Select the Callout tool from the toolbox. Click on the point on the drawing area at which the callout element is to be placed or the point where it is to start. When you release the mouse button after clicking, the text element appears with the frame. If, instead of this, you click with the drawing cursor on the drawing area and drag the line as it becomes visible, you will create a callout element with leader line. Different callout styles are required for each of the two examples (see Show Attribute Window).

The orientation of a callout element with leader line depends on whether or not Grid Alignment is switched on when the element is created. If the Grid Alignment function is active , the callout element is forced into one of the three major planes of the current grid depending on the direction it is dragged in.

Without Grid Alignment, the callout element can be rotated freely.

Start points of leader lines can be attracted by neighboring grid or element points. Whether or not they are attracted depends on the current setting of Grid Snap and Element Snap.

If the Show dimensions option has been activated, length information is displayed for callout leader lines as they are being dragged. If the line is located on one of the major axes of the current grid or in the horizontal plane, the length of the line will be displayed. If this is not the case, two dimensions will be displayed – namely, the lengths along the two major axes involved.