Annotations Export - Create an AutoCAD annotation theme (convert labels to annotations)

With this function you can export graphic labels from the view to an annotation theme (AutoCAD DXF file), i.e. convert labels to annotations. As a source you can choose any labels (e.g. other AutoCad Annotation Layers, ARC/INFO Annotation Coverages, normal graphic texts, spline texts, mutliple line texts, texts with any rotation, alignment and line spacing). You must first select the labels you want to export using the pointer/selection tool or the function Annotations Select.

• Annotation Features: Choose the annotation themes you want to export (themes in which annotations are selected are marked with a * behind the name). With the button you can select the active, with the visible and with all annotation themes of the view. Press the Shift key while clicking on a button to add these themes to the current selection and the Ctrl key to deselect them.
• Graphic Labels: Select the themes whose attached graphics you want to export. Select the option <Detached Graphics> to export unattached graphics. The buttons , and work according to Annotation Features.
• Labels: Selected uses only the selected, All uses all labels. The number of the selected and of all labels is displayed behind these two options. If no labels are chosen, you can't run the function (the button isn't active).
• Precision of Coordinates: Activate this checkbox to enter the number of decimal digits of the coordinates. The less decimal digits are used, the smaller the created file will be, but the less accurate the position and the size of the annotations will be (i.e. this may result in visible inaccuracies). If the checkbox is deactivated, the required number of decimal digits will be calculated automatically (accuracy of about 1/100.000 of the extent of the annotations).
• Spline Text: Spline text is a special kind of graphic text that is bend along a curved base line. Because annotations can't be "bend", spline texts can be exported only with restrictions.
• Ignore: Spline text will not be exported.
• Single Line: Every spline text will be exported as a single text line (from start to end point of the line). The curve of the text gets lost and the appearance of the created annotation usually is a lot different to the spline text (but the text can be easily used and modified further on).
• Char by Char: Spline text will be exported character by character. In this process numerous annotation features will be created that consume a lot of disk space and can hardly be processed further on. On the other hand the appearance is very close to a bend spline text (except of some smaller displacements).
• Word by Word: This option is a compromise between file size and accuracy. Spline text will be exported "word by word", i.e. characters between two blanks will be exported as a separate annotation feature. At Max Length you can define the maximum number of letters of a single word/annotation. If a word is 1,5 times longer as this, it will be split into annotations of the chosen length (default value is 3).

Hint: When you export spline text into an annotation theme, these annotations are displayed much faster than the graphics (thus you can increase the speed of redrawing the view considerably). But as it will be split into several annotation features, it hardly can't be processed anymore. For this reason it's recommended to save the spline texts with the function Graphics Save before or to make them invisible with the function Graphics Convert afterwards. If you want to modify them, you can load/display the original spline texts and export them again. You should handle multi line text in the same way, because it will be split into several annotations too (one annotation feature for each line).

• Output File: You can define path and name of the new annotation theme (AutoCAD DXF file). Click on the corresponding button to open the usual ArcView dialog for defining an output file.
• Overwrite DXF Theme: This option is available if you chose an AutoCad DXF file as a source theme. Activate this checkbox to store the created labels in this theme (i.e. overwrite the existing file). This is very useful if you want to add single labels to an existing annotation theme (just create and select the new graphic labels, choose the annotation theme you want to append them to and activate this option).
• Remove exported Graphics from the View: Removes the exported graphic labels from the view (exported annotations from existing annotation themes stay untouched). Keep in mind, that not all conversions can be undone totally (this concerns spline text as well as multi line text that was split into several annotations - all other graphic labels can be recreated with the function Annotations Import).

After clicking the button all selected labels will be exported. Before overwriting an existing annotation theme (see option Overwrite DXF Theme) there is a check, whether annotations may get lost:

• At the question Labels will get lost (are not selected)! Do you want to keep them all? not all labels of the theme that will be overwritten are selected - the unselected ones would get lost. If you click all annotations will be exported and therefore kept. If you click they will get lost once and for all (you can't undo this operation)!
• At the question All labels in the output file will get lost! Do you want to keep them all? the annotation theme that will be overwritten was not selected for the export and would get entirely lost. If you click all annotations of this theme will be exported and therefore kept. If you click they will get lost once and for all (you can't undo this operation)!