acad.lsp does not come with the installation of AutoCAD and manually made from a notepad file. Each time AutoCAD launches it looks for the first acad.lsp it can find using the file search paths, so, I recommend the first File Search path contain a folder where this file resides so that it is found first.
So, for example, this file may be placed in:
"C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2024\R24.3\enu\Support"
"C:\CAD_Settings"
"<network drive letter>:\<folder>"
"\\<network UNC>\folder"
As long as the acad.lsp you want to run is found first as AutoCAD lauunches.
Click “Load acad.lsp in the first drawing only”
Optionally check the box the “Always perform my current choice” because once the option for first drawing only is picked we wont ever want to change that selection.
;acad.lsp
;MM/DDD/YY
;This file runs each time AutoCAD is launched.
;To use this file, copy it to your folder chosen above
(load "<local\network path>\acaddoc.lsp") ;See the acaddoc.lsp file for what it does
A Power Shell example of how to greet your users when then launch AutoCAD. Yes, its a silly frill, but its kinda cool and the user will be surprised to see it.
;;;-----------------------------------------
(defun CA:GetFirstName (/ CA_name CA_cmd CA_sh CA_ex)
(or (getenv "CA_FIRSTNAME")
(progn
(setq CA_cmd (strcat "powershell -NoProfile -Command " "\"(New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher('(samAccountName=' + $env:USERNAME + ')')).FindOne().Properties.givenname\""))
(setq CA_sh (vlax-create-object "WScript.Shell"))
(setq CA_ex (vlax-invoke ET_sh 'Exec ET_cmd))
(setq CA_name (vl-string-trim " \r\n\t" (vlax-invoke (vlax-get ET_ex 'StdOut) 'ReadAll)))
(vlax-release-object ET_sh)
(setenv "CA_FIRSTNAME" ET_name);; cache for future sessions
;name
);progn
);or
(princ)
);defun
(CA:GetFirstName)
;;;-----------------------------------------
;;;-----------------------------------------
(defun CA_greeting (/ CA_x CA_hr CA_tod)
;; Get current hour (00-23)
(setq CA_hr (atoi (menucmd "M=$(edtime,$(getvar,date),HH)")))
;; Determine time-of-day greeting
(setq CA_tod
(cond
((< CA_hr 12) "Good Morning")
((< CA_hr 18) "Good Afternoon")
(T "Good Evening")
)
)
;; Build and display message
(setq CA_x
(strcat "\n" CA_tod " " (getenv "ET_FIRSTNAME") ". Have a great day!\n")
)
(princ CA_x)
(princ)
)
(CA_greeting)
;;;-----------------------------------------
There are times when network folders don't want to be cluttered with .bak files but we also don't want to lose our ability to find backups of corrupted drawings. This method moves the same folder to somewhere else.
;;Look for c:\temp\bak, if its missing, create it
(if (not (vl-file-directory-p "C:\\TEMP\\BAK")) (vl-mkdir "C:\\TEMP\\BAK"))
;;set AcetMoveBak to save to C:\temp\bak subfolder instead of next to source .dwg
(if (not (vl-file-directory-p "C:\\TEMP\\BAK")) (vl-mkdir "C:\\TEMP\\BAK")); looks for the folder, if missing, create it
(setenv "AcetMoveBak" "C:\\TEMP\\BAK")
(princ "\n.[SUCCESS] BAK files now save to C:\\TEMP\\BAK subfolder instead of next to the source .dwg.")
Sure we can just use a single line to load the acaddoc.lsp because we know exactly where we put it, bu t this moethod checks for it first
;; Force-load acaddoc.lsp from a specific network or local path
;; Note: Use double backslashes (\\) or single forward slashes (/) for paths.
(setq AcaddocPath "\\\\<server path>\\<folders>\\acaddoc.lsp")
(if (findfile AcaddocPath)
(progn
(load AcaddocPath)
(princ "\n[SUCCESS] acaddoc.lsp loaded successfully via acad.lsp.")
)
(princ (strcat "\n[ERROR] File not found: " AcaddocPath))
)