At NORI CAD, we have spent the past months speaking with BricsCAD users across the United Kingdom, Europe, and internationally. One feature consistently emerges as a genuine workflow revolution: the Quad Menu. This contextually intelligent right-click menu sits directly beneath the cursor, displaying relevant CAD tools based on automatic object recognition. Remarkably, this feature has no equivalent in AutoCAD®. We are writing this article to share what our customers have discovered about this breakthrough capability and how it fundamentally transforms daily CAD productivity.
The Quad Menu represents a significant leap forward in CAD user interface design. Unlike traditional ribbon-based interfaces that require users to navigate multiple panels and dialogue boxes, the Quad brings critical editing and drawing commands directly to the cursor position. The result is fewer keystrokes, reduced mouse movements, and most importantly, dramatically reduced time spent on repetitive geometric modifications.
The Quad Menu is a context-sensitive cursor menu unique to BricsCAD that displays relevant CAD commands based on the object type beneath your cursor. When you hover over a line, polyline, arc, circle, or any other drawing entity, the Quad automatically recognises the entity type and presents a curated set of tools appropriate for editing or modifying that specific object.
The Quad can be activated in three ways: by pressing the F12 function key, clicking the Quad toggle in the status bar, or by right-clicking on selected entities. The initial appearance shows your most recently used command—a single icon with a rollover tooltip displaying entity properties. Moving your cursor into this button expands the menu to reveal six additional commonly used commands, with additional command tabs organised by function (Draw, Modify, Select, etc.).
What makes this feature remarkable is that it learns from your workflow. The Quad uses machine learning algorithms to adapt to your most frequently accessed commands, continuously refining its recommendations based on your usage patterns. This means the longer you use BricsCAD, the more personalised and efficient the Quad becomes.
One of our most enthusiastic customer testimonials came from Chorus, a multi-disciplinary engineering firm managing 15 design engineers across complex 2D and 3D workflows. They described polyline editing as a revelation. Rather than invoking the traditional PEDIT command and navigating through command-line prompts and dialogue boxes, their team now simply hovers over a polyline and selects editing operations from the Quad Menu.
With a single Quad interaction, designers can:
Add vertices at precise cursor locations
Adjust bulges on selected segments
Remove unnecessary segments
Stretch individual vertices to alter geometry
Modify segment widths directly
Previously, each modification required multiple command-line entries and confirmation steps. Now, tasks that took 15-20 seconds take 3-4 seconds. Multiplied across a typical design day—perhaps 50-100 polyline adjustments—this represents a time saving of several hours weekly.
Another powerful application our customers praised involves the Trim command through the Quad Menu. When your cursor hovers near a gap between two lines or where geometry could logically be trimmed, the Quad automatically recommends the Trim command. The Quad’s gap detection aperture is adjustable in settings, allowing you to configure how precisely the software recognises trimming opportunities.
Rather than typing TRIM, selecting cutting edges, selecting edges to trim, and navigating multiple prompts, designers simply:
Hover cursor over the gap between entities
Select the Trim icon from the Quad Menu
Confirm the trim operation
One architectural practice we spoke with reported that their documentation phase now completes 25-30 percent faster, primarily because of streamlined trimming workflows through the Quad Menu.
The Quad Menu integrates seamlessly with BricsCAD‘s AI-powered Move Guided and Copy Guided features, creating workflows that are impossible in AutoCAD®. When moving a collection of objects, the Quad suggests Move Guided, which automatically detects alignment geometry and generates temporary guide curves. As you move objects, they snap into perfect alignment, eliminating manual adjustment steps.
Our customers in the manufacturing and building services sectors praised this capability extensively. One mechanical engineering team explained that repositioning components within assemblies previously required three separate steps: move the component, manually trim excess geometry where the component overlapped, then re-add missing geometry. With Move Guided accessed through the Quad, this entire workflow is consolidated into a single intelligent operation with automatic cleanup and correction.
Copy Guided delivers similar time-saving benefits when duplicating design elements. Rather than standard copy operations followed by manual alignment, Copy Guided ensures new copies automatically align with corresponding geometry in the target location. For architectural floor plans with repetitive elements (doors, windows, fixtures), this represents enormous time saving.
Based on customer feedback and our own research, here are realistic time savings from Quad Menu workflows:
Scenario 1: Polyline editing in a complex building plan (5-10 polylines requiring modification)
Traditional PEDIT command workflow: 3-5 minutes
Quad Menu workflow: 45-60 seconds
Time saving: 65-80 percent
Scenario 2: Trimming documentation geometry (50-100 trim operations during documentation phase)
Traditional Trim command workflow: 45-60 minutes
Quad Menu workflow: 15-20 minutes
Time saving: 60-70 percent
Scenario 3: Repositioning grouped entities (3-5 groups requiring movement and alignment)
Traditional move + manual correction workflow: 20-30 minutes
Move Guided through Quad Menu: 5-7 minutes
Time saving: 70-80 percent
For firms with substantial geometric modification workloads, these time savings translate to approximately 3-5 hours of recovered productivity weekly per designer—equivalent to £750-£1,500 in recoverable billable time weekly, or £39,000-£78,000 annually per designer.
The Quad’s superiority stems from sophisticated object recognition technology that our technical team at NORI CAD has observed across hundreds of real-world projects. When your cursor passes over drawing entities, the Quad employs C++ reactor technology to instantly identify:
Entity type (line, polyline, arc, circle, dimension, solid, etc.)
Geometric events (intersections, tangencies, gaps)
Current workspace context (Drafting, Modelling, Mechanical, BIM)
Selection state (single entity, multiple entities, no selection)
This multi-dimensional analysis allows the Quad to present contextually relevant commands that would be impossible for a user to locate quickly in a ribbon interface or command-line system.
For example, when your cursor hovers near two lines that nearly intersect but leave a small gap, the Quad recognises this geometric event and automatically recommends both Chamfer (for bevelled intersection) and Fillet (for rounded intersection), along with Trim and Extend commands. This level of intelligent command suggestion has never been available in AutoCAD® or other DWG-compatible CAD software.
One reason our customers report such rapid workflow adoption is the Quad’s complete customisation capability. Unlike dialogue boxes or ribbon interfaces that are largely fixed, the Quad can be extensively personalised to match individual working preferences and industry-specific requirements.
Customisation options include:
Icon size: Small (16×16 pixels), Large (32×32 pixels), or Extra-Large (64×64 pixels) to suit individual vision requirements
Quad width: Specify how many command columns appear (default = 6, customisable 1-20)
Recent items display: Control how many previously used commands appear in the recent section
Show delay: Set the millisecond delay before the Quad appears when hovering (useful for fast workers vs. precise workers)
Command groups: Customise which command tabs appear (Draw, Modify, Select, etc.) and add custom tabs specific to your workflow
Button filters: Display specific commands only for certain entity types or when particular selection conditions are met
The Customise dialogue, accessed via Manage tab → Customisation → Customize tool, puts complete control in your hands. We have seen customers create industry-specific Quad configurations for architectural workflows, mechanical design, civil engineering, and construction documentation—each configuration presenting precisely the commands that workflow requires.
This is the fundamental difference that customers emphasise: AutoCAD®’s right-click menu is static. It displays the same limited set of commands regardless of what drawing entity is under your cursor or what task you are attempting. Users must navigate generic menus, find commands through searching, or rely on keyboard shortcuts and command-line typing.
BricsCAD‘s Quad Menu is dynamic, intelligent, and adaptive. It learns your preferences, recognises geometric context, and surfaces exactly the commands you need at the precise moment you need them.
The comparison is dramatic:
| Aspect | AutoCAD® Right-Click | BricsCAD Quad Menu |
|---|---|---|
| Context awareness | Limited | Advanced object recognition |
| Machine learning adaptation | No | Yes, learns your patterns |
| Command suggestions | Generic | Contextually intelligent |
| Position relative to cursor | Fixed location | Follows cursor position |
| Customisation capability | Very limited | Extensive customisation |
| Efficiency for repetitive tasks | Slow (multiple steps) | Fast (single interaction) |
| Learning curve | Steep | Minimal for AutoCAD® users |
AutoCAD®’s interface architecture prioritises consistency and broad feature coverage. Autodesk has invested heavily in ribbon interfaces that provide access to thousands of commands through a unified taxonomy. The right-click menu exists as a secondary interface pathway, displaying generic commands that apply broadly across drawing entities.
Developing a machine-learning-based context-sensitive menu would require fundamental architectural changes to AutoCAD®’s command system. BricsCAD, having been purpose-built around DWG compatibility with a focus on lean efficiency rather than feature proliferation, could integrate the Quad at the core architecture level. This technological advantage is not trivial—it represents a fundamental difference in how BricsCAD processes user intent and surfaces commands.
Based on our conversations with successful adopters, we recommend this implementation approach:
Week 1-2: Activation and basic exploration
Activate the Quad by pressing F12 or clicking the Quad toggle in the status bar
Spend 15-20 minutes hovering over various drawing entities to observe available commands
Practice basic polyline editing and trimming operations through the Quad
Week 3-4: Integration with existing workflows
Begin substituting traditional keyboard commands with Quad selections
Track time savings on routine modifications to quantify personal productivity gains
Identify the 8-10 commands you use most frequently and verify they appear readily in your Quad
Week 5-6: Customisation and optimisation
Access the Customise dialogue and create a personalised Quad configuration for your primary workflow
Add industry-specific command groups if your work involves specialised tasks
Adjust display delays and icon sizes to match your working speed and visual preferences
Ongoing: Leveraging machine learning benefits
Allow the Quad to learn your preferences over several weeks of use
Review and refine customisation settings quarterly as your workflows evolve
Share customised Quad configurations with team members working on similar tasks
The Quad Menu represents a genuine paradigm shift in CAD workflow efficiency. Unlike many software “innovations” that offer marginal improvements, the Quad delivers substantial, measurable time savings on the exact tasks that consume the majority of design professionals’ working time: geometric modification, entity editing, and precise alignment operations.
Our customers across architecture, engineering, and construction have consistently reported that the Quad Menu alone justifies switching from expensive enterprise CAD platforms to BricsCAD. When combined with BricsCAD‘s other advanced features—parametric blocks, Move Guided and Copy Guided, AI-powered Blockify, direct modelling, and cross-platform compatibility—the value proposition becomes overwhelming.
The question is no longer whether the Quad Menu is worth learning. The question is how much productivity your team is currently sacrificing by using CAD software without it.
If you are interested in learning how to use your BricsCAD software at its highest capability, discover our essentials course which will show you how to use BricsCAD’s tools in the most efficient way: BricsCAD Essentials Course.
