infocenter

Apologies for the Trekkie parody but InfoCenter really does take “Help” from being “Just another menu” to a true information resource for the user. It combines AutoCAD help and Communication Center features with powerful search and adds one very cool new feature

RSSfeed-icon32x32

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The screen capture shows the InfoCenter interface which sits in the menu bar enabling search and access of these resources:

  • Help: Searches across multiple files and presents merged results in a dynamic results menu. You see the results from the Application Help,  New Features Workshop and Customisation Help in one interface.
  • Communication Center;
    •  “Channels”(from Autodesk);
      • Live Update Notification and Subscription Announcements
      • Articles and Tips
      • Featured Technologies and Content
      • Product Support Information
    • User RSS Feeds; This is the cool new function.
      • It installs with feeds from the Autodesk product related Blogs, Discussion Groups and Knowledge Base.
      • Users can also add/remove their own blog feeds. An unscrupulous Cad Manager could load his own blog feed to boosting his FeedBurner stats
    • CAD Manager Channel: This is a RSS feed that the user can not remove. In the capture you see my blog feed but I will create a company wiki/blog feed with CAD related updates for the real deployment (honest!)
  • Favourites: Save links to those frequently accessed topics here!

InfoCenter has a CAD Manager Application which allows the CAD Manager to control the Users ability to access/edit display of content & settings.

It’s one place for information access from local help, local company web/intranet/wiki feeds or the Internet – a true AutoCAD “InfoCenter”.

UPDATE 22–02–2007: Jimmy has a great post about the CAD Manager Utility which includes some InfoCenter controls:

CAD Manager Control Utility for AutoCAD 2008 - JTB World

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