Issue:

The response time of AutoCAD is sluggish, showing one or more of the following symptoms:
  • Commands run slowly or hang after executed.
  • Object selection lag.
  • Mouse movements are slow, hang, skip, or hesitate.
  • The program intermittently pauses or freezes.
  • Drawing files are slow to open.
  • Files take a long time to regenerate during drawing navigation.
  • Turning on hardware acceleration degrades performance.
  • Degraded performance over time.
  • Dialogs (like plot dialog) are getting opened very slowly.

Causes:

Slow performance is often caused by hardware or file issues:

Hardware issues

  • A graphics card is not certified or is malfunctioning.
  • The graphics card driver is outdated.
  • Graphics settings may not be compatible with a remote system.
  • Dual graphics systems not using or utilizing higher end graphics card.
  • Network issues.
  • Disconnected network drives
  • File is stored in an unsupported working location or in a folder that is syncing to one.
  • Monitors chained together via USB connection.
  • Overheating.

Network issue

  • Disconnected or slow network
  • Unresolved network drive
  • Slow internet connection, when working from remote.
  • Drawing tries to connect to a network file (for example external reference, drawing standard, ...), which cannot be opened (permission, locked, file not found, ...).

File issues

  • A file is corrupted.
  • A file is very large.
  • A file has unresolved external references.
  • A file has saved a lot of unneeded named objects, including blocks and registered apps.
  • The components are placed with high coordinates (thumb rule: > 100.000).

Solution:

Try the following solutions in order, testing AutoCAD each time. If one solution does not improve performance, proceed to the next strategy:


General troubleshooting 


Hardware troubleshooting

  • If using a wireless peripheral device, such as a mouse or keyboard, check the battery charge level of the device. Install a new batteries. 
  • Update the graphics card driver (see How to update to the latest certified video driver).
  • If using a dual graphics system, such as Intel integrated graphics along with an AMD or NVIDIA card, set AutoCAD  to use the high-performance card (see How to configure Autodesk software to use high performance graphics) or
  • Discrete GPU does not function as main video controller where dual graphic systems are present (see Dell Article: Precision 5530: Discrete GPU does not function as main video controller).
  • If using a laptop computer with an external monitor:
    • Try making the external screen the main monitor:
      1. Right-click the desktop and choose "Display settings."
      2. Select the external screen.
      3. Scroll down to "Multiple displays" and select "Make this my main display."
      4. Restart the computer.
    • Switch to only using the laptop screen.
    • If slowdowns occur only when the external monitor is attached, check the connecting cables and docking station. Some graphic cards do not support multi-screen setups.
    • Try removing extra monitors if using USB connections.
  • If connecting to a remote system, confirm that a monitor is connected to the receiving system. Be sure that the remote graphic settings do not conflict with the local settings.
  • In AutoCAD, use the GRAPHICSCONFIG command to:
    • Turn off "High Quality Geometry" and/or "Smooth Line Display."
    • Turn off hardware acceleration. Some systems may work better with this setting turned off.
  • Move the file, and all associated files (xrefs, plot file, block references), to the local drive, or turn off cloud-drive-sync for folders already on the local drive.
  • Ensure the system is not overheating.

Network troubleshooting

  • Check network stability and performance of the network.
  • Disconnect unresolved network drives.
    • Select the network drive in Windows Explorer and choose from context menu "Disconnect drive".
  • Look for unresolved drawings, which cannot be accessed to. 
    • Open the options and switch to tab "Files".
    • Look in all nodes for network paths and check if these network paths are valid and that the user has enough permission to access them
    • Open XREF-dialog and check for unresolved external references to validate the file exists at the saved path and the user has enough permission to use it. 
  • If possible, connect to network drives using an ethernet cord instead of using a WiFi.
  • Copy the drawings files locally, work on them locally and paste them back in Windows Explorer afterwards.

File troubleshooting

  • Repair respectively clean the drawing or its external references (see How to repair corrupt AutoCAD files).
  • Break a very large file into separate drawings and xref them into a master file (see How to export objects to a drawing file with WBLOCK command in AutoCAD).
  • Reload or detach any external references (Xrefs) that cannot be found, are unreferenced, or have broken links.
  • Turn off silhouette edges using the DISPHILH system variable.
  • Test different visual styles, particularly 2D Wireframe vs. 3D Wireframe.
  • Move drawing content closer to 0,0 or use the UCS command to reset 0,0 next to it.