Add and modify text in drawings

You can add several lines of plain text or formatted rich text in an open drawing inside a text object using the current text properties. You can modify the text and its properties after adding the text object. Rich text content can also be formatted in a built-in text editor.

Tekla Structures also allows you to link plain text or rich text from files outside Tekla Structures. For more information, see Add text file links in drawings.

Add text in an open drawing

Open a drawing.
To create a single line or multiple lines of text, hold down Shift, and on the Annotations tab, click Text, and select one of the following commands:

Text: Add text without a leader line at the position you pick.

With leader line: Add text with a leader line at the position you pick.

Along line: Add text along a line at the position you pick.

Along line, arrow at end: Add text along a line at the position you pick. An arrow is inserted at the second position you pick.

Along line, arrow at start: Add text along a line at the position you pick. An arrow is inserted at the first position you pick.

You can also select Text in the property pane object list and modify the leader line setting in text properties.
You can load predefined text properties and search for properties:
In the Format list, select whether you want to add Plain text or Rich text.
Type the text in the property pane text editor.

You can add a line break by pressing Enter.

If you selected Rich text, use the controls on the toolbar to format the text. The toolbar contains all basic rich text formatting options. You cannot create tables in Text objects.

To add character symbols, click the character symbol icon , and a list of the last 5 inserted character symbols is displayed as well as a list of common character symbols. To display the Character symbols dialog to select other available character symbols, click More.

To change the zoom level, hold down the Ctrl key and scroll the mouse wheel, or use the zoom level control on the toolbar.

To change the text case, select the desired text from the visual text editor, click the Change case button on the toolbar, and select Sentence case, lowercase, or UPPERCASE.

If the text content limit is exceeded, a red border appears around the editor window with an exclamation mark. When you hover over the exclamation mark, the tooltip "Text content limit exceeded. Please reduce the amount of text to save changes." appears.

To edit text in the full Text editor, first add the text in the drawing and then click the Open full text editor button next to the Format list. See "Edit text in full Text editor" below for more information. You can edit both plain text and rich text in full Text editor, but the formatting toolbar is not available for plain text. The toolbars in the property pane text editor and in the full Text editor have the same formatting options and controls.

The space between lines comes from the advanced option XS_MARK_LINE_SPACE_FACTOR.
Modify the text font color, type, and height as required.

The font properties are not available for rich text.

You can use a standard color or a custom RGB color.
To wrap the words between the lines, set Word wrapping to Yes. You can then define the line length using the Ruler width option.
When the word wrapping is activated, the text object gets a handle, which you can drag to make the text wider or narrower.
Add a Frame around the text and select the Frame color.

You can use a standard color or a custom RGB color.

To add a frame, select one of the following frame options:
Rectangular
Line
Round
Circle
Diamond
Hexagon
Triangle
Sharpened
In Background, select one of the following:

Opaque hides the area in the drawing that is covered by the text:

Transparent shows the area in the drawing that is covered by the text so that the linework is shown:
Select the Leader line type and the leader line arrow type, height, and length.
The leader line options are:

No leader line
Leader line
Along line or leader line
Along line
Inside part along part
Adjust the placing settings:
- Select one of the Alignment options: Left, Center, Right or Leader line.
- In Rotation, change the rotation of the text.
- To exactly place the text in the position you pick, and keep it there, set the Placing method button to Fixed.
  Free allows Tekla Structures to search for the first suitable location for the text.
- In Position, define the areas where Tekla Structures searches for a position to place the text. This option can only be adjusted when Placing method is set to Free.
- Distance s (search margin) is the empty margin that you want to leave around the text.
  
  Distance d min (minimum distance) is the minimum distance of the text from the part.
Pick the point where you want to place the text. Depending on the command, you have to pick one to three times.

The text is added. By default, the text is aligned to the left. The line spacing is automatically adjusted by the font size that you select. You can also affect the line space by using the advanced option XS_MARK_LINE_SPACE_FACTOR.

To add the same text again, continue picking. To stop adding texts, press Esc.

You can drag the associativity point of the text leader line freely after adding the text.

Edit text in full Text editor

If you selected to add rich text, you can edit and format the text in the Tekla Structures full Text editor.

To edit text in the full Text editor

In the Text property pane, select the text format.

You can edit plain text in the full Text editor, but you cannot apply any rich text formatting to plain text.
To open the full Text editor, first add the text in the drawing and then click the Open full text editor button next to the Format list.

The full Text editor window is displayed.

If you have already added text in the drawing, you can open the text in the full Text editor by double-clicking the text.

For plain text, the default font size in the full Text editor at 100% zoom is defined by the Text object's font size set in Font height in the property pane:
While typing the text, use the controls on the formatting toolbar to apply formatting in the text.
The following formatting options are available for rich text:
- Font name and height
- Text color, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, subscript, superscript
- Paragraph edits: left, center, and right alignment, left and first line indent, line spacing, space after paragraph, default tab size
- Text case: To change the text case, select the desired text from the text editor, click the Change case button on the toolbar, and select Sentence case, lowercase, or UPPERCASE.
- Character symbols: To add character symbols, click the character symbol icon , and a list of the last 5 inserted character symbols is displayed as well as a list of common character symbols. To display the Character symbols dialog to select other available character symbols, click More.
  Only character symbols that are compatible with the current Tekla Structures and Windows non-Unicode code page settings are shown.
- Lists: bulleted, numbered, and lettered, customizable start number or letter
- Undo and redo edits
- Clear formatting
- Zoom level control (Ctrl+mouse wheel)
- Keyboard shortcuts for cutting, copying, and pasting
You cannot add tables in Text objects.

If the text content limit is exceeded, a red border appears around the full Text editor window, displaying the message: "Text content limit exceeded. Please reduce the amount of text to save changes."
To save your changes, click Save.

The text is updated in the Text object in the drawing according to the changes you made in the text editor. The text also gets updated in the Text property pane text editor.

Modify text properties

Click the text object in the drawing.

If the property pane is not open, double-click the text. If you want to modify several texts, hold down Ctrl and click the text objects. Double-clicking the text also opens the separate text editor. See "Edit rich text in built-in text editor" above for more information.
Modify the properties.

If you have selected several texts, the properties that have different values have the text Varies. You can select another value from the list.
Click Modify to apply the changes in all selected texts.

Recover lost text changes in text objects

If you are modifying the text of a text object in the property pane and lose your changes by clicking elsewhere in the drawing, you can recover the text changes.

In the drawing, select the text object again.
In the Text property pane, review the text changes by hovering over the Recover changes button next to the Text box.
Click the Recover changes button.
Click Modify.

You can select and recover multiple identical text objects. Also, changes of each individual text objects are preserved in a cache and can be recovered for the respective text objects.

Delete unnecessary texts

Select the text object in the drawing.
Press Delete on the keyboard, or right-click and select Delete.

Tekla Structures deletes the text.

Examples

See below for examples of the different text options. From left: Text; With leader line; Along line; Along line, arrow at end; and Along line, arrow at start.

The text object gets a handle when word wrapping is activated, and you can drag the handle to change the text object size:

In the following example, the text is aligned to the leader line start: