Controlling Text in a Drawing - AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011: No Experience Required - page 397

8. Use the Properties palette to make the following changes to the
KITCHEN text:

a. Under General, change Layer, in the group to A-GRID (see
Figure 8.33).

b. Under Text, change Contents from KITCHEN to A .

O

c. Change the Justify setting from Left to Middle Center.

this might seem like
a roundabout way
to generate letters
for the grid symbols,
but this exercise is
meant to show you
how easy it is to use
text from one part
of the drawing for a
completely different
text purpose. It's a
handy technique, as
long as you want to
use a font that has
been chosen for a
previously defined
text style. a faster
way to do this is to
use the Single Line
text tool[with the
Justify setting set
to Middle, use the
Center osnap to
place the text cur-
sor at the center of
the circle, and then
enter A ↵↵ .

FiGuRE 8.33 Modifying the KITCHEN text using the Properties palette

For each change, follow these steps in the Properties palette:

1. Click the category in the left column that needs to change. If the set-
ting is on a drop-down list, an arrow appears in the right column.

2. Click the down arrow to open the list. In the case of the KITCHEN
text, just highlight it because there is no drop-down list.

3. Click the new setting or enter it.

4. When you've finished, close the Properties palette and press Esc to
deselect the text.

The KITCHEN text changes to the letter A , is centered in the grid circle, and
moves to the Grid layer (see Figure 8.34).
You used the Center osnap on the KITCHEN text to position its justification
point at the center of the circle. You then modified the justification point from
the Left position (which is short for Base Left) to the Middle Center position. The
Middle Center position is the middle of the line of text, horizontally and verti-
cally. So what you did had the effect of centering the text in the circle. You'll now
look briefly at text justification.