Issue description
When drawing or editing elements, the tracker displays X and Y coordinates instead of distance and angle values. When creating or modifying elements, the distance and angle measurements only appear when pressing the Tab key to go through the tracker fields, not as in the default configuration.
Solution
This behavior occurs because the tracker is set to display Cartesian coordinates (X-Y) instead of polar coordinates (distance-angle). The tracker display preferences are controlled through the Work Environment settings. This setting sometimes changes unexpectedly after a program crash or when applying different work environment profiles.
Quick toggle method
- Start drawing or editing an element
- Press the
/key on your keyboard to toggle between X-Y coordinates and distance/angle display
Change the permanent setting
- Go to Options > Work Environment > Work Environment
- Click on navigate to User Preference Schemes > Tracker and Coordinate Input
- Under Coordinate input logic, check the box for Prefer polar coordinates in Tracker during straight vector input.
- Click OK to apply the changes
- After making the changes above, select your current User Preference Scheme from the dropdown.
- Click Store As to save your settings.
- Enter a name or select your existing scheme.
- Click OK to save your preferences permanently
Additional tips:
- Use the N shortcut key to show the Tracker on the fly if it disappears
- When the Tracker is in polar mode, use D or R to input distance and A to input angle
- Press Tab to move between Tracker fields
- Use Options > Work Environment > Tracker and Coordinate Input to customize other Tracker display preferences such as color and transparency