About Working With Anchors

An anchor is a general linking mechanism within AutoCAD MEP 2023 toolset. Building systems objects can be anchored to each other, enabling you to create a relationship between objects. Anchoring objects can be useful for positioning lavatories or toilets along a wall, or air terminals or light fixtures in a ceiling grid. You can choose from 3 types of anchors to attach building systems objects:

• Curve anchors. Attach objects to the base curve, typically the centerline, of other objects.
• System anchors. Attach objects to a system run. Anchored objects can be moved along the entire run to other runs assigned to the same system.
• Reference anchors. Attach objects by reference to other objects, such as attaching an end-of-line schematic symbol to a schematic line. When the symbol is moved, the line maintains connectivity and is stretched to the new location.

Certain objects are, by default, anchored to other objects; however, their behavior can differ slightly depending on object type. For example, when a schematic symbol is added to an existing line, the symbol is, by default, attached to the schematic line using a system anchor. The symbol can be easily moved along the line or moved to another unconnected line of the same system. It cannot, however, be moved outside a line and stand alone. To do that, you must first remove the anchor between the symbol and line.