Text Editor Ribbon Contextual Tab

Creates or modifies multiline text objects.

List of Options

The following options are displayed.

Style Panel

Style	Applies a text style to the multiline text object. The Standard text style is active by default .
Annotative	Turns Annotative on or off for the current text object.
Text Height	Sets the character height in drawing units for new text or changes the height of selected text. If the current text style has no fixed height, the text height is the value stored in the TEXTSIZE system variable. A multiline text object can contain characters of various heights.
Background Mask	Displays the Background Mask dialog box. (Not available for table cells.)

Formatting Panel

Match Text Formatting	Applies the formatting of selected text to target text.
Bold	Turns bold formatting on and off for new or selected text. This option is available only for characters using TrueType fonts.
Italic	Turns italic formatting on and off for new or selected text. This option is available only for characters using TrueType fonts.
Strikethrough	Turns strikethrough on and off for new or selected text.
Underline	Turns underlining on and off for new or selected text.
Overline	Turns overline on and off for new or selected text.
Stack	Creates stacked text, for example, fractions, if the selected text contains stack characters. Also, unstacks text if stacked text is selected. When the stack characters, caret (^), forward slash (/), and pound sign (#), are used, the text to the left of the stack character is stacked on top of the text to the right. By default, text that contains a caret converts to left-justified tolerance values. Text that contains the forward slash converts to center-justified fractional numbers; the slash is converted to a horizontal bar the length of the longer text string. Text that contains the pound sign converts to a fraction separated by a diagonal bar the height of the two text strings. The characters above the diagonal fraction bar are bottom-right aligned; the characters beneath the diagonal bar are top-left aligned.
Superscript	Turns selected text into superscript, slightly smaller text set above the line of type. Turns selected superscript text to ordinary text.
Subscript	Turns selected text into subscript, slightly smaller text set below the line of type. Turns selected subscript text to ordinary text.
Change Case (drop-down)	Changes the selected text to uppercase or lowercase.
Font	Specifies a font for new text or changes the font of selected text. TrueType fonts are listed by font family name. AutoCAD compiled shape (SHX) fonts are listed by the name of the file in which the fonts are stored. Custom fonts and third-party fonts are displayed in the editor with Autodesk-supplied proxy fonts.
Color	Specifies a color for new text or changes the color of selected text.
Clear Formatting (drop-down)	Removes character formatting for selected characters, paragraph formatting for a selected paragraph, or all formatting from a selected paragraph.
Oblique Angle	Determines the forward or backward slant of the text. The angle represents the offset from 90 degrees. Entering a value between -85 and 85 makes the text oblique. A positive obliquing angle slants text to the right. A negative obliquing angle slants text to the left.
Tracking	Decreases or increases the space between the selected characters. The 1.0 setting is normal spacing.
Width Factor	Widens or narrows the selected characters. The 1.0 setting represents the normal width of the letter in this font.

Paragraph Panel

Text Justification	Displays the text justification menu with nine alignment options available. Top Left is the default.
Bullets and Numbering	Displays the bullet and numbering menu. Displays options for creating lists. (Not available for table cells.) The list is indented to align with the first selected paragraph. Off: When selected, removes letters, numbers, and bullets from selected text that has list formatting applied. Indentation is not changed. Numbered: Applies list formatting that uses numbers with periods for the items in the list. Lettered: Applies list formatting that uses letters with periods for the items in the list. If the list has more items than the alphabet has letters, the sequence continues by using double letters. Bulleted: Applies list formatting that uses bullets for the items in the list. Start: Starts a new letter or number sequence in list formatting. If the selected items are in the middle of a list, unselected items below them also become part of the new list. Continue: Adds the selected paragraphs to the last list above and continues the sequence. If list items rather than paragraphs are selected, unselected items below the selected items continue the sequence. Allow Auto-Bullets and Numbering Applies list formatting as you type. The following characters can be used as punctuation after letters and numbers and cannot be used as bullets: period (.), comma (,), close parenthesis ()), close angle bracket (>), close square bracket (]), and close curly bracket (}). Allow Bullets and Lists: When this option is selected, list formatting is applied to all plain text in the multiline text object that looks like a list. Text that meets the following criteria is considered to be a list. The line begins with (1) one or more letters or numbers or a symbol, followed by (2) punctuation after a letter or number, (3) a space created by pressing Tab, and (4) some text before the line is ended by Enter or Shift+Enter. When you clear the check mark, any list formatting in the multiline text object is removed and the items are converted to plain text. Allow Auto-list is turned off, and all the Bullets and Lists options are unavailable except Allow Bullets and Lists.
Line Spacing	Displays suggested line spacing options or the Paragraph dialog box. Line spacing is set in the current or selected paragraph. The predefined options are: 1.0x, 1.5x, 2.0x, or 2.5x: Sets the line spacing at .5x increments in multiline text. More: Displays the Paragraph dialog box, which provides additional options. Clear Paragraph Spacing: Removes line spacing settings from the selected or current paragraph. The paragraph defaults to the text space setting. NOTE: Line spacing is the distance between the bottom of the upper line and the top of the lower line of text in a multiple line paragraph. Not all of the new options for paragraph and paragraph line spacing are supported in AutoCAD 2007 and previous releases.
Left, Center, Right, Justified, and Distributed	Sets the justification and alignment for the left, center, or right text boundaries of the current or selected paragraph. Spaces entered at the end of a line are included and affect the justification of a line.
Paragraph	Displays the Paragraph dialog box.

Insert Panel

Columns

Displays the Column flyout, which provides three column options: No Columns, Static Columns, and Dynamic columns.

Symbol

Inserts a symbol or a nonbreaking space at the cursor position. You can also insert symbols manually.

Commonly used symbols are listed on the submenu, along with their control code or Unicode string. Click Other to display the Character Map dialog box, which contains the entire character set for each font available on your system. When you have selected all the characters that you want to use, click Copy to close the dialog box. In the editor, right-click and click Paste.

Symbols are not supported in vertical text.

Field

Displays the Field dialog box, where you can select a field to insert in the text. When the dialog box closes, the current value of the field is displayed in the text.

Spell Check Panel

Spell Check	Determines whether As-You-Type spell checking is turned on or off.
Edit Dictionaries	Displays the Dictionaries dialog box, where you can add or remove custom dictionaries for use during spell check.

Tools Panel

Find and Replace

Displays the Find and Replace dialog box.

Import Text

Displays the Select File dialog box (a standard file selection dialog box). Select any file that is in ASCII or RTF format. Imported text retains its original character formatting and style properties, but you can edit and format the imported text in the editor. After you select a text file to import, you can replace either selected text or all text, or append the inserted text to text selected within the text boundary. The file size for imported text is limited to 32 KB.

The editor automatically sets the text color to BYLAYER. When black characters are inserted and the background color is black, the editor automatically changes to white or the current color.

NOTE: A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet imported into a drawing is truncated at 72 rows unless the spreadsheet was created in Microsoft Office 2002 with Service Pack 2 installed. The same limitation applies when the drawing that contains the OLE object is opened on a system with an earlier version of Microsoft Office installed; the spreadsheet is truncated.

AllCAPS

Controls automatic correction for MTEXT and TEXT/DTEXT when CAPS LOCK is active. When enabled, AutoCAD checks entered text for lowercase first letter followed by capitals. For example, "sURVEY" is changed to "Survey". (TEXTALLCAPS system variable)

To change the case of selected text, use the Change Case drop-down button on the Formatting panel.

Options Panel

More	Displays a list of additional text options.
Ruler	Displays a ruler at the top of the editor. Drag the arrows at the end of the ruler to change the width of the text object. Also displays height and column grips when column mode is active. You can also select tabs from the ruler. Clicking the Tab Selection button changes tab styles from left, center, right, and decimal. Once you make your selection, you adjust the corresponding tab in the ruler or in the Paragraph dialog box.
Undo	Undoes actions in the Text Editor ribbon contextual tab, including changes to either text content or text formatting.
Redo	Redoes actions in the Text Editor ribbon contextual tab, including changes to either text content or text formatting.

Close Panel

Close Text Editor

Ends the MTEXT command and closes the Text Editor ribbon contextual tab.