Hi ToddPig.
In the real world it goes something like this
(note these colors do no correlate to the previous diagram, so don't let that confuse things)
Standard:
Acme Roadrunner Catching Machines, LLC - Company Standard
Styles:
Dimension Styles
Shop Drawing Dims (Text Style2, 3 decimal places, filled arrows)
Sales Drawing Dims (Text Style1, 2 decimal places, tick marks)
Text Styles
Text Style1 (Comic Sans, 0.150", Bold)
Text Style2 (Arial, 0.125")
Object Defaults
General Dimension (Shop Drawing Dims )
Text (Text Style2)
....
So the ARCM, LLC has a company standard, in that standard there are 2 dimension styles, one is used on sales drawings, the other on shop drawings. Each dimension style uses a different text style as a sub-style.
The object default for dim styles is the one called Shop Drawings, because that is what is created most often. The object default for Text is Text Style 2, so when we place a text note, it defaults to Arial 0.125".
If we need to create a sales drawing, we click the General Dimension tool, and then switch to the annotation tab and change the dimension style to use the Sale Drawings dim style, and likewise for text, if the notes are to be comic sans also.
Or consider a different company / and different set up:
Now imagine if we're a job shop, and we produce drawings for General Motors, Ford, Toyota, etc. In that case we might have multiple standards set up, and that allows us to switch a drawing over from the GM standard to the Toyota standard, etc.
That might look something like this:
Standard:
GM
Styles:
Dimension Styles
GM Dims (Text Style2)
Text Styles
Text Style1 (Tahoma, 0.150")
Text Style2 (Arial, 0.125")
Object Defaults
General Dimension (GM Dims )
Text (Text Style1)
....
Standard:
Ford
Styles:
Dimension Styles
Standard Drawings (Text Style2)
Bid Drawings (Text Style1)
Text Styles
Text Style1 (Tahoma, 0.150")
Text Style2 (Arial, 0.125")
Object Defaults
General Dimension (Standard Drawings )
Text (Text Style2)
....
Standard:
Toyota
Styles:
Dimension Styles
Dims1 (Text StyleB)
Text Styles
Text StyleA (Tahoma, 0.70)
Text StyleB (Arial, 0.50)
Object Defaults
General Dimension (Dims1)
Text (Text StyleB)
....
And we could manage these 3 standards in 3 separate templates, or in one template that reads from a styles library, or some combination of templates and a styles library.
But we typically get the template(s) worked out first (local styles) and then tackle the styles library.
I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com