Understanding the Text Style Dialog Box Options

Understanding the Text Style Dialog Box Options
You’ve just taken nearly all the steps you’ll need to know to add text to any drawing. Now, let’s
take a step back and look more closely at some of the finer points of adding text, starting with text
styles. This section gives you more detailed information about the text style settings you saw in the
early part of this chapter. The following is a list of those settings and their purposes. Some of them,
such as Width Factor, can be quite useful. Others, such as the Backwards and Vertical options, are
rarely used. Take a moment to study this list to become familiar with what is available and make
a mental note of these items for future reference.

Style
In the Style list box you’ll see a list showing the current style. This list also contains other styles that
may be present in the drawing. You can use the drop-down list to select a default style. In addition,
there are the following buttons:
New/Set Current/Delete
Newlets you create a new text style.Set Currentmakes the selected style the current one.Delete
letsyou delete the selected style. This option isn’t available for the Standard style.
Font
In the Font group, you have the following options:
Font Name
Lets you select a font from a list of available fonts. The list is derived from the font

Font StyleOffers variations of a font, such as italic or bold, when they’re available.
Height/Paper Text HeightLets you enter a font size. With the Annotative option turned off,
this option is namedHeight and will set the absolute height of the text. With the Annotative
option turned on, it shows Paper Text Height and will set the height of the text when printed.
A 0 height has special meaning when you use the Dtext command to enter text, as described laterin this chapter.
Use Big Font Applicable to Asian fonts. This option is offered only with AutoCAD .shx font

EFFECTS
In the Effects group, you have the following options:
Upside Down Prints text upside down.
Backwards Prints text backward.
Vertical Prints text in a vertical column.
Width Factor Adjusts the width and spacing of the characters in the text. A value of 1 keeps the
text at its normal width. Values greater than 1 expand the text, and values less than 1 compress
the text.


Oblique Angle Skews the text at an angle. When this option is set to a value greater than 0, the
text appears italicized. A value of less than 0 (–12, for example) causes the text to lean to the left.

TIP You can also set the width factor and oblique angle directly for text using the Width Factor
and Oblique Angle tools in the Text Formatting toolbar. These tools are located toward the lowerrightend of the toolbar.

Renaming a Text Style or Other Named Object
If you need to rename a text style or other named object in AutoCAD, you can do so using the Rename
command. Choose Format  Rename, or enter Ren↵ at the Command prompt to open the Rename dialog
box. In the Named Objects list box to the left, choose Text Styles. Click the name of the style you want
to change from the Items list on the right; the name appears in the Old Name input box below the list.
In the input box next to the Rename To button, enter the new name. Click the Rename To button, and
click OK.