topic Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking in AutoCAD Forum

Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 22:43:27 GMT

I am wondering if there is a way to reduce the size of a background mask on dimensions?

This is a screenshot of what i see.

And i want to reduce the size of the background mask to basically what is in red so i can still see the dimension lines called out in blue arrows. I still want to keep the background mask in general because i am placing dimensions over other lines etc.

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

ennujozlagam — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 01:18:23 GMT

@Anonymoushello try to set DIMEXE to 1 if this helps. thanks

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

imadHabash — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 07:54:55 GMT

Hi and Welcome to AutoDesk Community,

i suggest to reduce the text size because the background area fits itself to the text area width and height.

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 13:21:11 GMT

DIMEXE didnt seem like it did anything (even with a REGEN). And reducing the text size is not an option because then the field guys will not be able to read the text (it is already 3/32" on paper).

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Is there any way to have the extension lines displayed above the background mask?

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

john.vellek — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 20:22:44 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

This thread was just auto-escalated and came to my attention. Has your issue been resolved or do you still need assistance?

At this point in time adjusting the masking is not an option but has been submitted to the wish list for development.

Please update your status in a post.

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 16:39:12 GMT

Hello,

I found that by moving the text from its original placement (between the extension lines) then moving the text back to its original location (within the extension lines) the text mask will not mask any objects within its text boundary. This may be a temp fix.

Hope this helps?

Henry

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 14:32:37 GMT

If you can figure it out a way to set the desired percentage of masking in the dimensions will be amazing. The current 25% is too some times. I personally use 10-15%. Some cases even 5%, depending on the amount of information I need to keep visible.

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

ebodnarukTMQM4 — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 17:49:46 GMT

I just had this issue and found that the background mask has an option called "border offset factor" which controls how far the mask extends beyond the text. Reducing it from the default of 1.5 (50% beyond the text) to 1.0 solved it for me.

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

matthew_everinghamX2JVR — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 23:53:59 GMT

Can you not just bring the dimension lines above the other dimension?

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

ggallinaQD — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 10:31:11 GMT

How do you go to this settings box? I'm trying to change the size of the background mask of a Multileader.

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

gbattinPH5TG — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 16:37:53 GMT

He gets that dialog box from using a LISP routine from LeeMac here:

https://www.lee-mac.com/mask.html

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

cadpro78 — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 12:47:31 GMT

Change the width to a lower normal. I usually no lower than .60" though, but you can experiement.

Re: Reducing Size of Dimension Masking

isaakjmk — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:52:57 GMT

I was looking for something similar and this was the solution I needed. It allowed me to mask the lines behind my labels perfectly without covering features that were tight to the lettering.