SERIALTAG places a running sequence of labels — 1, 2, 3 or A, B, C or GL-1, GL-2 — one at each point you pick, optionally enclosed in a circle or a hexagon.
What SerialTag does
Grid references, door numbers, item marks, revision letters, detail keys: anything that counts up as you go round the drawing.
Three counter styles. Number steps by any whole amount. Decimal steps by any amount, to three places. Letter runs A, B, C and correctly on past Z into AA, AB, AC.
That last point matters. A counter that stops at Z and resets to A silently produces two tags called A on the same drawing, the moment you pass twenty-six.
How to use it
- Load the routine with
APPLOAD, or put it on your support file search path. - Type
SERIALTAG. - Set the counter style, start, step, any prefix or suffix, and whether tags are enclosed.
- Pick points. Press Enter to stop.
How it works
Prefix and suffix are plain text wrapped round the counter, so GL- gives GL-1, GL-2, GL-3, and a suffix of TYP gives 1 TYP, 2 TYP.
The enclosure grows with the label. A single digit gets a small circle; three digits or a long prefix gets a bigger one, so the text never touches the ring.
The sequence carries on. Where the counter got to is remembered, so you can stop, do something else and start again where you left off — the next run offers the number after the last one placed.
Text height is DIMTXT × DIMSCALE, unless the current style has a fixed height, in which case the style wins. The enclosure is proportional to that, so the whole tag scales together.
Notes and limits
- Letters carry past Z properly into AA, AB and so on.
- The counter persists between runs in a session.
- A fixed-height text style overrides DIMTXT.
- One undo group covers the run of tags.
Download and details
| Name | SerialTag — place a running sequence of numbered or lettered tags |
| Download | SerialTag.lsp — 14.6 KB, plain AutoLISP source. Downloads directly; no zip to unpack. |
| Type | AutoCAD AutoLISP routine |
| Command | SERIALTAG |
| Requires | nothing beyond a CAD platform with AutoLISP. |
| Source size | 14.6 KB, 354 lines |
| Error handling | Yes — a *error* handler restores every system variable it changed, on cancel as well as on error. |
| Undo | The whole operation is wrapped in a single undo group, so one U reverses all of it. |
| Compatibility | AutoCAD (any release with AutoLISP), BricsCAD, ZWCAD, GstarCAD, ProgeCAD and other IntelliCAD-based platforms. AutoCAD LT needs a LISP enabler. No .NET, no ObjectARX, no installer. |
| Author | YZ, August 2026 |
| Licence | Free to use, supplied “as is” with no warranty. |
References
- NUMSTAMP LISP — a full content builder with reset rules and curve placement
- BALLOONTAG LISP — numbered balloons on leaders
- AUTOTAG LISP — numbering that maintains itself
- More free AutoLISP routines on this site
- Wisey’s Steel Shapes — free structural steel section drawing program