Special Symbols in AutoCAD

by Martin Phelps

New users to AutoCAD may find the following five special symbols useful during the process of adding textural information to a drawing.

Symbol 1 – Diameter symbol ∅ (theta).

%%C (shift 5 (percent) shift 5 (percent), followed by the letter “C”), followed by the dimensional value, example below.

∅150

Symbol 2 – Degree symbol °.

Add the required angular value followed by %%D (shift 5 (percent) shift 5 (percent) and the letter “D”, example below.

180°

Symbol 3 – Plus / minus symbol ±.

Add the required value / text followed by %%P (shift 5 (percent) shift 5 (percent) and the letter “P”, followed by the required tolerance, example below.

100±0,05

Note 1: - The above methods can also be used to create the symbols in “Multiline text”.

Note 2: - The above options can also be very useful when adding a prefix or a suffix to dimensions, without overwriting the displayed dimensional value, so the dimension will remain associated to the selected points on the drawing and will update if the dimension points are changed.

Symbol 4 – Underscore.

Prior to typing any textural information, type %%U (shift 5 (percent) shift 5 (percent) and the letter “U”, example below.

Symbol 5 – Overscore.

Prior to typing any textural information, type %%O (shift 5 (percent) shift 5 (percent) and the letter “O”, example below.

Both “Underscore” and “Overscore” can be turned off during the typing of the text, by typing the required %%U / %%O option, example below.

It’s a bit tedious, but it does work.

With the “Single Line” text selected, the text string is shown in the “Contents Field” of the “Properties” dialogue box, as below.

Note 3: - This doesn’t work with “Multiline Text”, since “Mtext” has these options in the “Formatting Panel“ in the “Text Editor” context sensitive tab, as shown below.