How to Use 2D Entity Snaps

Quick answer: Entity snaps let you select exact geometric points, endpoints, centres, intersections, and more, without knowing their coordinates. You can set a running snap that stays active until turned off, or a one-time snap for a single point. Press Tab without moving the mouse to cycle through every snap available at the cursor’s current position.

Running vs One-Time Entity Snaps

Running entity snap: choose a mode when no command is active, and it stays in effect until you turn it off.
One-time entity snap: choose a mode while a command is active, and it applies to just that one point, overriding any running snap temporarily.

What Entity Snaps Can and Can’t See

Only visible entities, or visible portions of entities, can be snapped to. You can’t snap to entities on a layer that’s turned off, or to the blank gaps in a dashed line.

Cycling Through Snap Options at the Cursor

If APBOX is on, a Snap Aperture Box appears around the crosshairs whenever one or more entity snaps are active. Moving the crosshairs snaps to whichever snap point is closest to the centre of that box, shown by the Snap Marker.

Press Tab without moving the mouse to cycle through every possible entity snap available at the current cursor position.

Entity Snap Behavior While Dragging

DRAGSNAP controls whether rubber-band dynamics display at your cursor’s location or at the current entity snap location while dragging, affecting commands like COPY, PASTECLIP, PASTEBLOCK, MOVE, ROTATE, MIRROR, SCALE, and STRETCH.

DRAGSNAP = 0 (default): dragged entities display at the cursor location.
DRAGSNAP = 1: dragged entities display at the current entity snap location.

Suppressing Snaps on Certain Entities

OSOPTIONS suppresses entity snaps on specific entity types, stored as a bitcode (the sum of whichever options are selected):

1: disables snapping to hatch entities.
2: disables snapping to geometry with negative Z values when using a dynamic UCS.
4: disables snapping to the endpoints of dimension extension lines.

The 2D Entity Snap Options

Right-click the ESNAP field in the Status Bar and choose Settings to reach these. Five icon toggles:

Sets OSNAPZ to ignore entity snap elevation, replacing the snapped point’s Z coordinate with the current ELEVATION value.
Disables the “Ignore hatches” OSOPTIONS bit, allowing snaps to hatches.
Disables the “Entity snap to negative-z” OSOPTIONS bit, allowing snaps with a negative Z value when a Dynamic UCS is active.
Disables the “Ignore endpoints of dimension extension lines” OSOPTIONS bit, allowing snaps to dimension extension lines.
Sets OSOPTIONS to ignore invisible geometry in shaded and hidden-line views.

All 17 Entity Snap Modes

Mode	Context menu shortcut	Transparent shortcut	What it does
TK (Temporary tracking)		`tk`	Prompts for temporary tracking points; press Enter to accept the last one
MTP (Middle of 2 points)	2	`mtp`	Snaps to the midpoint between two points you specify
Endpoint	E	`end`	Snaps to the nearest endpoint of an entity or polyline segment
Midpoint	M	`mid`	Snaps to the midpoint of an entity or polyline segment
Nearest	N	`nea`	Snaps to the nearest point on an entity
Center	C	`cen`	Snaps to the centre of an arc, circle, polygon, ellipse, or elliptical arc
Geometric Center	G	`gce`	Snaps to the centroid of closed polylines, splines, planar 3D polylines, regions, or planar faces of 3D solids
Perpendicular	P	`per`	Snaps to form a perpendicular alignment with an arc, circle, ellipse, line, polyline, infinite line, ray, spline, or plane edge, or its extension
Parallel	L	`par`	Displays a tracking line parallel to the selected entity
Tangent	T	`tan`	Snaps to the point that, connected to the previous point, forms a tangent line to an arc, ellipse, spline, or circle
Quadrant	Q	`qua`	Snaps to the closest quadrant of an arc, circle, ellipse, or elliptical arc
Insertion	I	`ins`	Snaps to the insertion point of an attribute, block, or text entity
Node	O	`poi` or `nod`	Snaps to a point entity
Intersection	R	`int`	Snaps to the intersection of any combination of entities
Apparent Intersection	A	`app`	Snaps to where two entities appear to intersect in the current view, even if they don’t actually intersect in 3D space, as well as genuine intersections
Extension	X	`ext`	Snaps to the extension of an entity, or the intersection of two entities’ extensions
None	Y	`non`	Turns off all entity snap modes

Type a context menu shortcut letter to select that mode from the right-click menu, or type a transparent shortcut directly at the Command line when prompted for a point (this temporarily overrides any other running entity snaps).

Turning Entity Snaps On and Off

Any of these set or toggle a mode:

Hold Shift, right-click, and choose the mode from the context menu (active modes show outlined).
Run OSNAP or -OSNAP.
Click a button on the Entity Snaps toolbar (active modes show pressed).
Type the mode’s single-letter shortcut.

With no command active, these toggle the mode on or off. With a command active, they apply as a one-shot override instead.

To toggle all entity snaps on or off at once: click the ESNAP field in the Status Bar, or press F3.

Working with Multiple Active Snap Modes

Move the cursor over the entity you want to snap to. One of your active snap markers appears.
Without moving the mouse, press Tab. The entity that snap point belongs to highlights.
Either click to accept it, or press Tab again to cycle to the next possible snap mode (the entity it belongs to highlights in turn).
Repeat step 3 until you’ve found the right snap point.

Snapping to the Extension of Two Entities

Works for lines, polylines, arcs, and elliptical arcs.

Turn on the Extension entity snap mode if it isn’t already.
Launch an entity creation command, LINE, for example.
Hover over the first entity’s endpoint; a small red cross marks it for extension.
Hover over the second entity’s endpoint; it gets marked the same way.
Move the cursor near where the two extensions would intersect; an X marks that point.
Click to accept the snap point.

Using the Middle of 2 Points Snap

When prompted for a point, either activate the Middle of 2 points snap mode, or type mtp or m2p at the Command line and press Enter. You’re prompted for the first point.
Specify the first point. You’re prompted for the second.
Specify the second point. The midpoint between them gets snapped to.

Using the Parallel Entity Snap

Requires Entity Snap Tracking to be active.

Launch a linear entity creation command, like LINE.
Specify the first point; the line displays dynamically.
Hold Shift, right-click, and choose Snap to parallel.
Hover over the entity you want to draw parallel to. Its Parallel Entity Snap marker appears; wait for a small cross to confirm it’s recognized.
Move the cursor to roughly align the line parallel to that entity; a tracking line displays from your start point.
Finish the second point by clicking directly, typing a length and pressing Enter, or using a second entity snap tracking point and moving to where the parallel tracking line intersects it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between a running entity snap and a one-time entity snap? A running snap stays active until you turn it off. A one-time snap applies to just the next point you specify, and can temporarily override a running snap while it’s used.

Can I snap to an entity on a layer that’s turned off? No. Entity snaps only recognize visible entities, or visible portions of them.

How do I cycle through multiple possible snap points at my cursor’s current position? Press Tab without moving the mouse. It cycles through every available snap mode at that position, highlighting the relevant entity as it goes.

How do I snap to where two lines would meet if extended, even though they don’t actually touch? Turn on the Extension snap mode, then hover over each line’s endpoint before moving toward where their extensions would cross.