AutoCAD 2020.1 - NEW System Variable - TEXTLAYER

By David Lewis

Until recently lisp routines such as layer direct have been used as a work around to automatically add text to the correct layer when inserted into a drawing. This has proved to be a useful as it can help maintain standards and increase productivity. 

The AutoCAD 2020.1 update has finally superseded the need for this workaround, introducing a new system variable “TEXTLAYER” which allows users to set their desired layer for text to be inserted.

How?

Simply Create the desired layer for text to be inserted, type TEXTLAYER and change the variable from “use current” to whatever you have named your desired layer.

Example

In the below example I first inserted text without changing the system variable and it defaults to the current layer which happened to be layer 0 (Fig 1).

I then created a layer called text and set the colour to green, changed the system variable from “use current” to text and the text was automatically inserted on the correct green text layer. By doing this it now means any text added will automatically be placed on my preferred layer.