Model-Based Definition > Model-Based Definition > Annotation Features > Creating Annotation Features > Manipulating the References of an Annotation Element
  
Manipulating the References of an Annotation Element
The ANNOTATION FEATURE dialog box contains three collectors for the geometric references associated with the active Annotation Element:
The References collector is automatically populated by the geometric references of the annotation item included in the Annotation Element, such as the Annotation plane, attachment edges, and so on. These references are grayed out. To change these references, redefine the properties of the annotation item. You can select additional references, such as datum points, coordinate systems, edges, surfaces, and so on.
The Chains collector lets you select additional curves and edges to be associated with the active Annotation Element. The Details button next to the Chains collector opens the Chain dialog box, which provides you with a variety of tools for defining chains of edges or curves.
The Surfaces collector lets you select additional surfaces to be associated with the active Annotation Element. The Details button next to the Surfaces collector opens the Surface Sets dialog box, which provides you with a variety of tools for defining surface sets.
You can perform the following operations on the references:
To select additional references, click the appropriate collector to activate it, then select the geometric entities on the screen, following the usual rules of selection and collection. Creo Parametric lists the name of each reference in the collector.
To change the orientation of the annotation, click Current Orientation on the shortcut menu that appears when you right-click the annotation in the Annotation Elements list.
 
* The Current Orientation command is not available for non-graphical Annotation Elements.
To edit the default description of the reference or add a new description, in the Reference Description column, select the description corresponding to the reference name and type the new description. The description has a limit of 32 characters.
To remove a reference, right-click its name in the collector, then click Remove on the shortcut menu. You can not remove references that were automatically included in the References collector.
To replace an annotation reference, right-click its name in the References collector, and click Replace on the shortcut menu, and select a new reference entity of a similar type.
 
* You cannot replace references that are added after the annotation is created. However, you can remove the unwanted references and add new references.
The checkbox next to each reference name indicates whether the reference is Strong or Weak. By default, all references are added as Weak. To change a reference type to Strong, select the checkbox next to the reference name.
To enable automatic propagation of datum points that you have selected as references, select the checkbox in the Auto-Propag column. If you propagate the Annotation Element to data sharing features, then those datum point references are also automatically propagated for which you have selected the checkbox in the Auto-Propag column.