CAD Software Forum

I have read things about the different kinds of text. So what is common to use mtext for ? And when is it common to use dtext ? I heard that Mtext is a memory hog ? Is this true ? Can someone please help me out on this one.

Text, Dtext and Mtext are the commands to write text in a drawing.

Text is the "original" text command that came in AutoCAD, and it works with single line texts. You issue the text, hit enter, and it appears in the screen. It worked in a very limited way, so the Dtext (D for dynamic) was created, and it worked one line at a time too, but you can see it in the screen as you type it, and let you choose more text locations in one single command.

Then came the Mtext, M for multiline. It is capable of handle text entities of several lines, and they could be easyly reformatted, by clicking its grips and with the ddedit command.

Mtext is very useful when large notes of specifications have to be included in drawings.

So, if you need to include a sigle letter or word in a drawing, you can use the Dtext, but if you need to include complete paragraphs, use the Mtext.

Another advantage of Mtext is that you can use different fonts, or letter sizes or color in a single text entity.

Well, large amounts of text in a drawing can slow down regeneration, specially if you use TTFs. If this starts to happen to you, you can use the Qtext command. It replaces the texts with boxes, so regeneration is faster. You can edit texts, or check its contents with the Ddedit command, even if it is displayed as a box.

Another tip is to have always a layer exclusively for text entities, so you can turn it off, or freeze it.

Well, hope this helps...

MText in the manner that it was developed for, paragraph placement. I cannot begin to tell you how many people use MText for single line areas, such as one line in the title blocks, where just plain old text would have worked just as good and does not need to keep all the paragraph settings included with MText. MText is a drawing hog in the sense that it adds so much more extra data to your drawing data base than regular text.