About North Arrow and Datum Point Tools

North arrow and datum point annotations are used for defining directions in a drawing. Formerly available as content blocks in DesignCenter, these annotations are now available through tools on the tool palettes and in Content Browser.

North arrow and datum point symbols

By default, all north arrow and datum point tools are set to be annotative, which means that the annotations you insert with these tools are controlled by annotative scaling.

Attention: If you have legacy drawings with old DesignCenter-based annotation symbols in them, then the old block definition will continue to be used for new tool-based blocks if the blocks are identically named. (This is the case for the datum point tool, but not the north arrow tools which have been renamed.) In such a case, either change the Annotative setting manually by using BEDIT, or rename the old block before inserting new tool-based annotation symbols into the drawing.

You can find north arrow tools and a datum point tool in these locations in a default US install of AutoCAD Architecture 2023 toolset:

• In the Annotation tool palette
• In Content Browser in these catalogs:
  • Stock Tool Catalog
  • Sample Palette Catalog (Imperial or Metric), under \Document\Annotation
  • Documentation Tool Catalog (Imperial or Metric), under \Miscellaneous

These properties of north arrow and datum point tools can be customized:

Property Category/Name	Description
General/Layer key	Specifies the layer key for the layer to which the north arrow or datum point is assigned. To change, click the current value to access the Select Layer Key worksheet. The default layer key for north arrows is ANNOBJ; the default value for the datum point is ANNSYMOBJ.
General/Layer overrides	Specifies one or more layer key overrides. Click the worksheet icon to access the Select Layer Overrides worksheet.
General/Symbol	Specifies the block-based symbol to be used for the north arrow or datum point.
General/Symbol location	The location of the drawing file containing the specified north arrow or datum point symbol. Click the property and use the Browse option from the drop-down list to locate and enter the path to the file. If this property is unspecified (--), then only those blocks in the current drawing file are listed. Symbol blocks shipped with AutoCAD Architecture 2023 toolset are by default located in %AECCONTENT_DIR%\Styles\Imperial\AEC Annotation Symbols (Imperial).dwg or %AECCONTENT_DIR%\Styles\Metric\AEC Annotation Symbols (Metric).dwg.
Text/Attribute text style	This property specifies whether attribute text within the symbol uses the text style of the current drawing (Target drawing text style) or the style defined by the attribute tag (As defined by content).
Text/Attribute text angle	Specifies the angle for attribute text. The choices are Right reading (which keeps the text right-side up regardless of rotation angle), As inserted (which sets text rotation at the angle of the last leader segment), and Force horizontal (which keeps the text horizontal regardless of the match line rotation angle). Note: The north arrow and datum point tools shipped with AutoCAD Architecture 2023 toolset do not have attributes in their block definitions, so that these settings are set to Undefined (--).