About Annotation Templates

Annotation templates are stored as specially named blocks within your drawing. After you create an annotation template, you can insert instances of the annotation into your drawing. Creating annotation templates and inserting annotation is like creating and inserting blocks.

Labeling Objects Using Annotation Templates

Use annotation to label drawing objects with data values, such as the following:

• Attributes, such as object data or linked external data
• Display properties, such as line weight
• Geometric values, such as line direction
• Graphics, such as arrows, static text, or other geometry, added with standard AutoCAD drawing commands

You create one “tag” for each item in the annotation template. For example, one tag might contain the static text, “Area:” followed by a tag containing the property .AREA. You use the Block Editor to position the tags relative to each other. When you attach the annotation to an object, the values appear in the same position as their tags.

Annotation templates are stored in the drawing as blocks. Unlike regular blocks, annotation templates have the following characteristics:

• The block name is prefixed with "ACMAP_ANN_TEMPLATE_" followed by the annotation template name as specified in the Define Annotation Template dialog box.
• The extension dictionary of the block contains special table objects.

Using Expressions in Annotation Templates

You can insert static text in the annotation template. It will appear on each object to which you attach annotation.

You can also specify properties or define values using expressions. The values of the properties or expressions are determined when the annotation is inserted.

For example, create an annotation template that specifies the text “Diameter” followed by an expression that calculates the diameter of a circle. Then insert instances of the annotation template on several circle objects. Each one will display “Diameter,” followed by that circle’s diameter.

When you change the text, properties, or expressions in an annotation template, existing annotations based on that template do not change. Use the Refresh or Update command to apply your changes to the annotations that use the template you changed.

Using Annotation Templates from XREFs

To use an annotation template stored in another drawing, use the XBIND command to attach that drawing as an XREF.

Block names in the XREFed drawing have a prefix that consists of the XREF drawing file name followed by a vertical bar. Because the annotation commands identify annotation templates by looking for the "ACMAP_ANN_TEMPLATE_" at the beginning of the block name, you must rename the templates in the XREFed drawing to make them available in the current drawing.

For more information, see Bind External References in the AutoCAD help.