By Dennis Collin
A common task when working with AutoCAD drawings is to number important features within a drawing with a unique reference. For building plans this can include equipment like lighting, HVAC grills, doors or windows. Whilst the text command can be used, full AutoCAD does have some useful tools under the express menu to make this task easier.
Within a drawing, add a desired prefix to several items, in this example, doors. Copy the ‘D’ character to every desired door.
In the Express Tools tab choose Auto number.
The command will then ask for a starting and increment value, selection order and whether this number should prefix, suffix or replace the selected text strings.
Once the options have been selected, press enter and the text will be numbered as the image below.
It is worth noting that if an extra zero prefix is required, either add a zero to the string to be appended or use the out of the box find and replace text tool to complete the task.
Whatever method is chosen, it is still quicker than adding each number manually!