Advanced Digitizing Error CAD tools are not enabled for the current map layer

Question

Using QGIS 2.8.4. I want to use the Simplify function so turn on the Advanced Digitizing menu. The panel displays an error "CAD tools are not enabled for the current map layer" and the error message doesn't seem to seem to change with whatever map tool I choose. I had a read of QGIS documentation and looked for other instances on the web, but can't figure out what to do. QGIS experience is fairly basic so may have overlooked something obvious. Can anyone provide some guidance on how to turn on and use the Advanced Digitizing menu?

Answer 1

You don't need to use the panel to access the Simplify Feature function, you can do this from the toolbar. First enable it by going to:

View > Toolbars > Advanced Digitizing Toolbar

Select a polygon/line layer and toggle the editing icon (shown in the blue circle) and then select the Simplify Feature (shown in the red circle):

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Note: I tested this on QGIS 2.16.0-Nødebo.