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The Text tools forms a set of commands that are useful in the processing of text and mtext objects.

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Add prefix/suffix to TEXT
Command line :  GT_AD_PFSF 
This command is discontinued. Please see the GT_MODTXT command instead to provide this functionality.

Toolbar : Text Tools  
       Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Write Styles & Fonts to file.
Command line : GT_DWGFONTS 
The GT_DWGFONTS command is used to write all the font file names used by the text in the current drawing to a text file. This information can be used to make a list of dependent font files of a drawing. (Useful when shipping the DWG to a third party).

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Enclose TEXT within a bounding box.
Command line : GT_ENCLOSE 
GT_ENCLOSE is used to enclose selected TEXT and MTEXT objects with either a circle, box or a slot symbol. The box is created as a 3DFACE with its Z values just under the TEXT or MTEXT. So, this technique can be used to hide the objects under the TEXT or MTEXT when the drawing is plotted.



Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Align Text objects.
Command line : GT_ALIGNTEXT 
The GT_ALIGNTEXT command aligns selected TEXT objects either to a horizontal, vertical or inclined reference line. You must specify the alignment by picking a single reference point (for horizontal / vertical alignment) or two points (for inclined alignment)

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Align Text objects to a line.
Command line : GT_ALIGNTEXT2LINE 
The GT_ALIGNTEXT2LINE command aligns selected TEXT objects to an AutoCAD LINE and PLINE object. This is a quick means to align text so that their rotation angle is the same as that of the selected reference line object.

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Change case of selected TEXT.
Command line : GT_CHCASE 
The GT_CHCASE command allows changing the case (Capitalization) of Text, MText and block attributes. Text strings can be converted to upper, lower or mixed case with an additional option of using a text translation dictionary.




What to process:

Text / MText: Choosing this option processes the text and mtext objects only.

Attributes: Choosing this option processes only the attributes of as block

Select Text case:

Upper: Changes all selected text / attributes to upper case

Lower: Changes all selected text / attributes to lower case

Mixed (Title) case: Changes all selected text / attributes to mixed case. Mixed case capitalizes the first alphabet of each word. For example, the string "THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CENTER" would become "The National Geographic Center".

Options:

Use translation dictionary: Using a translation dictionary, you can replace text strings completely with alternative text. Think of this as a global and variable text search and replace. Text is replaced "as-is" without applying any case conversion logic. The translation dictionary is a simple delimited text in which the first field contains the <text/string to search> and the second field contains the <text/string to replace>.

Example:
LTA,Land Transport Authority
USA,USA
MCDONALDS,McDonalds

This would convert all strings "LTA" to "Land Transport Authority", "USA" will remain as "USA" and "MCDONALDS" would become "McDonalds".

Delimiter to use: Specify the delimiter to use in the translation text file.

Dictionary file: Specify the name of the dictionary file

Block parameters:

Name: Pick and choose the block name.

Attribute: Pick and choose the attribute tag name for the selected block.

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Globally change Text / Mtext properties.
Command line : GT_MODTXT 

GT_MODTXT allows global editing of text and MText properties like Justification, Style, Height and rotation angles (both absolute and relative), increment / decrement text, set constant value etc. The required properties can be selected and applied to a multiple selection of text/MText objects.

Note: The Justification property is not applicable to MTEXT objects.



GT_MODTXT Tutorial

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Text Counter.
Command line : GT_TC 

The GT_TC command can be used to quickly create multiple text objects with sequential (running) numbers. It can also create multiple block insertions with sequential (running) attribute values. For instance, if you want to create a number of electric poles or water pipe junctions whose attributes have to be sequentially incremented, simply define your block with the necessary attributes and run GT_TC specifying the block name and attribute to use. Additionally, you can set prefixes and suffixes for both text and block objects.

This command can also be used to update existing text or block objects with the current settings.

Text Height
Defines the height of the text.

Rotation Angle
Defines the rotation angle of the text.

Starting Numeric Value
Defines the starting value to use for the next text or block attribute 

Starting Character Value
Defines the starting alphabet to use for the next text or block attribute 

Format width
Defines the width of the numeric text. For example, if the starting value is specified as 1 and the Format width is specified as 3, the number will be written as 001 i.e each number will have at least three digits in them. 

Value Increment
Type the integer amount by which each consecutive insertion should be incremented.

Layer
Displays the layer name selected.

Select
Pops up the Select Layer dialog box for selecting the layer to create the text.

Prefix
Enter the prefix that should be appended before each text string

Suffix
Enter the suffix that should be appended after each text string

Update underlying object, if present
This option will check if there is a text object within the specified search distance (see below) of a picked point and update it with the current text counter value. If there is no text object, a new object is created at that location.


Search distance for underlying object
Defines the amount (in AutoCAD units) to search around the picked point for any existing counter object.

Counter object to create
Two types of counter objects can be created. Text or Blocks (with attributes) .If a block is chosen as the counter object, you must also specify the attribute name to be used. Blocks that do not contain attributes will not be listed in the dialog box.

Select block
Drop-down list to select the blocks defined in the current drawing document.

Select counter attribute
Drop-down list to select the attributes defined for the currently selected block.

Insert in existing series

Use this option to insert a new text in an existing series of text objects and automatically update the rest. For example, if you have a existing text series like A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and so on, you can insert a new text object called A3 and the program will automatically renumber all existing text objects greater that the picked value. A3 becomes A4 and A4 becomes A5 and so on.

GT_TC Tutorial

See Also: GT_MT




Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Quick multiple text insertions.
Command line : GT_MT 
This is a quick text creation command wherein the text height and rotation angle that you enter are taken as the defaults and the program inserts multiple text at user-defined points of insertion.

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Text filter
Command line : GT_TXTFILTER 
This command allows a selection of Text and MText objects to be filtered based on their text string value. Two methods of filtering can be applied:




Text search
Fltering is done based on wildcard patterns matching the text string.

Numeric Search
The text is considered as a number and filtering is done by applying the values to operators like <, >, = or /=.

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Round off numeric text to specified precision.
Command line : GT_TXTROUND 
The GT_TXTROUND command is useful to round off numeric text to a specified precision. The text selected is assumed to be numeric and its floating point value is displayed with the specified precision. 

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Slide [move] text relative to its rotation angle.
Command line : GT_TXTSLIDE 



The GT_TXTSLIDE command slides or moves text in a direction which is specified relative to the rotation angle of the text. This command can be used in various imaginative ways and to achieve several editing requirements. For instances, this command can be used to increase or decrease the spacing between text labels and adjoining features by moving them in a specified direction. Since the direction of movement is specified as an angle relative to the rotation angle of the text, this can be used to move the text in a 360 degrees direction by any amount specified in the slide distance. For instance, to move the text in a direction vertically above, enter the slide direction as 90 degs.


See Also: GT_MODTXT

 

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Export selected text objects into ASCII file.
Command line : GT_TXT2FILE 

GT_TXT2FILE writes selected TEXT and MTEXT objects into an ASCII TEXT file.

File: Specify the output file-name here.

Sort Order / Type: Specify the text sort order in output text file.

Numeric: Sorts text strings after converting them into their numeric values.
Character: Sort text strings as characters.
Unsorted: Does not sort text strings.

Write unique text strings only: Checking this option causes only unique text strings to be written in the text file.




Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Global multiple text editor.
Command line : GT_TXTEDIT 
GT_TXTEDIT  is used for copying Multiple text selected from the drawing to Notepad text editor, where in we can make changes in the required text easily. And after  making changes when you save and close the notepad editor the same change are updated in the drawing.

GT_TXTEDIT Tutorial




Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Underline Text.
Command line : GT_UND_LINE 



GT_UND_LINE is a quick way to add or remove underlining from selected TEXT. 

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Consolidate Text into Mtext
Command line : GT_CONS_TXT 
This command allows to pick a number of text objects in order and creates a single MText object out of all of them.

Prompts:
Select TEXT [from top to bottom sequence]: (do so)
Select TEXT [from top to bottom sequence]: (do so)
Select TEXT [from top to bottom sequence]: (do so)
Select TEXT [from top to bottom sequence]: (do so)
Select TEXT [from top to bottom sequence]: (do so)
Select TEXT [from top to bottom sequence]: ENTER

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Zoom to (search) and replace selected text.
Command line : GT_ZOOMTXT or GT_ZT 



GT_ZOOMTXT is a tool for text search and replace.

Search embedded text: Enables or disables checking of embedded parts of text or attribute strings.

Case sensitive: Enables or disables case sensitive text handling.

Search Block Attributes also: Enables or disables search block attribute text.

Replace searched TEXT: If enabled, the search text string is replaced with the replace text string

Interactive Replace (confirm each replace): If enabled, each replace operation will seek confirmation before proceeding.

Search for: Enter text string to search for.

Replace with: Enter text string to replace searched string.


See Also: GT_SRCHBLK4TXT

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Search blocks for text strings.
Command line : GT_SRCHBLK4TXT 



The SRCHBLK4TXT command searches block definitions for embedded text strings and lists all blocks matching the given text string specifications.

Text String to search: Enter the text string to search here. Wildcards are accepted.

Case sensitive: Checking this option causes the search to be case-sensitive.

See Also: GT_ZOOMTXT

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Transfer text strings to object data.
Command line : GT_TXT2OD 
See Under AutoDesk Map Tools

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Transfer text strings as block attributes.
Command line : GT_TXT2ATT 
See Under Block Tools

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Split long text strings into individual strings
Command line : GT_SPLITTEXT 

The GT_SPLITTEXT command is used to split a long line of text or Mtext string into a number of smaller text strings based on a delimiter. So, if you have a text string that looks like: "The,Quick,Brown,Fox,Jumps,Over,The,Lazy,Dog" and if the comma character "," is specified as the delimiter, this command will create individual text strings like "The" "Quick" "Brown" "Fox" "Jumps" "Over" "The" "Lazy" "Dog" at almost the same insertion point locations as where the original string was in the combined string.

Delimiter for string splitting: Enter the delimiter to be used for splitting text strings.





Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Create text along a curve.
Command line : GT_CURVETEXT 

This command allows you to write text strings along a curve




Text Offset from line: Text is placed at the specified offset from the curve

Text Spacing between each character: Enter the spacing required between each character of the string

Text Spacing between each word: Enter the spacing required between each word

Annotation text height: Enter the text height here

Annotation interval: Enter the spacing at which the text string should repeat itself
 
Picked Point: Choosing this option causes text to be placed from the picked point onwards

Automatic: Choosing this option causes text to be placed automatically at the specified annotation interval along the curve

Annotation Layer: Choose the layer in which you want the text to be placed




Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Unclutter text objects.
Command line : GT_UNCLUTTER 

The GT_UNCLUTTER command is used to automatically move overlapping text objects around and unclutter the drawing.

The program uses a compute-intensive (slow execution) but result producing algorithm to actually do a trial-and-error by moving the overlapping text around in all or any of the four directions, namely Up, Down, Left and Right or in two-direction combinations like Left-Right and Up-Down. By doing so, when it detects a clear space it place the text there.

Label movement direction

In this section, you specify the direction in which the program must scan to look for available free space to place the labels.

All: Check this option to scan for label space in all four directions around the pick points. The four directions are Up, Down, Left and Right.
Left: Check this option to scan for label space only to the left of the picked point.
Right: Check this option to scan for label space only to the right of the picked point.
Up: Check this option to scan for label space only in the direction above the picked point.
Down: Check this option to scan for label space only in the direction below the picked point.

As the names suggest, selecting the directions UpDown, LeftRight, Rotate Clockwise, Rotate Counter-Clockwise, Rotate Both will scan the drawing in two directions together.

Other parameters

Movement increment: Specify how much distance to move in the specified direction during each new check for free label space.
Display leaders: Checking this box causes the annotation to be displayed with leaders.

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Create text aligned to a curve.
Command line : GT_EASYTEXT  
The GT_EASYTEXT command helps to place text strings (labels) along a curve like polylines, arc, splines etc. This is not a curved text creator tool. Instead it just places text strings at an angle which is pre-set and aligned along the slope of the curve at the picked point on the curve.

Toolbar : Text Tools  
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Create date/drawing stamp
Command line : GT_DATESTAMP 
The GT_DATESTAMP command is used for inserting current system date and current drawing file name along with its file path.

What stamp to create?

Date Stamp: Selecting this option allows inserting current system date in the drawing.
Drawing Stamp: Selecting this option allows inserting current file name in the drawing.
Both: Selecting this option allows to insert both current system date and current file name.

DateStamp Format: Allows selecting the format in which date will be inserted.

Show path in drawing name: Checking this box displays the complete file path

Automatically update existing date/drawing stamps: Checking this box updates both the date/file name stamp with the current values

Text Height: Enter the required text height for date or drawing stamp.

Toolbar : Text Tools
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Convert text strings to attribute definitions.
Command line : GT_TXT2ATTDEF

This command is used to convert text objects into attribute definitions. One of the places where this command can be useful in when you want to have text objects in mirrored blocks. AutoCAD mirrors all text objects within blocks making them unreadable irrespective of the MIRRTEXT system variable setting. A solution to this is to create constant attribute definitions instead of text objects. Such ATTDEF objects within blocks respond to MIRRTEXT settings and you can prevent mirroring of text in blocks.

Toolbar : Text Tools
      Menu : GeoTools Text Tools Convert text strings to attribute definitions.
Command line : GT_ATTDEF2TXT
This command converts attribute definitions to text objects.

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