Annotation Basics

Annotations are notes or other types of explanatory symbols or objects that are commonly used to add information to your drawing. Examples of annotations include

• Notes and labels
• Tables
• Dimensions and tolerances
• Hatches
• Callouts
• Blocks

The types of objects that you use to create annotations include

• Hatches
• Text (single-line and multiline)
• Tables
• Dimensions
• Tolerances
• Leaders and multileaders
• Blocks
• Attributes

Objects that are commonly used to annotate drawings have a property called Annotative. This property allows you to automate the process of scaling annotations so that they plot or display at the correct size on the paper.

Instead of creating multiple annotations at different sizes and on separate layers, you can turn on the annotative property by object or by style, and set the annotation scale for layout or model viewports. The annotation scale controls the size of the annotative objects relative to the model geometry in the drawing.

Annotation scale is a setting that is saved with model space, layout viewports, and model views. When you add annotative objects to your drawing, they support the current annotation scale and are scaled based on that scale setting and automatically displayed at the correct size in model space.

Before you add annotative objects to your model, you set the annotation scale. Think about the eventual scale settings of the viewports in which the annotations will display. The annotation scale should be set to the same scale as the viewport in which the annotative objects will display in the layout (or the plot scale if plotting from model space). For example, if the annotative objects will display in a viewport that has a scale of 1:2, then you set the annotation scale to 1:2.

When working on the model tab or when a viewport is selected, the current annotation scale is displayed on the application or drawing status bar. You can use the status bars to change the annotation scale.

When you add annotations to your drawing, you can turn on the Annotative property for those objects. These annotative objects are scaled based on the current annotation scale setting and are automatically displayed at the correct size. Annotative objects are defined at a paper height and display at the size determined by the annotation scale.