Overview of Creating Text

The text you add to your drawings conveys a variety of information. It may be a complex specification, title block information, a label, or even part of the drawing.

Single-Line Text

For short entries that do not require multiple fonts or lines, create single-line text. Single-line text is most convenient for labels.

Multiline Text

For long, complex entries, create multiline, or paragraph text. Multiline text consists of any number of text lines or paragraphs that fit within a width you specify; it can extend vertically to an indefinite length.

Regardless of the number of lines, each set of paragraphs created in a single editing session forms a single object, which you can move, rotate, erase, copy, mirror, or scale.

There are more editing options for multiline text than there are for single-line text. For example, you can apply underlining, fonts, color, and text height changes to individual characters, words, or phrases within a paragraph.

Annotative Text

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.

For more information about creating and working with an annotative text, see Create Annotative Text.

See Also

Scale Annotations

Procedure

To create single-line text

Click Home tabAnnotation panelSingle Line Text. At the Command prompt, enter text.
Specify the insertion point for the first character. If you press ENTER, the program locates the new text immediately below the last text object you created, if any.
Specify the height of the text. This prompt is displayed only if text height is set to 0 in the current text style.
A rubber-band line is attached from the text insertion point to the cursor. Click to set the height of the text to the length of the rubber-band line.
Specify a text rotation angle.
You can enter an angle value or use your pointing device.
Enter the text. At the end of each line, press ENTER. Enter more text as needed.
NoteText that would otherwise be difficult to read (if it is very small, very large, or is rotated) is displayed at a legible size and is oriented horizontally so that you can easily read and edit it.

If you specify another point during this command, the cursor moves to that point, and you can continue typing. Every time you press ENTER or specify a point, a new text object is created.
Press ENTER on a blank line to end the command.

To create multiline text

Click Home tabAnnotation panelMultiline Text. At the Command prompt, enter mtext.
Specify opposite corners of a bounding box to define the width of the multiline text object.
If the ribbon is active, the MTEXT ribbon contextual tab displays. If the ribbon is not active, the In-Place Text Editor is displayed.
To indent the first line of each paragraph, drag the first-line indent slider on the ruler. To indent the other lines of each paragraph, drag the paragraph slider.
To set tabs, click the ruler where you want a tab stop.
If you want to use a text style other than the default, on the ribbon, click the Annotate tab, Text panel. Select the desired text style from the drop-down list.
Enter text.
NoteText that would otherwise be difficult to read (if it is very small, very large, or is rotated) is displayed at a legible size and is oriented horizontally so that you can easily read and edit it.
To override the current text style, select text as follows:
- To select one or more letters, click and drag the pointing device over the characters.
- To select a word, double-click the word.
- To select a paragraph, triple-click the paragraph.
On the ribbon, make format changes as follows:
- To change the font of the selected text, select a font from the list.
- To change the height of the selected text, enter a new value in the Height box.
  NoteThe MText height value is reset to 0 if its default height is not modified during creation.
- To format text in a TrueType font with boldface or italics, or to create underlined or overlined text for any font, click the corresponding button on the ribbon. SHX fonts do not support boldface or italics.
- To apply color to selected text, choose a color from the Color list. Click Other to display the Select Color dialog box.
To save your changes and exit the editor, use one of the following methods:
- On the MTEXT ribbon contextual tab, in the Close panel, click Close Text Editor.
- Click in the drawing outside the editor.
- Press CTRL+ENTER.

Quick Reference

Commands

System Variables