exterior dimensions

newbie here, how do i get the dimensions to be taken from the exterior stud face only, and not the outside of the exterior finish as i am having several different types of exterior finishes

Welcome to the forums. If you manually draw a dimension line, and then select it ... zoom in close to one of the ends and you'll see a grab handle that you can drag to a new point of measurement. You can do the same for the other end as well. If, when you create the dimension line, it is broken into successive measurements, but you only want one, drag one of the interior dimension points to the end.

Hope this helps. :)

Also check your dimension defaults.

See if there is a setting for "main layer" or "wall dimension layer".