ZWCAD makes it easy to add clear and well-organzied text and tables to your 2D drawings. From creating single and multiline texts to linking tables with Excel, this guide will lead you through tools and procedures for creating, editing, and formatting texts and tables efficiently in ZWCAD.

Creating Text

Create single line text using the TEXT command; Create multiline text using the MTEXT command. In drawings, text is usually used for annotations, dimensions, titles, or explanations.

Single Line Text

Single line text has only one line, used for short, simple text. To create one, execute the TEXT command.

Multiline Text

Multiline text contains one or more lines of text, used for longer blocks of text. To create one, execute the MTEXT command. There are a few more steps to execute it:

Alignment Method

Multiline text can be aligned within the text box to control how it appears. The alignment method controls the direction in which text overflows when it exceeds the text box. For example, using the top left point of the text box as the alignment point, the text will overflow to the right and bottom of text box.

Line Spacing

Line spacing refers to the vertical distance between two lines of text. You can control this spacing in two ways:

• At least: The space adjusts automatically depending on the tallest character in each line
  
  
  
  
• Exactly: All lines use the same fixed spacing.
  
  

Columns

When your text gets too long for the text box, you can set up columns.

· Dynamic Columns:

 - Automatically adds new columns: Text Editor > Columns panel > enable Auto Height

· Static Columns:

 - You specify the number of columns

 - Use multiline text grips to adjust column width and height

Multiline Text Conversion

The MTEXP command can convert multiline text to single line text.

Text Style

Text styles control the appearance of text objects. The STYLE command allows you to specify the font, height, width, tilt angle, generation direction, and more.

For creating new text with new style: execute the TOOLBAR command and switch current text style through the drop-down list.

For selected text: execute the PROPERTIES command and make changes in the Properties palette.

New or Modify Text Style

Execute the STYLE command to open the Text Style Manager dialog box, which provides functions such as creating, modifying, renaming, and deleting text styles.

About Text Fonts

Different text objects can be distinguished using different fonts. SHX fonts and TrueType fonts can be used in ZWCAD.

· Replace Font

When opening a drawing, if one or more font files contained in the drawing are missing from the computer, you need to specify font replacement. Use the FONTALT system variable to control the file name for replacing fonts.

· SHX Font

TrueType font (TTF) is a Windows system font that is widely used in daily life. Examples include Microsoft Yahei, Heiti, and Songti. SHX fonts occupy less memory compared to TrueType fonts and are commonly used in CAD.

About Text Height

Text height refers to the size of uppercase letters in a font.

For TrueType fonts, text height includes letter height, top height, and bottom height.

• Top height: the space above the text used by things like accents, phonetic marks, or annotations.
• Bottom height: the part of the text that drops below the baseline, such as f, g, j, etc.

Edit Text

You can move, copy, rotate, delete, mirror, and change the properties or style of text objects. You can double-click text object or right-click to access the shortcut menu for both single line or multiline texts. You can also use commands:

• For single line text: the DDEDIT command.
• For multiline text: the DDEDIT or MTEDIT commands.

Create Leaders

Leaders are used to annotate or explain graphics. ZWCAD provides several ways to create and manage leaders:

Leader

Execute the LEADER command to create a simple leader, which includes: an arrow, leader segment, baseline, and annotation content.

• The leader line segment can be a line or a spline.
• Execute the QLEADER command to create leaders with more formatting options.

Multileader

Execute the MLEADER command to create multileaders. The format can be set through the Options branch in the command line.

Multileader Style

Execute the TOOLBAR command and use the drop-down list to switch the current multileader style. To modify the style of selected multileader, execute the PROPERTIES command and make changes in the Properties palette.

Execute the MLEADERSTYLE command to open the Multileader Style Manager dialog box, where you can create or modify multileader styles.

Multileader Alignment

Execute the MLEADERALIGN command to align and arrange multiple styles in the following four ways.

• Evenly arranged on a line.
  
  

• Parallel to the specified reference leader.
  
  

• Arranged in specified spacing and direction, and aligned with the reference leader.
  
  

• Arranged evenly in specified direction, and the connection between front and rear content ends is perpendicular to the specified direction.
  
  

Multileader Merge

Execute the MLEADERCOLLECT command to merge multileaders. Only one leader will be retained, and the block collection will be arranged in the specified ways, including:

• Vertically
  
  

• Horizontally
  
  

• Row by row
  
  

Only multileaders within the same plane can be merged. If you select multileaders from different planes:

• ZWCAD will merge the ones from the plane with more items.
• If they have the same number of multileaders, it will merge the ones you selected first.

Spell Check and Find Text

Spell Check

To check spelling, use the Check Spelling dialog box. It highlights errors one by one. After Ignoring or correcting the current error, it will switch to the next incorrect word.

Spelling Dictionary

ZWCAD uses:

• a main dictionary (DIC): for common words, provided for more than 10 languages.
• a custom dictionary (CUS): for your own added words.

Special Words

Sometimes proper nouns or special names like "zwsoft" may be marked as spelling mistakes because they aren't in the default dictionary.

To fix this, add the word to your custom dictionary using the Check Spelling dialog box.

Check When Entering Text

When typing single or multiline text, spelling is checked automatically. Incorrect words appear with a red underline.

Find Text

Use the Find and Replace Text function to:

• search for specific content
• replace with specified content. (the replaced content inherits the text style and properties)

Creating Tables

A table is composed of rows, columns, and table text, and the small squares in a table are called table cells.

Execute the TABLE command to open the Insert Table dialog box. You can create a table in the following ways:

• Create empty tables
• Create a table and link it to an existing Excel table using the DATALINK command
• Create a data extraction table using the DATAEXTRACTION command

Data Link

You can link external Excel spreadsheets (XLS, XLSX, or CSV) to tables in your drawing using data linking.

To keep the data in sync, use the DATALINKUPDATE command. This allows you to:

• Update the CAD table with changes from the Excel file.
• Update the Excel file with changes from the CAD table.

Row and Column Settings

When creating an empty table, you can specify the number and size of rows and columns in the table.

Table Style

Table styles control how tables look in your drawing. You can use the TABLESTYLE command to create or modify table styles.

• Execute the TOOLBAR command, check the Style toolbar, and use the drop-down list to switch the current table style.
• To modify the style of a selected table, execute the PROPERTIES command and make changes in the Properties palette.
  
  

Table Structure

The structure of a table depends on the starting table and the table direction.

• When you select a starting table, it will copy the row and column settings based on the existing table style. You can then adjust them as needed.
• Table direction is how the table content (e.g., titles, headers, and data) is arranged.

Unit Style

You can set the style for different contents in table cells from three aspects: basic properties, text properties, and border properties.

• Basic properties: fill color, alignment, formatting, page margins, etc.
• Text properties: text style, height, color, angle, etc.
• Border properties: line weight, line type, color, and border display.