MTEXT-how to get a better clue of text size

When you start the MTEXT command, by default, you see the letters “abc” at the cursor to give you an idea of the size that the text will be. But those letters aren’t very helpful; it would be nice if you had more letters and more variety of sizes.

The MTJIGSTRING system variable (since AutoCAD 2004) creates some sample text when you start the MTEXT command. The idea is to help you gauge the size of the text before you create it, so you can change the height if you want. Lambertus Oosterveen sent me this line that you can put in your acaddoc.lsp or acad.lsp file:

(setvar “mtjigstring” (strcase (getvar “loginname”)))

It sets the text to your login name, making it all uppercase. I actually like having upper and lower case text because it helps me judge the size better, so I used the following simpler code:

(setvar “mtjigstring” (getvar “loginname”))

Here’s the result:

MTJIGSTRING has a maximum of 10 characters.