When transferring AutoCAD drawings between users, problems can arise with missing text fonts and big-fonts.  To correct or prevent these problems, it is helpful to understand how AutoCAD deals with text styles and text fonts.

A text style determines the appearance of the text characters in your drawing.  It is something that you create, using the STYLE command.

The style command prompts you for several items:

Text style name (or ?) <STANDARD>:
Font File <TXT>:
Height <0.0000>:
Width Factor <1.0000>:
Obliquing angle <0>:
Backwards? <Y/N>:
Upside-down? <Y/N>:
Vertical? <Y/N>:

Text style name (or ?) <STANDARD>:
You may name your text style anything you like, as long as it contains no spaces or other illegal characters, and is 31 characters or less in length.

Font File <TXT>:
The font file is an .SHX file.  A dialog box is normally displayed, allowing you to select from a list of font files.  If you choose a file from the list, you are also selecting the path to the font file.  This could create problems if the drawing is opened on a computer with the font files stored in a different directory.  To avoid this potential problem, select the Type it button and type the name of the font file at the command line.

Several font files come with AutoCAD.
Additional font files may be purchased.  You can create your own text fonts, although it is an involved process.

Height <0.0000>:
As strange as it seems, you may want to assign a height of 0.0000 to your text style. A text style defined with height other than 0.0000 is called a fixed height style.  This means that the size of the text you create using the style is fixed, or preset to the style height.  Setting a height of 0.0000 allows you to control the size of the text at the time you place it in the drawing.

Width Factor <1.0000>:
The width factor in text styles controls the scaling of the character from side to side.  The width factor is not a width to height ratio, but a scaling of the characters as they are defined in the font file.