Overview of Multiline Text (Concept)

You can create one or more paragraphs of multiline text (mtext) in the In-Place Text Editor (or an alternative text editor) or use prompts on the command line. You can also insert text from a file saved in ASCII or RTF format.

Before entering or importing text, you specify opposite corners of a text bounding box that defines the width of the paragraphs in the multiline text object. The length of the multiline text object depends on the amount of text, not the length of the bounding box. You can use grips to move or rotate a multiline text object.

The In-Place Text Editor displays the bounding box with a ruler at the top and the Text Formatting toolbar. The editor is transparent so that, as you create text, you can see whether the text overlaps other objects. To turn off transparency while you work, select Opaque Background on the Options menu. You can also make the background of the finished multiline text object opaque and set its color.

You can also insert fields in multiline text. A field is text that is set up to display data that might change. When the field is updated, the latest value of the field is displayed.

Text Style

Most characteristics of the text are controlled by the text style, which sets the default font and other options, such as line spacing, justification, and color. You can use the current text style or select a new one. The STANDARD text style is the default.

Within the multiline text object, you can override the current text style by applying formatting such as underlining, boldface, and different fonts to individual characters. You can also create stacked text, such as fractions or geometric tolerances and insert special characters, including Unicode characters, for TrueType fonts.

NoteNot all SHX and TrueType text fonts support Unicode characters.

Text Properties

In the Properties palette, you can view and change the object properties of a multiline text object, including properties that apply specifically to text.

Justification determines where text is inserted with respect to the bounding box and sets the direction of text flow as text is entered.
Line space options control the amount of space between lines of text.
Width defines the width of the bounding box and therefore controls where the text wraps to a new line.
Background inserts an opaque background so that objects under the text are masked.