Use annotative text for notes and labels in your drawing. You create annotative text by using an annotative text style, which sets the height of the text on the paper.

The current annotation scale automatically determines the display size of the text in model space or paper space viewports.

For example, you want text to display at a height of 3/16" on the paper, so you can define a text style to have a paper height of 3/16". When you add text to a viewport that has a scale of 1/2"=1'0", the current annotation scale, which is set to the same scale as the viewport’s, automatically scales the text to display appropriately at 4.5".

You can also change existing nonannotative text to annotative by changing the text’s Annotative property to Yes. This applies to any text created through text styles or through the TEXT and MTEXT commands.

You can set the orientation of annotative text objects to match the orientation of the paper. For more information about setting the orientation of annotative objects, see Set Orientation for Annotations.

Procedure

To create a new annotative text style

1. Click Annotate tabText panelText Style. At the command prompt, enter style.
2. In the Text Style dialog box, click New.
3. In the New Text Style dialog box, enter a new style name.
4. Click OK.
5. In the Text Style dialog box, under Size, select Annotative.
6. In the Paper Text Height box, enter the height of the text as it will display on paper.
7. Click Apply.
8. (Optional) Click Set Current to set this style as the current text style.
9. Click Close.

To change an existing nonannotative text style to annotative

1. Click Annotate tabText panelText Style. At the command prompt, enter style.
2. In the Text Style dialog box, Styles list, select a style.
   NoteA icon next to a text style name indicates that the style is already annotative.
3. Under Size, select Annotative.
4. In the Paper Text Height box, enter the height of the text as it will display on paper.
5. Click Apply.
6. (Optional) Click Set Current to set this style as the current text style.
7. Click Close.

To create annotative single-line text

1. Click Annotate tabText panelText Style. At the command prompt, enter style.
2. In the Text Style dialog box, Styles list, select an annotative text style.
   NoteA icon next to a text style name indicates that the style is annotative.
3. Click Set Current to set this style as the current text style.
4. Click Close.
5. Click Annotate tabText panelSingle Line Text. At the command prompt, enter text.
6. Specify the insertion point for the first character.
7. Specify a text rotation angle.
8. Enter the text.

To create annotative multiline text

1. Click Annotate tabText panelMultiline Text. At the command prompt, enter mtext.
2. Specify opposite corners of a bounding box to define the width of the multiline text object. The In-Place Text Editor is displayed.
3. Do one of the following:
   • On the Text Formatting toolbar, in the Text Style control, click the arrow and select an existing annotative text style from the list.
   • Click the Annotative button on the toolbar to create annotative multiline text.
4. Enter the text.
5. On the Text Formatting toolbar, click OK.

To change existing multiline text to annotative or nonannotative

1. Double-click a multiline text object. The In-Place Text Editor is displayed.
2. Click the Annotative button on the toolbar to change existing multiline text to annotative or nonannotative.

   When the Annotative button is depressed, the text is annotative. When the button is not depressed, the text is nonannotative.

3. Click OK to save the changes.

To change existing text (single-line or multiline) to be annotative or nonannotative

1. In the drawing, select a text object.
2. Click View tab Palettes panel Properties.
3. In the Properties palette, under Text, click Annotative.
4. On the drop-down list, select Yes or No.

To update text to reflect the current annotative properties of the text style

1. Click Annotate tabText panelText Style. At the command prompt, enter style.
2. In the Text Style dialog box, Styles list, select the style used by the text that you want to update.
   NoteA icon next to a text style name indicates that the style is already annotative.
3. Under Size, select Annotative.
4. In the Paper Text Height box, enter the height of the text as it will display on paper.
5. Click Apply.
6. (Optional) Click Set Current to set this style as the current text style.
7. Click Close.
8. In the drawing, select all the text objects (text and mtext) that you want to update.
9. At the command prompt, enter annoupdate.

To change the height of annotative text as it will display on the paper

1. In the drawing, select a text object.
2. Click View tab Palettes panel Properties.
3. In the Properties palette, under Paper Text Height, enter a new value.

Quick Reference

Commands

MTEXT

Creates a multiline text object.

STYLE

Creates, modifies, or specifies text styles.

TEXT

Creates a single-line text object.