When working in SOLIDWORKS MBD or using DimXpert, you’ll encounter two commonly confused terms:
- Annotation Text Size
- Annotation Text Scale
Although both affect how your dimensions, datums, and tolerances look in the model and in 3D PDFs, they control different things.
What is Annotation Text Size?
- The text size defines the actual font height (e.g., 0.125 in, 3 mm, 12 pt) for each dimension, tolerance, or note.
- Controlled in:
- Document Properties > Annotations > Font
- Or per dimension in the Dimension PropertyManager (under Text Font / Font Size).
➡ Text size applies directly to the individual annotation.
What is Annotation Text Scale?
- Annotation text scale (often called Annotation Scale) is a global multiplier applied to all annotations within a specific annotation view (Front, Top, Isometric, etc.).
- Expressed as a ratio:
- 1:1, 2:1, 3:2, 0.5:1, etc.
- Found in:
- Annotation View Properties
- Status bar (bottom-right corner of SOLIDWORKS window)
➡ Text scale uniformly scales the size of all annotation text relative to the model in that view.
