Annotation Scaling – the ability to set the size of text, dimensions, blocks, and hatches based on the drawing scale – has been around since AutoCAD LT 2008. It’s much too big a topic to cover in a single blog post – for a good run-down see these three classes from AU. (Although if there’s demand, I may consider a blog series.) But I did want to point out a new feature that was added to Annotation Scaling in AutoCAD LT 2011: Default Scale Lists. Since Annotation Scaling was introduced, you’ve always been able to add and remove scales from individual drawings with the Scale List dialog. What’s changed is the behavior of the “Reset” button in the bottom left. Before now, it simply restored the standard list of scales included with AutoCAD LT – which probably had more scales than you actually use, especially since it includes both imperial and metric scales. In 2011, though, you can define your own default lists of scales – metric and imperial – from the User Preferences tab in the Options dialog. Here, you can add, edit, and remove scales until you have only the ones you need. You can even change the order in which they appear. (In this dialog, “Reset” restores the original lists that are installed with the program.) Once you have your lists defined, the Reset button in the Edit Drawing Scales dialog restores either or both of your default scale lists. We know that drawings with lots of annotation scales can get cluttered (there’s even a Scale List Cleanup for AutoCAD LT 2009 and 2008), so this is just one more way to help you manage your scales.

Go to the original post...