Mark properties in drawings

In the mark properties of different types of marks you can view and modify the settings affecting the mark content, placing, and appearance. You can adjust the mark properties before creating a drawing and also in an open drawing.

Note that all of the listed settings are not available for all types of marks. Furthermore, the mark properties in the drawing and view level properties are to some extent different from the properties in the property pane, or may be named differently.

For details about adding marks manually, see Add part marks manually in drawings and Add reinforcement marks manually in drawings.

To open mark properties in the property pane or in a dialog:

In an open drawing, click a mark. If the property pane is not open, double-click the mark.
Open the mark properties by selecting a mark type in the drawing property pane object list. To be able to do so, do not select any objects in the drawing.
To open the mark properties in a dialog, in Quick Launch, start typing mark properties, and then select the properties for the desired marks from the displayed list.

On the drawing and view level, you can open the mark properties in any of the following ways:

On the Drawings & reports tab, click Drawing properties, select the drawing type, and go to the mark properties directly by clicking the button of the respective mark (GA drawings), or go to the drawing view properties and click the respective mark in the options tree (other drawing types).
In an open drawing, double-click the drawing background, and go to the mark properties directly by clicking the button of the respective mark (GA drawings), or go to the view properties and click the respective mark in the options tree.
In an open drawing, go to Drawing > Properties, select View and click the respective mark in the options tree.

Mark properties in property pane

Most of the properties listed below are also available on the drawing and view level.


Setting	Description
Save, load and search properties in property pane	To load existing properties, select the properties from the list. To save the modified properties, click . You can also save the properties with another name. To search for a property, start typing the property name.
Mark
Mark editor view	(1) Click the Properties or Values button to show either the property name or the property value in the mark editor view. These buttons are available when you edit an existing mark. (2) The preview of the mark shows the elements that you have added, and the representation that you have selected for the mark. You can drag the elements to another location. To delete an element, click the red delete button in the upper-right corner of the element. (3) New element. Use the New element button to open the element list and select the elements to add in your mark. The available elements depend on the type of the selected object. If your mark already contains the element, the element has a text In use. You can also search for elements. If you do not find the desired user-defined attribute in the list, you can type the name of the attribute in the search box and press Enter to add it. For more information about mark elements, see "Mark elements in drawing marks". (4) The % button shows the current zoom level in the preview. You can zoom in or out by scrolling the middle mouse button. Click the button to zoom to best fit.
Font
Font color, Font, Font height (Font settings in the view and drawing level properties)	Define the font type, color, and height used in element texts. You can use a standard color or a custom RGB color. Clicking ... gives more font choices. To change the default mark font, use the advanced option XS_MARK_FONT.
Inner frame, Outer frame (Frame around elements and Frame around mark in the view and drawing level properties)
Frame,Frame color	Define the frame type and color for one or several elements, or for the whole mark. You can use a standard color or a custom RGB color. The Inner frame setting is enabled only when you have selected an element or an inner frame in the visual editor.
Numeric value
Units and Format	Change the units and format of the length and diameter elements that you have selected in the editor view.
Background (Background mask in the view and drawing level properties)	Select Opaque to hide the part of the drawing that is covered by the mark. Select Transparent to show the part of the drawing that is covered by the mark, so that line work is visible, for example.
Leader line	Define the leader line type and line arrow type, and how the leader lines are shown for merged marks. Select one of the following Leader line types: Leader line always uses a leader line. Along line or leader line tries to find a space along the part for the mark. If impossible, Tekla Structures uses a leader line. Along line places the mark always along the part. Lack of space might cause the mark to overlap other elements. Inside part horizontal places the mark always inside the part. Inside part along part places the mark always inside the part and parallel to the part axis. Inside part horizontal or with leader line tries to find a space for the mark inside the part. If impossible, Tekla Structures places the mark along the part with a leader line. Inside part along part or with leader line tries to find a space inside the part for the mark and align it parallel to the part axis. If impossible, Tekla Structures places the mark along the part with a leader line. Along part centered places the part mark along and in the middle of a part face. Parallel places the mark parallel to the reinforcing bar. Parallel or leader line places the mark parallel to the reinforcing bar line. If there is not enough space for the mark, a leader line is created.
Merged marks Rebar group mark	If you are merging marks, or adding rebar group marks, select one of the following Merged marks or Rebar group mark options: One leader line to group creates one leader line for a group of objects. One leader line per row merges the marks and creates one leader line for a row of objects. Parallel leader lines merges the marks and creates parallel leader lines. Leader lines to one point merges the marks and draws all leader lines to one point. Perpendicular leader lines allows you to create marks with perpendicular leader lines to rebar groups. Creates marks with leader lines to each rebar in a group plane. Leader line to first and last allows you to create marks with perpendicular leader lines to rebar groups. Creates marks to first and last rebar in a group. You can control the length of the perpendicular leader lines with the advanced option `XS_MARK_LEADER_LINE_LENGTH_FOR_PERPENDICULAR` (File > Settings > Advanced options > Marking - general). The default value is 0 mm.
Arrow	Select one of the listed Arrow types.
Identical marks in same cast unit	This setting is for merged reinforcement marks. One leader line to group creates one leader line for a group of reinforcing bars. One leader line per row merges the marks and creates one leader line for a row of reinforcing bars. Parallel leader lines merges the marks and creates parallel leader lines. Leader lines to one point merges the marks and draws all leader lines to one point. No merge does not merge marks. Tekla Structures creates an individual leader line for each mark. This option is only available in view and drawing level properties If you select No merge, you still need to define the mark content for the marks that Tekla Structures automatically merges.
Placing The advanced option XS_MARK_INTELLIGENT_PLACING affects the mark placing.
Alignment	Select where you want to align the mark: Left Center Right Leader line The Leader line option is available in the following mark types: bolt marks, connection marks, part marks, neighbor part marks, pour object marks, reinforcement marks, neighbor reinforcement marks, merged reinforcement marks, and surface treatment marks.
Rotation	Define the mark rotation.
Placing method	Free allows Tekla Structures to search for the first suitable location for the mark. Fixed allows you to place the mark in any location. When you use the option Fixed, the mark stays where it is even though you update the drawing, whereas with Free, Tekla Structures tries to find the optimal place for the annotation object. For more information about placing various annotation objects, see Placement properties for marks, dimensions, notes, texts and symbols.
Position (Quarter in the view and drawing level properties)	Define the areas where Tekla Structures searches for a position to place the mark.
Distances	(1) Distance s (Search margin on the view and drawing level) is the empty margin that you want to leave around the mark. (2) Distance d min (Minimum distance on the view and drawing level) is the minimum distance of the mark from the part. (3) Distance d max (Maximum distance on the view and drawing level) is the maximum distance of the mark from the part. Note that if you use high Distance s and Distance d min values, the mark placement does not work properly.

Additional mark properties on view and drawing level

Mark properties on the drawing and view level contain some additional visibility settings that are not available in the property pane.


Setting	Description
Content tab
Content	On the drawing and view level, you need to select additional information for certain types of marks. For example, for part marks, you need to define part mark settings independently for main and secondary parts, and for sub-assembly main and secondary parts. For bolt marks, you need to select whether the bolt marks are for site bolts or shop bolts. For reinforcement marks, you need to select whether the reinforcement marks are for single rebars, rebar groups, or for meshes.
General (or Appearance in some marks) tab
Visibility of mark Visibility in view	Define the visibility of the marks in the view. distributed distributes the marks in the view. Tekla Structures only creates marks that are not visible in the other views. always always creates marks in the view, irrespective of the settings in other views. preferred acts as distributed, but the preferred view has a higher priority. Select distributed to one view only in a drawing. If you set other views to distributed, the marks are located only in the view that has the setting Visibility in view set to preferred. The option none creates no marks.
Visibility of mark Parts out of view plane	Define whether you want to show marks for parts that are out of the view plane. Visible displays marks for parts outside of the view plane in the drawing. Not visible displays no marks for parts outside the view plane.
Visibility of mark Merge marks	This setting is for part marks and surface treatment marks. On merges marks. For more information about the merging distance and other merging principles of the part marks, see Merge marks. By default, the maximum merging distance is 1200 mm from the part.
Visibility of bolt marks In main parts In secondary parts In sub-assembly main parts In sub-assembly secondary parts	Define the visibility of the bolt marks. Visible displays bolt marks. Not visible does not display bolt marks. The following advanced options also affect the bolt mark visibility: XS_BOLT_MARK_IS_ALWAYS_VISIBLE XS_BOLT_MARK_IS_ALWAYS_VISIBLE_IN_GA
Ignore size	This setting is for bolt marks. Filters standard-sized bolt marks out of drawings, which means that Tekla Structures does not display bolt marks of the defined size in drawings. There are some advanced options that can be used in addition to the Ignore size setting so that you first give the ignored size and then set the advanced option: XS_OMITTED_DIAMETER_TYPE defines if the ignored size is the size of the bolt (value `BOLT`) or the hole (value `HOLE`). XS_OMITTED_BOLT_TYPE can be used for filtering out ignored bolt marks on the basis of the bolt standard. Enter the name of the bolt standard as the value, for example, 7990. You can also use wildcards, such as * or ?. XS_OMITTED_BOLT_ASSEMBLY_TYPE can be used for filtering out ignored bolt marks on the basis of the bolt type. The values are `SITE`, `SHOP`, and `SITE_AND_SHOP`.
Merging tab in the rebar mark properties
Preferred direction of merge (on the Merging tab in the rebar mark properties)	Merge vertical merges the marks in the vertical direction of the drawing. Merge horizontal merges the marks in the horizontal direction of the drawing.