Chapter 13: Text with Character 279

Saying More in Multiline Text

When you just can’t shoehorn your creative genius into one or more one-line pieces of text, AutoCAD’s multiline text object gives you room to go on and on and on. The following procedure shows you how to create multiline text with the MTEXT command.

Making it with Mtext

The first part of the MTEXT command prompts you for various points and options. Read these steps and the prompts carefully to avoid confusion.

Here’s how you use the MTEXT command:

1.Set an appropriate text style current and (optionally) turn off running object snaps, as described in Steps 1 and 2 in the “Using the Same Old Line” section, earlier in this chapter.

If you’re doing real drafting, you should also set an appropriate layer to be current.

2.On the Home tab’s Annotation panel, click the upper part of the split button labeled Text to start the MTEXT command.

The command line displays the current text style and height settings, and prompts you to select the first corner of an imaginary rectangle that will determine the word-wrapping width for the text object:

Current text style: “Standard” Text height: 0.2000

Annotative: No

Specify first corner:

3. Pick a point in the drawing.

The command line prompts you for the opposite corner of a rectangle that will determine the word-wrapping width; it also gives you the option of changing settings first:

Specify opposite corner or [Height/Justify/Line spacing/Rotation/Style/Width/Columns]:

4. Type H and press Enter to change the default text height.

The command line prompts you for a new default text height if your current text style has a height of 0.0:

Specify height <0.2000>:

5.If applicable, type an appropriate text height.

See the “Taking your text to new heights” section, earlier in this chapter, for information. If you’re adding text in model space, we highly recommend that you use annotative text.

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280 Part III: If Drawings Could Talk

The prompt for the opposite corner of the Mtext rectangle reappears.

The command line shows

Specify opposite corner or [Height/Justify/Line spacing/Rotation/Style/Width/Columns]:

6.If you want a different justification from the default (top left), type J, press Enter, and choose one of the other justification options.

Enter justify multiline text in the search box of the online help system if you want an explanation of the other justification options.

7.Pick another point in the drawing.

Don’t worry about the height of the rectangle that you create by choosing the second point; the width of the rectangle is all that matters. AutoCAD adjusts the height of the text rectangle to accommodate the number of lines of word-wrapped text. Don’t worry too much about the width, either; you can adjust it later.

The In-Place Text Editor frameless window appears with the tab and indent ruler above it, and a previously hidden Text Editor contextual tab appears on the Ribbon, as shown in Figure 13-4. (If you don’t see the tab and indent ruler at the top of your Text Editor window, right-click inside the window and choose Editor Settings, and then Show Ruler from the right-click menu.)

Tab and indent ruler

Figure 13-4: Adding immortal multiline text.

New isn’t always better; you may prefer the classic Text Formatting toolbar over the Ribbon’s Text Editor contextual tab. If you want to give the classic version a test-drive, change the value of the system variable MTEXTTOOLBAR. The default value (2) displays the Text Editor tab only; setting it to 1 displays both the tab and the toolbar. We don’t recommend

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Chapter 13: Text with Character 281

setting this variable to 0 — that turns off the Text Formatting toolbar in all workspaces. For more about system variables, see Chapter 26.

When you create multiline text in either AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, your text objects default to Dynamic Column mode. You can tell that’s what you’re going to get if the In-Place Text Editor displays a double-headed- arrow symbol in the center of the bottom border of the rectangle you define (refer to Figure 13-4). As indicated earlier, the initial selection window primarily sets the width. By default, if you enter enough text so that it fills the window, MTEXT defaults to splitting the text into two columns like a newspaper. If you don’t like this, you can dynamically stretch the text window to be wider or longer.

If you never want to use columns in the current drawing, click Columns on the Insert panel of the Text Editor tab, which only appears when you’re editing text. This sets the MTEXTCOLUMN system variable to 0. It affects only the current drawing, so if you never want columns, set this up in your template drawings. We cover templates in Chapter 4.

8.Verify the text font and height.

The text font and height should be right if you correctly performed Steps 1, 4, and 5. If not, you can change these settings in the Font dropdown list and the Text Height text box on the Text Editor tab (or the classic Text Formatting toolbar).

9.Type text into the text area of the In-Place Text Editor.

AutoCAD word-wraps multiline text automatically. If you want to force a line break at a particular location, press Enter.

10.If you want other formatting options, select text, right-click, and make an appropriate choice from the menu (as shown in Figure 13-5).

By convention in most industries, text in drawings is always uppercase. How many times have you forgotten to press the Caps Lock key before entering drawing text? How many times have you forgotten to turn Caps Lock off again when it’s time to type your e-mail? To save yourself some agony, right-click in the In-Place Text Editor and choose AutoCAPS from the menu.

11. Click Close Text Editor (or OK in the classic Text Formatting toolbar).

The In-Place Text Editor window closes, and AutoCAD adds your text to the drawing.

You can close the text editor much more easily by simply clicking outside its window. But if you like clicking buttons instead, AutoCAD has amply provided for you.

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282 Part III: If Drawings Could Talk

Figure 13-5: Right-click your way to textual excellence.

12.Use annotation scales with multiline text objects.

The steps are the same for multiline text as for single-line text. Refer to the “Turning On Your Annotative Objects” section, earlier in this chapter, if you need a refresher.

As you can tell by looking at the Text Editor tab (or the Text Formatting toolbar) and multiline text right-click menu, the MTEXT command gives you plenty of other options. You can show or hide the toolbar, the ruler, or the Options buttons, and you can give the In-Place Text Editor an opaque background. Other tool buttons give you access to columns and numbered or bulleted lists (both are covered in the section “Doing a number on your Mtext lists,” later in this chapter).

Between them, the Text Editor tab (or the Text Formatting toolbar) and the right-click menu also include a Stack/Unstack feature for fractions, a Find and Replace utility, tools for changing between lowercase and uppercase, options for applying background masks and inserting fields, a special Symbol submenu, and an Import Text option for importing text from a TXT (ASCII text) file or RTF (Rich Text Format) file. We discuss background masks and fields in the next section. If you think you may have a use for any of these other features, choose Command Reference Commands M Commands MTEXT in AutoCAD’s online help browser to find out more about them.

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