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Add and Configure Annotations on a View Frame

Insert an annotation — a text note or symbol that isn't itself a measurement — onto a component or directly onto a view frame.

Written by Sabine Bunese

What an annotation is and how it behaves

An annotation is text placed on a view frame — relative to a component or to the view frame. Within a drawing template, an annotation can:

  • Use references to Liftdesigner parameters. The annotation text can contain plain text or external references to the project parameters.

  • Be a DWG block. If annotation symbols should be used in the project.

  • Be duplicated as a per-instance overwrite — like a dimension, an individual annotation can be overwritten for one view frame without touching the rule that generates the rest.

Prerequisites

  • A view frame, in a standard or dynamic sheet template.

  • For a component annotation: the component you want to annotate already placed and visible in that view frame

Add a component annotation

Steps

  1. Add an annotation to a component.
    Select the component and click in the View Frame tab → Selection group → Active Component Annotation. The Text Editor window opens.

  2. Enter your annotation text.
    In the text editor, type plain text or search for an external reference using the link to the project data tree.

  3. Vary text size within the annotation (optional).
    Use the expression {\HSizeFactorx;text} inside an annotation to give part of its text a different size from the rest.

  4. Adapt the font's appearance.
    Select another font style, size and emphasis.

  5. Configure the annotation appearance.
    Set the alignment, border type, leader line or background mask. The changes can be previewed within the editor.
    ​

TIP: The view frame annotation can be added via View Frame tab → View Frame group → Active View Frame Annotation. The same steps apply as with the component annotation.

Customize a component or view frame annotation

Steps

  1. Activate the annotation properties.
    Select the annotation object itself to activate the properties window.

  2. Change the annotation content and appearance.
    Edit the annotation directly within the properties window instead of the Text Editor.

  3. Parameterize the annotation positioning.
    Set the arrow and text position mode to by Value or by Rule, select the relative text position, or change the arrow reference point within the component.

  4. Configure leader line positioning manually.
    The Leader line property now accepts explicit values that override automatic positioning:
    - Left text side: the leader will always be on the left side, regardless of the annotation's position on the drawing.
    - Right text side: the leader will always be on the right side, regardless of the annotation's position on the drawing.
    - Above text: the leader will always be above, regardless of the annotation's position on the drawing.
    - Below text: the leader will always be below, regardless of the annotation's position on the drawing.
    Leaving the property unset keeps the default automatic alignment active, which selects the geometrically appropriate side on its own.

  5. Choose a background color for the annotation's text.
    Pick Use color, Use drawing background color, or Use style background color to make it stand out as needed.

  6. Change the annotation to a DWG or an image file.
    Activate the option Show image/DWG to select a file to be embedded or referenced.
    ​


    ​Result

    The component or view frame carries an annotation with the text (or parameter reference, or DWG symbol) and appearance you set — styled and sized the way you want.

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