Reference

DIMSPACE in AutoCAD

Q: What is the default dimension spacing in AutoCAD?

DIMSPACE's Auto is twice the text height of the dimension style. DIMBASELINE uses the style's baseline spacing instead, 3.75 in ISO-25, for each dimension it adds.

How AutoCAD's DIMSPACE evens out the gap between dimensions or lines them up at 0, with Auto's spacing from the text height. Try it free in your browser.

DIMSPACE adjusts the space between parallel linear and aligned dimensions. You select the base dimension, which stays where it is, then the dimensions to space; Enter ends the selection and asks for the spacing. Each dimension's line is then moved, away from the base in the order they lie, at that distance from the one before it. A spacing of 0 lines them all up on the base's line: a chain staggered as it was drawn reads as one. Its only change is where the dimension lines lie, in one step that U takes back.

The base is picked, or typed as a point, or taken with Last; one that is no dimension says Selected object is not a dimension. and asks again. A set selected before the command is the set to space. A dimension at an angle to the base is counted and left where it is, and a negative spacing is refused with Invalid spacing value, spacing value cannot be negative..

Command: DIMSPACE
Panel: Annotate
Try it: Open the editor, type DIMSPACE and press Enter.

At the command line

The engine draws it and writes its history as you would type it: the prompts in AutoCAD 2027's order, with the same option letters.

A plate's top edge dimensioned in a chain of three, each dimension placed at a height of its own, as they were drawn.

Command: DIMSPACE
Select base dimension:
Select dimensions to space: 1 found
Select dimensions to space: 1 found, 2 total
Select dimensions to space:
Enter value or [Auto] <Auto>: 0

DIMSPACE from the first dimension, the other two selected and the spacing 0: the chain lined up on one line.

Options

`Auto` (`A`)

The default, Enter: a spacing of twice the text height of the base's dimension style, scaled by its overall scale, so the stack fits its own text.

What it does not do yet

Angular dimensions, which DIMSPACE does not space yet. AutoCAD moves a dimension only where it needs to; here every dimension selected is respaced.

What it does and still lacks, in detail (in English)

Questions

How do I align dimensions in AutoCAD?

Run DIMSPACE, pick the dimension the others should line up with, select them, press Enter and type 0: every dimension line moves onto the base's.

How do I make the spacing between dimensions equal?

Run DIMSPACE, pick the dimension nearest the object as the base, select the rest and press Enter twice: Auto spaces them by twice the text height. Or type the distance you want, such as 8.

What is the default dimension spacing in AutoCAD?

DIMSPACE's Auto is twice the text height of the dimension style. DIMBASELINE uses the style's baseline spacing instead, 3.75 in ISO-25, for each dimension it adds.

Why does DIMSPACE not move a dimension?

It only spaces dimensions parallel to the base: one at another angle is counted and left where it is. Angular dimensions are not spaced yet.