General Tab (Label Style Composer Dialog Box)

Property column

Lists categories and label properties. By clicking +/- next to a category name, you can expand or collapse the list of label properties for that category.

When a lock is displayed to the left of the property name, the property’s value has been locked at a higher level setting and all lower settings are also locked.

Value column

Specifies the current value of the property. The value is either derived from a dependency on a higher setting or it can be set explicitly at the current level.

Label

Text Style

Specifies the default text style on which all text components are based.

Visibility

Specifies whether labels of the current style are visible in the drawing.

Display Mode

Specifies whether labels are displayed as labels or tags.

• Label: Displays label components that are assigned either the Label Mode or the Label And Tag Modes “Used In” setting on the Layout tab.
• Tag: Displays label components that are assigned either the Tag Mode or the Label and Tag Modes “Used In” setting on the Layout tab.

Note

Only the label styles that support tables contain this property.

Layer

Specifies the layer for all components in a label style.

Click to open the Layer Selection dialog box, and select a layer.

If you set the layer to 0, the labels use the properties of the parent object layer specified on the Object Layers tab of the Drawing Settings dialog box.

Note

There are two options for the style to reference a layer for display control, when using ByBlock or ByLayer controls. Reference the layer as specified in the style or reference the layer that the object resides on (by setting the Layer to 0 in the style). If layer 0 is selected, any ByBlock and ByLayer components will display according to the actual layer that the layer object is residing on in AutoCAD. If a layer other than 0 is selected, any ByBlock or ByLayer components will display according to the layer as specified in the style.

Behavior

Orientation Reference

Specifies the orientation reference of a label.

• Object: Rotates labels relative to the zero direction of the object. You can determine the zero direction of the object based on its start and end points. If the object vector changes at the anchor point on the label, the orientation updates automatically. This is the default setting.
• View: Forces labels to realign to a screen-view orientation in both model and layout views. Always assumes the zero angle is horizontal, regardless of UCS or Dview twist. If the view changes, the label orientation updates with it.
• World Coordinate System: Adjusts the labels with respect to the angle between the current view and world view. Changing the view or current UCS does not affect label rotation with respect to the world coordinate system.

Forced Insertion

Specifies the position of a label relative to an object. Applies only when the Orientation Reference option is set to Object and the objects are lines, arc segments, or spline segments.

• None: Maintains label position as composed relative to the object.
• Top: Adjusts label position to above an object.
• Bottom: Adjusts label position to below an object.

Note

Plan Readable should be set to True when using the Top or Bottom settings.

Force Inside Curve

Specifies whether labels are placed inside or outside a curve. Available only for curve label styles. This setting has precedence over any forced insertion setting.

• True: Moves label components on the outside of curve to the inside of curve. The components maintain the same offset and rotation.
• False: All label components remain as composed.
  Note

  This setting applies only when the Orientation Reference option is set to Object.

Plan Readability

Plan Readable

Specifies the text rotation to insure that all text components in labels can be read easily in plan view.

• True: Rotates text to insure that it can be read easily in plan view or as if viewed from an angle at the bottom or right side of the screen/paper.

  Any text with an angle greater than the angle specified in the Readability Bias setting, or with an angle less than the Readability Bias plus 180 degrees, is in violation of plan readability, and is adjusted automatically.

• False: Displays text as inserted.

Readability Bias

Specifies the angle at which label text flips 180 degrees to remain plan readable.

Flip Anchors With Text

• True: Ensures that if text is rotated to make plan-readable, the anchors will also be flipped.
• False: The flipped label always looks like a mirror of the original.

Preview Pane

Dynamically displays changes to the label style. Right-click the preview pane to access view-related commands. To change the view, select a preview drawing from the list. For more information, see Previewing Label Styles.