What is a DWT template file, and why use one?

DWT vs DWG: what actually differs

Internally, a DWT and a DWG use the same drawing database format. You can rename a .dwg to .dwt and AutoCAD will happily offer it as a template, and you can rename a .dwt to .dwg and open it as a normal drawing. So the difference is behavioural, not structural.

When you start a drawing from a template, AutoCAD makes a copy and names it Drawing1.dwg (unsaved). The original .dwt is never touched. That protects your standard setup from accidental edits — you cannot 'save over' the template just by working, the way you might clobber a starter DWG you opened directly. If your office hands round a 'blank.dwg' to start jobs from, switching it to a true .dwt removes the risk of someone saving a half-finished drawing back onto everyone's starting file.

What a good template stores

A template is most useful when it carries everything you would otherwise set up by hand on a new job:

- Units (INSUNITS) so blocks rescale correctly on insertion — typically millimetres for most of the blocks on this site. - A layer list with names, colours and lineweights following your standard (for example a furniture layer, a structure layer, a dimensions layer). - Text styles and dimension styles, annotation scales, and multileader styles. - Layout tabs already set to your sheet sizes (A1, A3, ANSI D, etc.) with viewports and a title block. - Drawing limits, snap and grid defaults, and plot/page setups (the link between a layout and a PC3 plotter file).

Geometry is optional. Many templates are empty apart from a title block on the layout; the value is in the styles and settings, not in any objects in model space.

AutoCAD's built-in templates

AutoCAD ships with a handful of starter templates so you are never staring at a truly blank slate. The two you meet first are acad.dwt and acadiso.dwt. The acad.dwt template is set up for imperial units; acadiso.dwt is set up for metric (ISO) units. Choosing the wrong one is a common reason a metric CAD block arrives 25.4 times too big or too small, because the insertion units do not agree.

Beyond those, you will find templates with the suffix '-Named Plot Styles' (using STB style tables) versus colour-dependent plot styles (CTB). Pick the plot-style family your office prints with and stick to it, because mixing the two across drawings causes confusing plotting results. Most metric architectural and furniture work starts cleanest from acadiso.dwt or a customised copy of it.

How to make your own template

Building a template is straightforward. Start a drawing the way you want every job to begin: set UNITS and INSUNITS, create your layers, define text and dimension styles, set annotation scales, and add a title block to a layout tab with the right sheet size. Delete any leftover geometry you do not want copied into every new drawing.

Then use SAVEAS, and in the 'Files of type' dropdown choose 'AutoCAD Drawing Template (*.dwt)'. AutoCAD will default to the Template folder; saving there makes the file appear in the New-drawing dialog. You will be prompted for a template description and a measurement system (English or Metric) — fill these in so the next person knows what they are starting from. From then on, 'New' lets you pick your template and every drawing begins correctly set up.

When to use a template — and when not to

Use a template whenever you start work that should follow a standard: company drawings, a coursework set, a competition board series, or any project where multiple sheets must look consistent. A template is how you enforce that consistency without nagging people to remember settings.

You do not need a template just to open or insert a downloaded block — INSERT works into any drawing. But the block behaves much better landing into a drawing started from a sensible template, because the units already agree and there is a furniture or symbols layer waiting for it. For one-off throwaway sketches the default acadiso.dwt is fine; reserve custom templates for work you will repeat. If you maintain several, keep them in one shared folder and point AutoCAD's template path at it so the whole team draws from the same starting line.

Templates and downloaded CAD blocks

Templates and blocks solve different halves of the same problem. A block is a reusable object — a chair, a north arrow, a door. A template is the reusable environment you drop those objects into. Used together they remove almost all of the repetitive setup from a new drawing: open from your template, insert the blocks you need, and you are designing within seconds.

If you frequently reuse the same set of blocks, you can even insert them into the template's tool palette or DesignCenter library rather than into model space, so they are one click away in every new drawing without bloating the file. Keep the template lean — styles and layers, not stray geometry — and let the blocks carry the objects. That separation keeps both easy to update: change a layer standard once in the template, or fix a block once in its DWG, and future work picks up the change.