Description Keys Description keys can save you time once you have a file set up. The advantages of having description keys set up in AutoCAD is when you are surveying, you can use very brief abbreviations for your shots and when you download into AutoCAD, the program will recognize these abbreviations and will add the descriptions and symbols you assigned to that abbreviation. This will save you from having to put the symbols such as your Benchmark, soil borings, hubs, etc, on your drawing every time you download a new survey.

If you have never made a description key file, here is the process: First, go to Points, then Point Management, then Description Key Manager

Now we are in the dialog box, click this button to open the Create Description Key File box. Name your Description Keys. In this case I named it Diane’s Description Keys and click OK

In the left pane of the Description Key Manager, left click on the description key file you want to add the keys to, in this case, it’s Diane’s Desc Keys, (Step 3a) then right click on Create DescKey. Or you can just click on this icon and the Create Description Key box will pop up

Now your screen looks like this:

Next, put in a DescKey Code, you want this to be simple so in this example I used ha for Hub A, down below in the Description Format is where you can type what your code means, so Hub A. In the Point Layer box, I typed in eg_points so it will go in on my points layer when the survey is downloaded. Under Symbol Insertion, you can click the down arrow next to the Symbol/Block Name and pick a symbol. In this case, because it’s a Hub, I’ll use bound as my symbol block name. (It’s supposed to preview in the black box to the right so you can see the symbol but it’s not working on mine today.) Under Symbol Layer, I’ll put in eg_points again so the symbol will come in on my points layer. When you’re satisfied with what you have here, click OK

You will need to keep repeating Step 3a - Create Description Key until your list is complete. As you add description keys to your personal file, it will start looking like this:

When you are done creating your description key file, you will want to save it to a prototype so your description keys will be saved and you can use it for each survey you download. Right Click on the file you want to save (Diane’s Desc Keys) and left click Save DesKey Field to Prototype. When you save to a prototype, the next project you create that is based on that prototype will contain the description key file you just created.

I picked the Default Feet prototype since this is what we use. Click OK

Click Ok again. Then click the red X to get out of Description Key Manager. The next time you use your Default Feet prototype, your description keys should work.

If you already have a description key file made in your Autodesk 2006, you can import it into 2007 instead of creating a whole new description key set. The steps are as follows: click on Points, Point Management, Description Key Manager

When the Description Key Manager dialog box opens, click on Manager, then Load DesKey File from Prototype

Select whichever prototype you saved it to, most likely Default (Feet), then click OK

Next you will need to navigate through the file menu to find your description key file. For people who still have Autodesk 2006 the path will be: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\Autodesk Land Desktop 2006\R16.2\Data\Prototypes\Default Feet (or whatever prototype you save it to)\Cogo\DescKey

You see the file I named Diane’s Desc.Keys, highlight it and click Open

TaDa! Now you can see the Description Key list is loaded into 2007:

If you want to check to make sure your description key file is saved here is the path to find it: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\Autodesk Land Desktop 2007\R17.0\Data\Prototypes\Default Feet\Cogo\DescKey For people who still have Autodesk 2006 the path will be: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\Autodesk Land Desktop 2006\R16.2\Data\Prototypes\Default Feet (or whatever prototype you save it to)\Cogo\DescKey