GUIDE TO AUTOCAD BASICS: NOTES AND LABELS

Notes and Labels

Create notes, labels, bubbles, and callouts. Save and restore All the usual controls are available in the In-Place Editor,
style settings by name. including tabs, indents, and columns. Also notice that when you
start the MTEXT command, the ribbon temporarily changes,
You can create general notes using the MTEXT command (or displaying many options such as text styles, columns, spell
enter MT in the Command window), which stands for multiline checking, and so on.
text. The multiline text tool is available on the Annotation panel.
• To exit the text editor after you finish entering the text, click
anywhere outside it.

• To edit a note, simply double-click it to open the text editor.

Here’s a Tip:
After you start the MTEXT command, you are prompted to
You can use the Properties palette to control the text style
create a “text box” with two diagonal clicks.
used for one or more selected multiline text objects. For
example, after selecting five notes that use different styles,
click the Style column and choose a style from the list.

The exact size of the text box is not that important. After you
specify the text box, the In-Place Editor is displayed and you can
easily change the length and width of the note before, during,
or after typing the text.

77
GUIDE TO AUTOCAD BASICS: NOTES AND LABELS

Create a Text Style

As with several other annotation features, multiline text provides When you create a new text style, you will give it a name and
a lot of settings. You can save these settings as a text style then choose a font and a font style. The order in which you click
using the STYLE command, and then you can access the text the buttons is shown below:
styles you’ve saved by clicking the drop-down arrow on the
Annotation panel. The current text style is displayed at the top
of the drop-down list.

To create a new text style, click the Text Style control as shown.

Here’s a Tip:
Save any new or changed text styles in your drawing
template files. This will save you time by making them
available in all new drawings.

78
GUIDE TO AUTOCAD BASICS: NOTES AND LABELS

Multileaders
Multileader objects are used to create text with leader lines such Grip menus appear when you hover over arrowhead and leader
as general labels, reference labels, bubbles, and callouts. grips. From these menus, you can add leader segments or
additional leaders.

You can edit the text in a multileader by double-clicking it.

Create a Multileader
To create a multileader, use the MLEADER command. Click
the Multileader tool in the Annotation panel or enter MLD in
the Command window. Follow the prompts and options in the
Command window. Feel free to experiment.

After you create a multileader, select it and then modify it by

clicking and moving its grips.

79
GUIDE
4.3TO AUTOCAD BASICS: NOTES AND LABELS
VIEWING

Create a Multileader Style

You can create your own multileader styles from the drop-down list in the expanded Annotation
panel, or by entering MLEADERSTYLE in the Command window.

NOTE: As with text styles, once you

create one or more multileader styles,
save them in your drawing template files.

For example, to create a “detail callout” style, start the MLEADERSTYLE command. In the
Multileader Styles Manager, click New and choose a descriptive name for the new multileader style.
Click the Content tab, choose Block, and then Detail Callout as shown.

80
GUIDE TO AUTOCAD BASICS: DIMENSIONS

Dimensions
Create several types of dimensions and save dimension settings
by name.

Here is an example of several types of dimensions using an

architectural dimension style with imperial units.

81
GUIDE
4.3TO AUTOCAD BASICS: DIMENSIONS
VIEWING

Linear Dimensions
You can create horizontal, vertical, aligned, and radial dimensions with the DIM command. The
type of dimension depends on the object that you select and the direction that you drag the
dimension line.

The following illustration demonstrates one method for using the DIM command. Once you start
the command, press Enter or the Spacebar, select the line (1), and then click the location of the
dimension line (2).

82
GUIDE
4.3TO AUTOCAD BASICS: DIMENSIONS
VIEWING

Linear Dimensions (continued)

For the 8’-0” dimension below, you use another method. You start the DIM command, click two
endpoints (1 and 2) and then the location of the dimension line (3). To line up the dimension lines
point 3 was snapped to the endpoint of the previously created dimension line.
Here’s a Tip:

If points 1 and 2 are not on

the same horizontal line, press
Shift to force the dimension
line to be horizontal. In
addition, if the building or
Use the DIM command to create dimensions that are parallel to an object by dragging the part being dimensioned is at
dimension line at an angle rather than horizontally or vertically. an angle, enter DIMROTATED
for that case.

Another Tip:
Because it is easy to
accidentally snap to the wrong
feature or part of a dimension
object, be sure to zoom
in closely enough to avoid
mistakes.

83
GUIDE
4.3TO AUTOCAD BASICS: DIMENSIONS
VIEWING

Modify Dimensions
For simple adjustments to dimensions, nothing is faster than using grips.

In this example, you select the dimension to display its grips. Next, click the grip on the dimension
text and drag it to a new location, or click one of the grips at the end of the dimension line and
drag the dimension line.

Here’s a Tip:
If the changes are more
complicated than this, it might
be faster simply to delete and
then recreate the dimension.

84
GUIDE TO AUTOCAD BASICS: DIMENSIONS

Dimension Styles
Dimension styles help establish and enforce drafting standards. To open the Dimension Style Manager, click the indicated
There are many dimension variables that can be set with the button. You can create dimension styles that match nearly any
DIMSTYLE command to control virtually every nuance of the standard, but you will need to invest time into specifying them
appearance and behavior of dimensions. All these settings are completely. For this reason, you should save any dimension styles
stored in each dimension style. that you create in one or more drawing template files.

The default dimension style is named either Standard (imperial)

or ISO-25 (metric). It is assigned to all dimensions until another
style is set as the current dimension style.

The current dimension style name, Hitchhiker in this case, is

displayed in the drop-down list of the Annotation panel.

Recommendations

 When you save a dimension style, choose a descriptive name.


 If applicable, check with your CAD manager regarding
existing dimension style standards and drawing template files.

85