Revit: Linked AutoCAD File with MText and Columns

One of the users at my firm was trying to link an AutoCAD file into Revit 2016, to get some formatted text notes into his project. The formatting of the text changed from what shows in AutoCAD when linked into Revit. It turned out he was using the Columns feature of MText to get his notes to wrap into a second column, as the total "height" of the notes was greater than the height of the sheet. Revit ignored the columns formatting and displayed the text as one continuous column, with the width set to match the total width of both columns in AutoCAD.

The solution was to reformat the MText in AutoCAD, removing the columns formatting, setting the overall width to that of one column, and breaking the MText into two separate pieces, one for each of the former columns. Any future edits to the AutoCAD file will have to deal with the separation of the MText into two pieces, but the text does appear as desired when linked into Revit.

One more issue that we will not encounter as often as we start using Revit 2018 on new projects, given the somewhat improved ability to format text in 2018.

ACA: Double-click on MText Does Not Start MText Editor

If you find that double-clicking on MText is not initiating the MTEDIT command, check the following things:

1. Is the PICKFIRST system variable set to 1? If it is set to 0, set it to 1. This is the most likely reason why the double click failed. You can also access this setting in the Options dialog, on the Selection tab, in the Selection modes area at the middle left of the tab, by checking the Noun/verb selection toggle.
   
2. Is the DBLCLKEDIT system variable set to ON? If it is set to OFF, set it to ON. This setting can also be accessed in the Options dialog, on the User Preferences tab, in the Windows Standard Behavior area at the upper left of the tab, by checking the Double click editing toggle.
   
3. If both of the above system variables are set correctly, the final step is to verify that your customization file has the appropriate double click action assigned for MTEXT. Type CUI at the Command: prompt and press the ENTER key. In the Cusomize User Interface dialog, on the Customize tab, in the upper left pane (Customizations in...), expand the node for the ACA customization (or whatever your main customization file is called), if it is not already expanded. Scroll down if necessary to find the Double Click Actions node and expand that. Look for a node under that called Mtext and, if you find it, expand it. The out-of-the-box ACA.cuix assigns the Mtext Edit command to the Mtext double-click action.
   • If the Mtext node exists, but does not have a command assigned or has a different command assigned, find the Mtext Edit... command on the Command List in the lower left. (TIP: Type mtext in the search bar at the top to narrow the items on the list and quickly find the Mtext Edit... item.) Left-click, hold and drag the Mtext Edit... item from the lower left pane to the upper right pane and drop it on the Mtext node under Double Click Actions. Select OK to save the change and return to the drawing editor, where you should now be able to double click on an MText object and enter editing mode.
   • If there is no Mtext node, you will need to add one. In the upper left pane, right click on the Double Click Actions node and select New Double Click Action from the context menu, and then immediately type Mtext to replace the default name assigned to the new node. Select the new Mtext node and, in the upper right pane, type MTEXT as the value for the Object Name property of the node (see image below). With the new node created, follow the instructions in the bullet point above to add the Mtext Edit... command as the double-click action, save your changes and return to the drawing editor.
     
4. If you have done all of the above and still are unable to double-click edit MTEXT objects, you may want to go back into the Customize User Interface dialog and see if any of the other customization files (enterprise, if you have one, or any partial customization files) have a double-click action assigned to MText; if so, try deleting all but one and see if that fixes the problem.