Changing Style Settings of Individual Dimensions

Changing Style Settings of Individual Dimensions
In some cases, you have to change an individual dimension’s style settings in order to edit that
dimension. For example, if you try to move the text of a typical linear dimension, you may find
that the text and dimension lines are inseparable. You need to make a change to the dimension
style setting that controls how AutoCAD locates dimension text in relation to the dimension line.
This section describes how you can change the style settings of individual dimensions to facilitate
changes in the dimension.
TIP If you need to change the dimension style of a dimension to match that of another, you can
use the Match Properties tool. See Chapter 7 for details on how to use this tool.

Moving Fixed Dimension Text
You’ve seen how dimension text is attached to the dimension line so that when the text is
moved, the dimension line follows. You may encounter situations in which you want to move
the text independently of the dimension line. The following steps show how you can separate
dimension text from its dimension line. These steps also show how you can change a single
dimension’s style settings:
1. Click the dimension you want to edit, to expose its grips.
2. Right-click, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu to open the Properties palette.
3. Scroll down the list of properties until you see the Fit category. If you don’t see a list of
options under Fit, click the downward-pointing arrow to the right to display a new set
of options.
4. Scroll farther down the list until you see the Text Movement option to the right of the Text
Movement listing, and then click this option.
5. Click the arrow that appears next to the Keep Dim Line With Text listing to open the dropdown
list; then, select the Move Text, Add Leader option.

6. Close the Properties palette.

In the Properties palette, the Move Text, Add Leader option in the Fit category lets you move the dimension text independently of the dimension line. It also draws a leader from the dimension line to the text. Another option, Move Text, No Leader, does the same thing but doesn’t include a leader.
You can also set these options for a dimension style by using the Text Placement options in the Fit tab of the New Dimension Style or Modify Dimension Style dialog box.
As you can see from these steps, the Properties palette gives you access to many of the settings
you saw for setting up dimension styles. The main difference here is that the Properties palette
affects only the dimensions you’ve selected.
In a previous exercise, you changed the format setting of a single dimension after it was placed.
These settings can be made a standard part of your Architectural dimension style by using the
Modify button in the Dimension Style Manager dialog box.

TIP If you have multiple dimension styles and you want to change an existing dimension to the currentdimension style, use the Dimension Update tool. Choose Dimension Update on the Dimensionscontrol panel, or choose Dimension  _Update from the drop-down menu. Then, select the dimensionsyou want to change, and press ↵. The selected dimensions will be converted to the current style.
Rotating and Positioning Dimension Text
Once in a while, dimension text works better if it’s kept in a horizontal orientation, even if the dimension itself isn’t horizontal. To rotate dimension text, choose Dimension  Align Text  Angle, select the dimension text, and then enter an angle or select two points to graphically indicate an angle. You can also enter 0↵ to return the dimension text to its default angle.
If you need to move the dimension text to the left, center, or right of the dimension line, you can use the Left, Center, or Right option under the Dimension  Align Text menu options.