Decimal Feet Dimensions

Quick tip on expressing dimensions in decimal feet in AutoCAD. January 10, 2006

Question
I have been using AutoCAD 2005 LT for a little over a year now, and today I got stumped by a dimensioning problem. I want to do some survey type drawings where the dimensions are in decimal feet - 80.56', for example - not feet and inches. How can I do that? This is for a wooden structure on a lot - the permit folks want a map.

Forum Responses
(CAD Forum)
From contributor J:
Let me see if I understand correctly. When you pull a dimension that would normally read 66” or 5’-6”, you want it to read 5.6’. Another one is 122” or 10’-2” should read 10.2’.

If this is correct, then go into your dimension style manager and make the following changes to the dimension styles you want to use. Select the dimension style and click “Modify”. Go to the “Primary Units” tab.

Set the following:
Unit format: Decimal
Precision: 0.00 (you might to play with this to get the desired look)
Decimal separator: “.”(period)
Round off: 0.000 (you might play with this to get the desired look)
Prefix: (leave blank)

Suffix: ‘ (the foot symbol)
(Now this is where the magic happens)
Scale factor 0.08333333 (you might have to add more 3’s depending on the outcome)
Everything else on this tab remains the same.

This will at least get you in the ballpark and you can play with the various setting to get what you want.

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From the original questioner:
That is the answer - thank you very much. You were definitely right about the magic part - I would never have considered using a scale factor other than "1". Most totally excellent. Now, when I draw something 44'6", for example, the dimension reads 44.5', which is precisely what I was aiming for.