Exit the active command using the <ESC> key.
When working in MicroStation, it is very common to frequently return to the Element Selection tool to exit the currently active command or review the properties of an element. This can be done using the <ESC> key to access the Element Selection tool (and the Properties dialog to view element properties).
When working with the tools in MicroStation (and other Bentley products), it is very common to frequently return to the Element Selection tool to for a variety of reasons. This can be to simply exit the current command, view the properties of an element in the Properties dialog, or even to help support habits we have picked up from other applications we have used.
Exiting the current command can be done using the <ESC> key, but it must be enabled in User Preferences. To enable the <ESC> key to stop the current command, do the following:
Note: System Administrators and CADD Managers can set this for multiple users by adding this to a preconfigured set of User Preferences that are delivered through the configuration variable MS_USERPREFSEED. Note that the seed preferences are only used when a “local” user preference file does not exist such as at first use of MicroStation or if the user’s preference file has been deleted.