Attributes
by: Paul Li
Attributes In Action
I
WOULD YOU LIKE AN ATTRIBUTE?
had just started to learn how to draw using AutoCAD Release 9 when I was first introduced to the term: Attributes. Though the word itself typically means something or someone’s characteristics or qualities, I was really shocked when I learned that this is not what Attributes are all about in AutoCAD.
WHAT ARE ATTRIBUTES?
Autodesk’s initial release of AutoCAD Version 1.0 in December of 1982 did not include Attributes as a 14
AUGIWORLD Magazine | August 2026
feature in its flagship product. It wasn’t until October of 1984, almost two years later when AutoCAD Version 2.0 came out, did Attributes finally make the cut. But customers could only have access to the new Attributes feature when they purchased along with the basic AutoCAD software the additional ADE-2 package. Back in those days AutoCAD was sold with additional “AutoCAD Drafting Extension” packages (ADE-1, ADE-2 and ADE-3) which added more powerful features to the basic AutoCAD program (see Figure 1). augi.com