The View Cube located in the upper-right corner of the screen is designed for use in 3D modeling. You can also deactivate the Navigation Bar to save screen space and prevent accidentally starting commands by clicking on the small x on the top-right corner of the Navigation Bar, or pressing the Navigation Bar button on the Viewport Tools panel in the View tab of the Ribbon, which can also be used to restore the Navigation Bar. Like the mouse wheel, when you can use the commands on the Navigation Bar without interrupting other commands, but you may have to press Enter or Escape to exit the commands.
If you click the arrow beneath the Zoom Extents icon, you will open a dropdown menu that can access all the options of the Zoom command. Most of the Navigation Bar commands are for use in 3D modeling, but if you are not using a mouse it offers easy access to the Pan tool or the Zoom Extents tool. You can access additional navigation tools with the Navigation Bar. It’s highly recommended that you always use a mouse when drawing with AutoCAD, even if you are on a laptop with a trackpad. Because the mouse wheel is so versatile, many users use it exclusively for zooming and panning. You can zoom or pan with the mouse wheel without interrupting whatever command you may be using at the time you zoom or pan. If you click and drag with the mouse wheel, you will shift to a 3D orbit view, which is not recommended in 2D drawing. This will zoom out or in to fit all of the objects in your drawing to the edges of the screen so you can see the entire drawing. If you double–click with the mouse wheel, you will activate the Zoom Extents command. As long as the scroll wheel is pressed down, you can drag the mouse to change your view position without zooming or moving any objects.
When you press down and click with the mouse wheel, the cursor will turn into a hand icon and the Pan command will temporarily be activated. You can also pan by clicking and dragging with the mouse wheel, using it as you would a mouse button. Point the cursor to where you would like to zoom and turn the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. Zooming and panning in AutoCAD can be done entirely with the mouse wheel. Learn the basics of AutoCAD navigation to make your workflow easier.