In this tutorial, you learn how to set the drawing unit and the scale for a drawing.
Before you begin drawing, you decide what one drawing unit will represent. AutoCAD does not include a setting that determines the length of a drawing unit.
After you decide what drawing units to use, you can set the format of the drawing units. The format settings available for linear units include.

■ Architectural. A length of 15.5 units displays as 1’-3 1/2”
■ Decimal. A length of 15.5 units displays as 15.5000
■ Engineering. A length of 15.5 units displays as 1’-3.5”
■ Fractional. A length of 15.5 units displays as 15 1/2
■ Scientific. A length of 15.5 units displays as 1.5500E+01

For example, a mechanical engineer who works in millimeters would set the format for linear units to decimal. An architect who works in feet and inches, would set the format to architectural.
The drawing unit format controls only the display style of the drawing units on-screen, such as in the display of coordinates and values in the dialog boxes and prompts.

• Click ➤ Drawing Utilities ➤ Units

• In the Drawing Units dialog box, under Length, select the following values:

■ Type: Architectural
■ Precision: 0’-0 1/8’’
The Sample Output section shows the display style of the drawing units on-screen. Select different length types, such as Decimal, Scientific, Fractional, or Engineering and notice how the sample output changes.

• Click Cancel to close the dialog box.