Knowledge Base

This procedure will show an alternative way of placing the results of a legal description back into the drawing.  Most of you are familiar with the Misc menu's Import Text method.  This approach will keep the entire legal description in a paragraph format, which will provide more flexibility in width layout.

Generating the Legal Description File properly

This is not a Document on how to use the Legal Description writer, but one element of the file creation must be presented to assure proper results.



From the Legal Description dialog, choose General.  You will see the dialog above.
Turn on the 'Use Paragraph Format' toggle.
Specify an output file in the main panel of the Legal Description Writer and complete the file creation process.  Remember the filename as it will be used in the next procedure.

Placing the file in the drawing as an MTEXT object


Zoom to an appropriate level in the drawing so that you can see the area you would like to place the legal description into.
Issue the MTEXT command
Pick the upper left corner for the MTEXT object.
Drag down and right to form a boundary for the MTEXT object.  Note that the text may take up more or less vertical space than designated.
Choose the 'Import Text' button.
Find and select the file created with the Legal Description Writer.  The MTEXT editor dialog will now be filled with the legal description.
Choose the OK button to close the dialog and create the MTEXT object.



Adjusting the size of the MTEXT object


After seeing the total proportions of the newly created MTEXT object, you may wish to resize it with grips.
Zoom into the MTEXT object if desired.
From the Command prompt, single pick on part of the MTEXT object.  The entire object will highlight and the grip boxes will appear.
Position your cursor near the lower right grip box, it will appear to be magnetically pulled into the box.
Single click inside the grip box to make the grip hot (appears red)
Drag your cursor left or right and notice the appearance of the bounding box as you drag.  If you drag to the left the box will become taller because the narrow width would cause the text to flow down farther.  When an appropriate size is found, single pick again.
Press ESC twice to unhighlight the object and remove the grips.

Changing the Style of the MTEXT object


You may desire a different font for the annotation, this can be changed as well.
Enter the MTEDIT command at the Command prompt.
Pick anywhere on the MTEXT object, the MTEXT appears in the dialog.
Hold down the Control Key while pressing letter A.  This ^A combination can be used in many Windows Applications to select all.
In the top left corner, select the desired the desired font.
You can now use the arrow keys to navigate through an make any other changed desired, then choose OK to exit and see the changes.

Summary

As you can see, the possibilities of the MTEXT object are vast.  While it does have its limitations it is a major improvement over standard TEXT objects, especially where paragraphs are involved.