Detailed Drawings > Working with Drawing Sketches > Dimensions and Sketch Objects
  
Dimensions and Sketch Objects
A dimension placed between two draft entities, (created with the Sketch commands) or between a view and a draft entity is called a draft dimension. The dimension value is based on the draft scale and the actual drawing sheet units and size.
Associating a dimension with a draft entity links the two together so that the dimension reflects changes to the entity. When you have made a draft dimension associative (using the Detail option associative_dimensioning), the draft dimension’s value changes if you change the draft scale, move the entity, and trim and intersect the entity. The system reflects the changes to the draft scale in the value of the draft dimension when it regenerates the drawing and creates new draft entities at the scale value.
 
* Regular non-associative draft dimensions do not change with draft scale.
Draft Scale
Draft scale is the relation between what an entity size appears to be versus its actual dimension. For example, assume that an edge of a part is 4 inches long:
If the draft scale is 1.0, the entity appears to be 4 inches in the drawing.
If the draft scale is 4.0, the entity appears to be 16 inches in the drawing (it appears to be four times larger than it actually is).
If the draft scale is 0.5, the entity appears to be 2 inches in the drawing (it appears to be one-half the size it actually is).
(Use the Detail Options by clicking File > Prepare > Drawing Properties dialog box to change draft_scale to determine the default draft scale.)