One of the capabilities of MicroStation is the ability to dock tool boxes along the perimeter of the GUI.  You can override this by holding the <CTRL> key down while dragging the toolbox to the edge of the application window. 
By keying in MDL LOAD ICONEDIT, you can create icons for tool boxes or tool frames from existing design file geometry, a cell in the current cell library, or a Windows BMP file. 
If you use the flood method on any tools to process data in views containing many objects, you can improve the processing time by \"windowing in\" on just the area that you wish to operate on, or by putting the bounding objects in a selection set before initializing the flood operation. 
MicroStation's particle and ray tracing and a hybrid implementation of keyframe and hierarchical object animation allow designers to create stunning photorealistic images, explore more iterations of a design, and save time compared to traditional presentation methods. 
Non-graphic information can be associated to MicroStation elements through internal or external database environments, resulting in \"smart\" drawings that can be used in downstream applications. 
Photorealistic rendering adds more realism to your designs through shadow, material, and bump mapping, transparency customization, and anti-aliasing - animation abilities are also available to let you define animation sequences using keyframe methodology. 
AccuDraw(R) offers unprecedented ease in navigating three-dimensional space, combining the speed and efficiency of mouse movement with the precision of keyboard input. 
SmartLine(R) is a composite drawing tool that makes drawing less cumbersome and time-consuming by consolidating frequently used tools into one - allowing creation of \"smart\" lines, linestrings, arcs, circles, polygons, fillets and chamfers from a single utility, thus making modifications faster and easier. 
When reference Nest Depth is used, references are recursively attached and maintain their respective clip bounds, level symbology, rotation, scale and position. 
MicroStation GeoGraphics combines the power of MicroStation with a comprehensive set of mapping-specific features that give you the tools you need to build a wide range of solutions for all of your mapping and GIS projects. 
Dimension driven design capabilities in MicroStation allow for the dynamic definition of constraints and relationships among graphic elements, enhancing productivity in all applications. 
Bentley SELECT ensures the maximum return on your investment by keeping you at the forefront of today's technology - with it, you receive product updates and upgrades as soon as they are released, top priority telephone technical support, productivity utilities and enhancements, training materials, and much more.
You can have MicroStation-based products place a hatch or pattern on a level that is different than the bounding object by using a fence. 
Multi-lines are an efficient way to define and place walls and partitions on architectural floor plans. Multi-lines have many other practical applications and can even be combined with custom line styles. 
You can copy or move selective design contents defined by a MicroStation fence to a new design file by using the commands Fence File (to copy) and Fence Separate (to move). 
MicroStation GeoGraphics' geometry cleanup tools provide you with quick and easy ways to find and resolve a variety of geometry related issues, including unsnapped endpoints, small line fragments, and unintersected linework, using tolerance values that you define. 
MicroStation GeoGraphics extends MicroStation's database capabilities - allowing you to use standard SQL queries to locate individual objects across an entire library of MicroStation design files. 
You can break a line by using the Partial Delete tool and specifying the same point as the beginning and ending points. You can also use IntelliTrim to break multiple lines.
You can change the order of design data by using Pen Tables, references, or the command wset add;wset drop on a Selection Set. 
Utilize dynamic panning by pressing the Data button on the input device while holding the Shift key down and moving in the direction that you wish to pan. 
Add a tilde (~) in front of the character that you wish to use as a mnemonic when customizing menus. 
You can change the background color of MicroStation's views from black to white in User Preferences. 
The tools Measure Length, Measure Area, and Measure Volume all support selection sets, providing the ability to measure multiple objects at the same time as opposed to measuring individual objects and then adding the results. 
The Construct Tangent Arc by Radius tool prompts you for an arc radius and length and then for a point on an existing linear object. You then have the option of selecting the direction for the tangent arc, or to select another linear object. 
The Add to Graphic Group tool supports selection sets. Create a selection set (by using PowerSelector, for example) and then click the Add to Graphic Group tool (PowerSelector is located in the Element Selection toolbox, Add to Graphic Group is located in the Groups toolbox). 
You can perform selection set operations on elements that are in the same graphic group by enabling the Graphic Group Lock and then picking an object that is in a graphics group. 
You can merge design files and cell libraries together by using the MERGE MDL application. From inside MicroStation, all files specified are merged into the current file. From the command line, the first file is the destination file. 
You can use Ctrl+Z to exit a MicroStation session by setting it in User Preferences. 
Use the Page Up and Page Down keys to quickly recall values entered in AccuDraw (similar to using the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to recall values in the Key-in window). 
If you create a Selection Set containing all area filled objects in a design and then choose the Change to Active Fill Type tool (in the Change Attributes toolbox), you can adjust the fill type and/or fill color so that all closed objects will reflect a new fill type. 
Settings Groups eliminate the need to create extravagant menus to set up graphic parameters. 
When you use the Pan View tool from the view window's viewing tools and enable the Dynamic Display setting (on by default), MicroStation uses an accelerated vector method and pans very quickly. 
Use MSBATCH for batch processing operations on design files, like MERGE and other applications.
If you wish to try a key-in you found in the MicroStation Help (or anywhere else), instead of typing it in, use Shift+Insert to paste the text into the MicroStation Key-in Browser. 
Use WorkSpaces to customize the user interface, user preferences, and/or configuration variables. 
The tentative to intersection snap requires two tentative locations - once to the first intersecting element and second to the other that you wish to intersect. To use a single click intersection, use the key-in Lock Snap Intersection 1.
MicroStation has its own internal keyboard mapping. To remap characters so they are in the correct location on your keyboard, open the Key-in browser and enter MDL LOAD FONTEDIT, which opens the Font Edit dialog. Here you can look at the character map for a specific font, and even move characters around within that font. 
The Replace Cells tool can be used to replace single or multiple cells in a design file. It can also be used to update cells in a design with cells of the same name from the active cell library. 
More than a cell browser, Cell Selector is useful for creating focused menus around cells. This includes creating cell selector groups with only those cells and actions that you want instead of a comprehensive list of cells to scroll through. 
You can utilize relative reference file paths/folders in MicroStation by creating configuration variables with the _dgndir configuration variable embedded in them (_dgndir is a private MicroStation configuration variable that represents your current working directory). 
When using the Level Manager, right-click on the level selector to open a menu with some useful options: You can turn off an element's level by selecting the element, or turn off all levels except the level of the element selected. 
On-line help is available for many dialog box items by pressing the F1 function key when the item has keyboard focus. 
Generate screen shots by modifying a function key to execute the CAPTURE SCREEN command, load the screen capture application (MDL LOAD SCRNCAPT), open the dialogs or menu items to capture, and press the function key. 
Use the CALCULAT MDL application to modify TCB variables.  First, load the Calculator Pre-processor with the key-in MDL LOAD CALCULAT. Then enter the key-in CALC tcb->[tcbVariable]=[newValue] (without the brackets). A listing of TCB variables can be found in TCB.H when MicroStation's Programming Tools are installed. 
Use the CALCULAT MDL application to view TCB variables.  First, load the Calculator Pre-processor with the key-in MDL LOAD CALCULAT. Then enter the key-in CALC tcb->[tcbVariable] (without the brackets). The variable's value is displayed in the status bar or command window. 
You can press the Shift key while dragging the Element Selection tool to fence anything that overlaps the square defined by the Element Selection tool. 
You can use Engineering Links to navigate from design file to design file. Simply use the syntax file:///<designFileName> when using Attach Link to associate the link to any object in the design file. If you do not include the directory specification, you can append it to the configuration variable MS_DEF so that it points to the directory where the files reside. 
To display range blocks of elements, keyin SET RANGE and update the view. 
To delete all elements in a design file, enter the key sequence: ESC, Alt+E, A, Backspace or Delete. 
To delete all elements in a design file, keyin CHOOSE ALL and then press Backspace or Delete. 
To enable the middle button on a 3 button mouse in the User > Button Assignments dialog, select Tentative in the list box with the Data button and click the middle button in the box immediately below the list box. 
Configuration variables set at the operating system level are accessible from configuration files and inside MicroStation. 
Lock configuration variables that should not be changed with the %lock <config variable> syntax in your configuration file. 
To initiate a script file of MicroStation keyins after starting MicroStation, use the command line: ustation <DGNfile> -s<scriptFile>.
Start an MDL INITAPP from the command line with the -wa<application name> command line qualifier. 
Don't run with scissors. 
Set workspace components (user name, user interface, configuration name) from MicroStation's command line with the -wu, -wi, and -wc command line qualifiers. 
By typing a command (or part of a command) and then a ?, the command browser pops up with the command selected.  For example: typing PLACE LINE ? shows the command browser with the different PLACE LINE commands. 
Use the command Window Bottomtotop command to send the bottom view to the top when you have limited screen real estate and many views open. 
You can change the number of columns in the Main Tool Frame to 1 using the Customize utility. 
You can use text substitution in Pen Tables for to \"insert\" reserved variables for things like Date, Time, File Name, miscellaneous environment variables, and the like. 
To decrease design file size, use the COMPRESS DESIGN command to remove deleted elements from the file.  Caution: After compressing, previous changes cannot be undone. 
Use the BACKUP command to make a backup copy of the active design file. 
Append the command selview [view number] to key-ins to automatically select the specific view that you wish to send the operation to without having to click a data point in that view. For example, on=1-63;selview 1 will turn all levels on in view 1. 
You can use the division symbol (or /) when doing a polar array to easily identify the DeltaAngle. 
The key-in Place Fence Universe places a fence block around the entire design plane. 
Use the MicroStation command line qualifier, -r to open a design file in read only mode. 
MicroStation PowerDraft can view any file created by MicroStation. 
Pressing Shift+Reset when in a view window opens the View Control pop-up menu. 
Pressing Shift-Tentative when in a view window opens the Snaps pop-up menu. 
Customize your interface with the Customize tools that are delivered with the product. 
Use the command line qualifier -debug to diagnose MicroStation startup problems and view your current configuration.  The output file msdebug.txt is placed in your current working directory. 
The MDL debugger has a case sensitive qualifier.  The default setting is off and can be changed with the command: set case [on|off]. 
Keying in lc=anyCharacters, where anyCharacters can be any collection of characters, brings up a list of linestyles that have only anyCharacters in their names. 
Use the Tables push button in the Key-in Browser dialog box to find available commands for a specific MDL application. 
Use the tracking capability of on-line help to learn about MicroStation functionality as you use it. 
Keying in co=+1 and co=-1 increments or decrements the current active color setting. This technique works on other two-letter key-ins for numeric input as well. 
Read the MicroStation documentation to find many good bits of information regarding MicroStation functionality. 
The pipe symbol | repeats precision coordinate key-ins, like 4,2|16. 
You can assign settings manager key-ins to various GUI items by using the syntax active settings type group:component. 
The %d statement prompts MicroStation's input queue to wait for a data point. For example, place fence;%d;%d;fence stretch creates a command that waits for you to enter two data points (defining the fence) before starting the fence stretch. 
You can transition UCM code to MicroStation BASIC template code in MicroStation using the delivered utility UCM2BAS.
TechNotes, FAQs and other technical support information can be found on Bentley's MicroStation V8 Technical Support Documentation page at http://selectservices.bentley.com/technotes/product53.htm as well as MicroStation on the Web at http://microstation.bentley.com/.
You can download online help updates for commercially available products from Bentley's documentation Web site at http://docs.bentley.com/.
Bentley hosts and monitors a number of newsgroups for our products. A current list of newsgroups can be found at http://selectservices.bentley.com/newsgroups/. 
MicroStation V8 can natively reference and edit DWG files created with AutoCAD v2.6 through AutoCAD 2000/2000i/2002. You can save the DWG file you are editing to a different DWG version by selecting File > Save As... and setting the File Type to DWG or DXF.
The configuration variable MS_OPENV7 provides you with the ability to edit V7 design files in MicroStation V8 without upgrading them to V8 DGN format.
Refer to QuickStart Guide > Getting Started > Directory Structure in MicroStation V8's online documentation for information regarding MicroStation V8's directory structure. 
To take advantage of enhanced text functionality, you must select Word Processor as the Text Editor Style in User Preferences (this is the default).
MicroStation V8 natively supports TrueType and SHX files for text symbology.
