Working with text in AutoCAD goes beyond simply adding information to your drawings; you can take advantage of the formatting tools to make your content clear and visually appealing. Multiline text in AutoCAD brings you features similar to those found in word processing programs, allowing you to enhance your drawings with bold, underlined, and strikeout text, organize details using bullet points or numbered lists, and arrange information in columns.
Changing the Text Style
Changing the Text Style and Justification affects the entire multiline text object. If you need to change these features, do so before you make any other modifications to the formatting.
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You can change the Text Style of the overall text object in the Text Editor.
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Changing the style overrides any other formatting you have done. A warning box opens if you select a different style.
Changing the Justification
The Justification sets the overall justification for the entire text object. In this case, the width and height of the boundary box are considered. For example, if you set the Justification to Middle Center, the text is centered in the middle of the boundary box, as shown below. To change the multiline text object, use the Justification tools located in the Text Editor contextual tab>Paragraph panel in the ribbon.
Formatting Selected Text
The Formatting panel in the Text Editor contextual tab enables you to change the font of individual text that you have selected, as well as bold, italicize, underline, overline, strikethrough, and change the case of the text, as shown in the figure below.
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Three other text modification tools in the expanded area in the Formatting panel enable you to modify the text angle or spacing: Oblique Angle, Tracking, and Width Factor.
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You can use Match Text Formatting to copy the formatting from one set of text to another while using the Text Editor. You can also use this option to modify dimensions and tables.
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To remove the formatting from an Mtext object, expand
(Clear) and select the required option. You can remove the formatting from selected characters, from selected paragraphs, or from all the text in a text object, as shown below.
Formatting Paragraph Text
You can modify entire paragraphs of text, including changing paragraph level justifications, line spacing, indents, bullets, and numbering, as shown below.
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The paragraph formatting tools are located in the Text Editor contextual tab>Paragraph panel.
Justifications
You can set justifications for individual paragraphs in a multiline text object. The options are 
(Default), 
(Left), 
(Center), 
(Right), 
(Fit), and 
(Distribute).
Line Spacing
You can set the line spacing using the supplied multiples of the text height, or select More… to create custom line spacing in the Paragraph dialog box. Clear Line Spacing returns the distance to the default settings.
Bullets and Numbers
You can add bullets, numbers, or letters to text as you are typing, or add them to paragraphs that are already in the text object. Select the type of list from the Bullets and Numbering list in the Text Editor contextual tab.
Creating Columns
You can place the text in a column format using the column options in the Text Editor. There are two methods of column creation: Dynamic and Static. By default, the multiline text is set up to display dynamic columns with a manual height. This can be adjusted with grips or by dragging the edges of the first column to adjust the height and width separately, or both at the same time.
Knowing how to format text and paragraphs of texts in AutoCAD is key to producing professional and clear documentation within your drawings. By leveraging the powerful editing tools and features available, you can present information in a way that is both visually appealing and easy to understand. The information above was pulled from our AutoCAD 2027: Essentials learning guide, which is available for you on Amazon or on our ASCENT eStore.
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