Annotation objects and styles are used to control the size and scale at which annotation objects are displayed in model space or layout. An annotation object can be text, dimensions, Multileaders, or hatches. When using annotation styles, the process of scaling annotation objects is automated for you. Annotation objects are defined by specifying a paper height or scale and then the annotation scales at which they should be displayed for. An annotation object can have multiple scales assigned to it and each scale representation can be moved independently. Each viewport on a layout is assigned an annotation scale. The annotation scale of a viewport controls when the annotation object is displayed and at which size. If a scale is not assigned to an annotation object but is used in a viewport, the annotation object may not be displayed. We use annotation objects to ensure that the dimension hatch Multileader and text objects appear the correct size regardless of the viewports scale. It is important to follow a good workflow when using annotation scales. An annotation style means that you have designated the object, whether it is a dimension, text, Multileader, or hatch to use annotation scales. We are working in a floor plan that has dimension, Multileader, hatch, and text objects. If I'm going to be using annotation properties and styles, I need to verify that the annotation icons on my status bar are toggled on. So that's the first item I'm going to check. I have three annotation icons on my status bar. The first one controls the display of the annotative cursor badge. This means if an object has been set to be annotative, a cursor badge will be displayed. The second icon automatically adds an annotative scale to your annotation objects if they have been set to use annotative properties. The third icon allows me to set the scale of my model space. I'm working in a floor plan that has all the object types used by annotative properties and styles. I have text, dimensions, a hatch, and a Multileader. I'm going to start by looking at the multi-line text. I turn on quick properties and then select an MText object. The MText style is two. I close the quick properties dialog. I go to the text style tool under the annotation panel on the home tab to locate that text style. I highlight two and enable annotative. I set my paper text height to 316th inch. I click apply and close. Now I can add annotation scales to this text style. If I hover over the text, I should see the annotative cursor badge but I don't. When I modify a style and make it annotative, it does not update the existing annotation objects on the drawing that are using that style. I need to set the existing texts to be annotative. I select the text, right-click, and choose select similar, to select all the text objects and the drawing. On the quick properties dialog, I change annotative to yes. Note that the annotative scale is displayed as quarter inch equals one foot. You may recall that my model space is set to use one quarter inch equals one foot. I close the quick properties dialog. I click escape to release my selection. Now, when I mouse over some text, I see an annotative cursor badge. You could apply more than one annotative scale to an object. If you see more than one cursor badge when you hover over an object, that means that it has more than one scale available to it. Right now the text is only one annotative scale. Quarter inch equals one foot. I hover over one of the dimensions, no annotative cursor badge so that means the dimension is not annotative. I select the dimension, right-click, and choose select similar to select all the dimension objects in the drawing. The quick properties dialog shows that the dimensions are not set to be annotative. I change that value to yes. I close the quick properties dialog, I click escape to release my selection. Now, when I hover over dimension, I see the annotative cursor badge. Just because I changed the dimensions to annotative, does not mean I change the dimension style. I select the dimension style tool from the annotation panel on the home tab. I highlight arch underscore 96 and select modify. I select the fit tab. I enable scale dimensions to layout. I enable annotative and click okay. An annotative cursor badge is displayed next to the dimension style name. I close the dimension style manager. I turn off quick properties on the status bar. I hover over the multileader. It does not display the annotative cursor badge, so it is not annotative. I select the multileader. I right-click and choose select similar. I right-click and select properties. I set annotative to yes. The annotative scale is set to quarter inch equals one foot. I press escape to release the selection. I hover over the hatch. The hatch displays the annotative cursor badge. Annotative objects really come into play when using layouts. I'll start with the floor plan layout. I switch to the viewport layout using the drop-down list on the home tab on the ribbon. I select the layout tab, I select the rectangular viewport tool and place a viewport on the layout. I select the viewport. I right-click and select properties. I set the view scale to quarter inch equals one foot and the annotation scale to quarter inch equals one foot. I click escape to release my selection. I switch to the kitchen layout. I select the layout tab. I select the rectangular viewport tool and place a viewport on the layout. I activate model space and use zoom window, to position the kitchen area in the viewport. I click outside of the viewport to return to paper space. I select the viewport. I right-click and select properties. I set the annotation scale to one inch equals one foot. I set the view scale to one inch equals one foot. Notice that the annotation objects adjust their size. I click escape to release my selection. I return to my model tab. I'm going to use my linear dimension tool to add two-dimensions to the kitchen area. I place a horizontal dimension and a vertical dimension. I switch back to the kitchen layout. I don't see the dimensions. I return to the model tab. If I hover over one of the dimensions, I only see one annotative cursor badge. I select the two new dimensions, right-click, and select properties. I see the annotative scale for the dimension is set to quarter inch equals one foot. I click in the annotative scale field. I select the add button. I scroll down and I select the one inch equals one foot scale. I click okay. I click okay, to close the object scale list. I switch back to the kitchen layout. Now, those two dimensions are visible because the correct annotative scale was added. Annotation styles allow you to control the size of your annotation objects and layouts. But in order for them to work, you have to make sure that any annotation objects you have in your drawing is also set to annotative. So both objects and styles must be set to annotative. If an annotation object does not appear in your viewport, verify that it has been assigned the correct annotative scale.
