Research: Text and Callouts

[Doug Park]

Having leader lines copy with the text may be possible to do although I would need to analyze the side effects to see if it would be possible.

I would challenge the point that the old leader lines were easier to use. With the new leader line tool I can put in an annotation in fewer clicks and get it positioned right the first time whereas with the old version you needed several clicks and drags to do the same thing and you were virtually guaranteed that it was in the wrong place to start with.

Getting your leaders lined up was nigh near impossible in 9. It was so bad that many were using the arrow tool to do them anyway.

Today you can not only place them faster and more accurately, but you have full control over arrow style, layer, number of segments, they can be curved, splines, there are more options on where they can attach to the text etc.

I haven't seen a case of leader lines disappearing in quite some time, so if you have a reproducible case please send it in to support.

The trainers and power users that I trust have told me that we shouldn't be going back to the version 9 style of leaders as the new ones are much more flexible and usable once you invest the small amount of time required to learn how to use them correctly.

I would suspect that your issues of angles is due to having auto position tail turned on. I recommend turning this off.

Don't create your arrows by clicking the add arrow button in the text dialog. Create them by drawing them either using the leader line tool or using the text arrow tool. The fastest way to draw your arrows is to use the leader line tool.

Start dragging from what you want to point to and click once for each corner in your line. By default the leader line tool has 2 segments. You can set this to any number you would like but setting higher gives you more options. If I typically want 1 to 3 segments in my leader line I could set it to 3. Then if I want a 1 segment arrow I draw the first one then click on the end of the tail to finish it off. Type in my text and it will automatically position the text in what is a very likely to be correct position.

In addition in X1, the arrow attaches to the thing you are pointing to. If you move it, the arrow head will move reducing the need to reposition a lot of arrow heads if you move an object. If you delete either the text or the item it points to the arrow will get deleted.

Given all the advantages, I find it very difficult to believe that V9 arrows are better.

[RMorrison]

I would suspect that your issues of angles is due to having auto position tail turned on. I recommend turning this off.

Doug,
Just an FYI that this default doesn't hold for leader line text. It was reported and confirmed as a bug. Very annoying in the meantime, though.