Tipster Ralph H. Tulis shares an AutoCAD trick that will help you adjust the position of your dimension arrows.

“Ever feel that your rotated dimension should not flip the arrows outside of the extension lines when there appears to be room between them? Try this:

1. Create the dimension.
2. Click on the dimension and drag the grip associated with the text outside the extension lines.
3. If the arrows flip between the dimensions, drag the text back between the extension lines.
4. The arrows should remain between the extension lines.

 “I do not know why this works, but it does — and it takes only a second or two to accomplish.”
 
Notes from Cadalyst tip reviewer Brian Benton: There are more settings and system variables for dimensioning than any other category in AutoCAD. I could only get this tip to work under certain settings. If you open the Dimension Style Editor and go to the Fit tab, you can change the settings for the fit options. This will automate whether AutoCAD will flip the arrows outside of the extension lines or the text. I could repeat this tip only if the fit setting was on “Always keep text between ext. lines.” With this set, I could drag the text away from the dimension line and the arrows would go to the inside.