AutoCAD is a huge program in its capabilities, and those panels that are displayed by default immediately after installation of the program represent only very small of its capabilities, only the most necessary ones. That is why, first of all, it is very important to decide how to open the toolbar in AutoCAD - just to understand everything that the developers provide. Not to mention the fact that these objects can be customized at will - some rarely used features can be removed, and some, on the contrary, can be displayed.
There are several ways to restore the toolbar in AutoCAD.
Well, and, of course, it is important to add or restore these tools to work if they accidentally disappeared for any reason. In the end, floating objects - by pulling any of them out of their usual place, turning them into a window, then you can easily remove it by clicking on the "cross" in the upper right corner.
When working with the program in question, you always need to keep in mind which version you are using, which year - 2002, for example, or 2014. Working with the objects in question in different developments is organized differently. This, of course, is a matter of taste and habit, it can be said in another way - progress cannot be stopped, but many who are tuned in to development, and not to study the tricks of developers, like the order adopted in versions before 2006 more. But the overwhelming majority of those who came “into the program” later got used to other methods.
Panels in the latest versions of AutoCAD
So, if the toolbar disappeared in AutoCAD, it will not be difficult to return it to its place. In newer programs, panels are presented in two forms - a ribbon and a classic menu. If you have a "tape", and it disappeared, then to display it is enough to press the key combination "Ctrl + 0". When you press the keys of the same combination again, the panel will disappear again.
If the classic is assigned, then to activate the "ribbon", in order to see more available commands, you need to go to the "Service" tab, then select "Palettes" and the line "Ribbon". If the panel is quite modest - only in one line, and there is no "Service", then you need to turn to the button with the arrow down, this button is on the far right in the menu bar.
We press this button and such a wide menu is turned on again. Now the button has an up arrow, press it again, and the menu shrinks. This is useful when the display size is not that large and there is not enough space for drawing output.
Working with panels in a more familiar way
Another, more familiar way of solving the problem, how to return the toolbar, and any of the almost two dozen, is offered in versions up to 2006 inclusive.
Here we are already acting as follows:
- Go to the menu "View" / "View".
- In the field that opens, select "Toolbars" in the bottom line.
- User settings are opened - there are 4 tabs, but we will be interested in the second one - "Toolbars".
- Note that opposite each line there is a position for setting the output checkbox. Those that are currently displayed are equipped with a checkmark, which are not displayed - they do not have a checkmark. The conclusion is made by simply setting this very checkbox. Initially, the panel is placed like a window, with a “cross” of closing, but by grabbing the title with the name with the mouse, it can be moved to any other place, if the object moves all the way to the left, right, up or down, it becomes an elongated line of pictogram commands.
Pay attention to the "Commands" tab next to the one discussed in the user settings window. On this tab you can find all the commands used in AutoCAD, even those that are not associated with graphical icon buttons. Any of the commands can be displayed anywhere on the screen or removed by ordinary drag and drop.
In a traditional menu bar, you can open drop-down menus in a variety of ways. The possibility of creating alternative menus is provided.
The traditional menu bar can be displayed at the top of the drawing area. The Traditional Menu Bar appears by default in the Classic AutoCAD LT workspace.
NOTE The traditional menu bar is disabled by default in the 2D Draw and Annotate and 3D Modeling workspaces.
The menus that should appear in the Menu Browser for all workspaces can be specified in the CUIx file preferences when it is loaded into the program.
Display the classic menu bar
■ On the Quick Access toolbar, select Customize from the drop-down menu
➤ Show Menu Bar.
Panels
Panel buttons are used to execute commands, invoke submenus, and display tooltips. The user can display and hide toolbars, dock them, resize the panels.
Toolbars contain buttons that launch commands. When you hover the mouse or other pointing device over a toolbar button, a tooltip appears with the name of the specified button. Buttons that have a small black triangle in their lower right corner have submenus containing sets of related commands. To call the pop-up panel, move the cursor to the pop-up panel icon and hold down the left mouse button.
By default, the Quick Access pane appears at the top of the application window. This toolbar is similar to the Microsoft® Office program bars. It contains commonly used AutoCAD LT® commands such as PRINT, Undo, and Redo, as well as standard Microsoft Office commands such as New, Open, and Save. For more information on the Quick Access Toolbar, see Quick Access Toolbar on page 22.
NOTE You can convert a toolbar to a ribbon panel using the Customize User Interface dialog box.
Show, hide, dock and resize panels
Toolbars can be shown or hidden and the settings made can be saved as a workspace. There is also the possibility of creating new panels.
NOTE You can select the desired option from the list of toolbars on the View tab, Windows panel on the ribbon.
The toolbar is displayed as floating or fixed... The floating panel can be located anywhere in the drawing area, it can be moved within this area, resized or docked. The docked panels adjoin one of the edges of the drawing area. The panel, docked to the top edge of the drawing area, is located below the ribbon. A docked panel can be dragged to other docking zones.
Panel display
1 Click View tab ➤ Windows panel ➤ Panels.
2 Select a toolbar from the list.
ADVICE Alternatively, you can right-click on any toolbar and select the toolbar from the context menu.
Status bars
Application and drawing status bars provide useful information and buttons for turning drawing tools on and off.
Application status bar
The application status bar displays the coordinates of the cursor, along with drawing, quick view, and annotation scaling tools.
Drawing tool buttons are displayed as icons or text. The settings for the Step, Otp-Polar, Anchor, and Ot-Object tools can be easily changed from the context menus of these drawing tools.
You can view and switch between open drawings and sheets in a drawing. In addition, you can display the annotation scaling tools.
The Workspace button switches between workspaces and displays the name of the current workspace. The lock button locks the current positions of toolbars and windows. To expand the displayable area of the drawing, click the Clear Screen button.
To control the display of icons and notifications in the status bar tray
1
2 From the Status Bar drop-down list, click Customize Notification Area.
3 In the Notification Area Preferences dialog box, select or clear the following check boxes:
■ Show service icons. Displays the notification area on the right side of the status bar and displays service icons in it. If this check box is cleared, the notification area is not displayed.
■ Show notifications from services. Connects to display notifications received from services, for example, from the Communication Center. If the Show Service Icons check box is cleared, this option is not available.
4 If the checkbox "Show notifications from services" is selected, you must set the time for displaying notifications, or select "Until explicitly close."
5 Click OK.
Controlling the display of buttons on the status bar
1 Right-click in an unused area of the application status bar.
2 In the Status Bar drop-down list, select the check box for the name of the button you want to display.
Displaying cursor coordinates in the status bar
1 Right-click in an unused area of the application status bar.
2 In the Status Bar drop-down list, select or clear the Cursor Coordinate Values check box.
Drawing status bar
The drawing status bar displays several tools for scaling annotation.
Different display of tools in model space and paper space.
When the drawing status bar is on, it appears at the bottom of the drawing area. If the drawing status bar is disabled, the tools in it move to the application status bar.
When the drawing status bar is on, you can use the drawing status bar menu to select the tools displayed on the status bar.
Turning the drawing status bar on or off
1 Right-click in an unused area of the application status bar.
2 From the Status Bar drop-down list, select Drawing Status Bar.
Often in the course of work in the program, you have to use some kind of autocad command, which is absent in the standard toolbars and is called through the menu. It becomes inconvenient to access the menu and it is much better in this situation to create autocad toolbar and call the command by clicking on it. Another situation when the use of a separate autocad toolbar is justified - the standard toolbar is too large, and you use only one or two commands from it.
So let's learn how to create our own autocad toolbar. To do this, on the Ribbon, go to the Manage tab, then click User Interface. Or in the Tools menu, select Adaptation - Interface. Or, even easier, in the command line, type the letters pn and press Enter. In any case, a window will appear:
If the window looks different from the picture, click on the arrow in the lower right corner and it will look similar. Note that you are on the Customize tab of the Customize User Interface window. In the upper left pane of Adaptations: All Files, find the Panels item. Click on it with the right mouse button and select New Toolbar in the menu that appears. 
Give the panel a name, such as a command name.
Now we need to place the required command on the created toolbar. This is done as follows: in the lower window of the List of commands, you need to find the necessary autocad command. The correct command name can be found from the menu where the command is called from, from the tooltip that appears when you hover the cursor over the command panel. To quickly find a command, you can enter its name or just the first letters of the name in the line to the left of the magnifying glass icon. 
Having found the required command in the list of commands, click on it with the left mouse button and, without releasing the button, drag it to the created autocad toolbar until a small arrow appears to the right of the panel name, as in the picture. Further, if everything was done correctly, you will see that the command is on the created panel. 
Additionally, autocad has the ability to change the icon of our autocad toolbar. Select it in the Adaptations pane: All files and on the right in the pane Icon, you can choose any icon for the new panel or even draw your own by clicking the Change button. Now it remains to do the last action - click Apply and OK. The window will close and a new autocad toolbar will appear on the screen. Drag it to a convenient place on the screen and use it!
The commands necessary for building a drawing and editing it are located on the toolbars ("Drawing", "Editing", "Layers", etc.). These commands will help you get started learning AutoCAD, and our articles from the tutorial section "AutoCAD for Beginners" will give you a complete picture of them. The commands are structured and located on the ribbon-menu. Thematic tabs such as Insert, Annotations, and others contain sets of toolbars. This allows you to quickly find the required command.
How to open the toolbar in AutoCAD, and what to do if the toolbar is gone?
In order for the expanded panel to appear, just click on the arrow, as shown in the figure. We will show you how to customize the toolbar in AutoCAD. Such panels can be docked by clicking on the pin in the lower left corner.
How do I hide / add new toolbars to the ribbon?
To do this, you need to right-click on any panel. A list will appear in which you need to select "Show Panels". By checking or unchecking the box next to the name of the panel, you will, respectively, add it or hide it from the ribbon.
This is important when you have a small monitor. In AutoCAD, the toolbar is minimized to buttons... It becomes inconvenient to choose the right team. In this case, it is advisable to remove panels that you are not using.
In addition, toolbars can be dragged to a convenient location on the ribbon. It is enough to hold down the LMB at the bottom of the panel and move it to a suitable place with the mouse.
Working with the quick access panel.
The Quick Access Toolbar is designed to organize frequently used tools on it. By default, this panel contains some tools. They can be removed by clicking RMB → "Remove from Quick Access Toolbar".
For convenience, you can take out the necessary tools. To do this, just select the appropriate command on the ribbon, press RMB → Add to the "Quick Access" panel. This optimizes work in AutoCAD.
What to do if tools disappeared in AutoCAD?
If the toolbar disappeared in AutoCAD, then perhaps you just changed the presentation of the ribbon. To put everything back in place, use the button in the upper right corner, as shown in the figure:
This can be done by brute-force, or you can select the desired display from the list by clicking the arrow next to it. Try this if your toolbar disappeared in AutoCAD. So, there are three options:
Minimize to panel buttons;
The AutoCAD toolbar, also called the ribbon, is the real "heart" of the program interface, so its disappearance from the screen for any reason can completely stop the work.
This article will tell you how to return the toolbar to AutoCAD.
How to return toolbar to AutoCAD
1. If you find that familiar tabs and panels have disappeared at the top of the screen, press the hotkey combination "Ctrl + 0" (zero). In the same way, you can turn off the toolbar, freeing up more free space on the screen.
2. Suppose you are working in the classic AutoCAD interface and the upper part of the screen looks as shown in the screenshot. To activate the ribbon with tools, click on the "Tools" tab, then "Palettes" and "Ribbon".
3. Using AutoCAD, you may find that your tool strip looks like this:
You, however, need to have instant access to the tool icons. To do this, just click on the small arrow icon. Now you have a full feed again!
