topic Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting in AutoCAD Forum

MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 00:59:50 GMT

Has anyone had an issue in CAD when working in MTEXT and your laptop/computer Tab button does not work? I am unable to indent lines.

I have tried my Tab button in other programs (word, outlook, etc.) and it works just fine. So it just has to do with CAD.

Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

rkmcswain — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 01:29:47 GMT

Have you tried this in a new, empty, no-template drawing?

To confirm, you place the cursor in front of a line while in MTEXT edit mode, tap "TAB" and nothing happens?

Here is mine

Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 01:35:14 GMT

Yes, I tried various different files and a brand new no-template file. It will not do what you show in your clip. It used to, but I have no idea what got changed to not do it anymore.

Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 01:37:59 GMT

What I did forget to mention is for some reason, even while my cursor is in mtext (edit mode), when I hit my Tab button it toggles the Orthomode at the bottom of the screen. I tried to uncheck my Orthomode to see if it would change anything and it did not.

Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

rkmcswain — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 01:43:25 GMT

As as test:

Type in MTEXTED.

It's probably going to be set to "Internal"

Enter "NOTEPAD" (without the quotes), and press enter.

Now double click on your Mtext object.

This should open Notepad for editing.

Does the TAB key work in there?

To restore the default, previous MTEXT editor, type in MTEXTED, then enter a period (.) and press enter.

Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 01:46:07 GMT

Yes, in the Notepad mode my Tab works.

Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

rkmcswain — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 01:49:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

So it is as if the TAB key is mapped to F8 ?

F8 is the default key for toggling ORTHOMODE

Is this a custom keyboard with its own software app for key remapping?

AFAIK - there is no way to map the TAB key to anything in the CUI, but just for grins, run the MENU command and load up a different menu (such as CUSTOM.CUIX).

This will make the ribbon go away probably, but again, just as a test.

To restore the stock menu, run the MENU command again and choose "C:\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD 20xx\Rxx.x\enu\Support\acad.CUIX"

(items in blue above are unique to you and the version of ACAD)

Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 01:53:32 GMT

No this is a regular old Lenovo ThinkPad laptop.

Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

pendean — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 12:20:31 GMT

You might need to turn off your laptop keyboard's overrides, nothing in AUtoCAD is going to do it: you will need to go to the Lenovo Support forums to look for guidance like this https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/F8-function-key-does-not-toggle-Ortho-in-AutoCAD.html

Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

rkmcswain — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 12:43:39 GMT

@pendean wrote:
You might need to turn off your laptop keyboard's overrides,

Lenovo has keyboard overrides built in for AutoCAD's Mtext Editor? I don't think so.

Re: MTEXT laptop Tab button not indenting

pendean — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 13:09:54 GMT

@rkmcswain you need more coffee 😉