Standards - Menu Files

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The menu file

For those new to what a menu file is, it is the file that controls how your AutoCAD desktop looks and operates. There are several types of files that you will see, they are described below:

AutoCAD menu files 
File type
Description
MNU
Template menu file.
MNC
Compiled menu file. This binary file contains the command strings and menu syntax that defines the functionality and appearance of the menu.
MNR
Menu resource file. This binary file contains the bitmaps used by the menu.
MNS
Source menu file (generated by AutoCAD).
MNT
Menu resource file. This file is generated when the MNR file is unavailable, for example, read-only.
MNL
Menu LISP file. This file contains AutoLISP expressions that are used by the menu file and are loaded into memory when a menu file with the same file name is loaded.

We will be dealing only with ".MNU" and ".MNL" files here. The rest will be created by AutoCAD from the ".MNU" files and we don't really need to worry much about them.

For those who don't know what a menu file controls, it defines:

your screen menu
 your pull-downs
your toolbars
your images (icon menus)
your mouse/puck buttons
your tablet layout
your help strings
and your accelerators (like <Ctrl>C for copy to clipboard etc.)
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Menus and menu components included with APS-2008

The APS-2008 software comes with a menu for each supported version of AutoCAD (13, 14, 2000, 2000i, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008).

The menu files are located in your "Custom" or "APS-Local Files" folders

    
Local APS installations    Network APS installations

with backup copies located in the "...APS-200X\Support\MenuFiles" folder.

They include the following:

APS-Main-13.mnu
APS-Main-14.mnu
APS-Main-2000.mnu
APS-Main-2000i.mnu
APS-Main-2002.mnu
APS-Main-2004.mnu
APS-Main-2005.mnu
APS-Main-2006.cui		 APS-Main-2002-LT.mnu
APS-Main-2004-LT.mnu
APS-Main-2005-LT.mnu
APS-Main-2006-LT.cui

There are also several other APS menu files that are included that are loaded automatically as needed. They are:

aps-at.mnu
aps-at04.mnu
aps-atlt.mnu
aps-at04lt.mnu
aps-at06.cui		 aps-ls.mnu
aps-ls04.mnu
aps-lslt.mnu
aps-ls04lt.mnu
aps-ls06.cui

The APS-at... menu files are the active toolbar menu files. For more on the Active Toolbars see Using the active toolbar.

The APS-ls... menu files are for use with the layer schemes layer control method. See "Layer Schemes" Layer Control Method for more information.

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