You can see from the ruler that the shape is still 0.375 in tall, but the text is WAY too big for the shape. So when we drop our example shape from above onto a 1:4 scaled page, the following happens: If text scaled, we might end up with lots of 0.25 pt text, or worse! And line weight usually doesnвЂ™t represent a physical attribute of an object, but simply shows itвЂ™s outline, so we donвЂ™t really want that to scale either. The philosophy is that we want a 12pt font to take up the same amount of paper, regardless of scale, because we want to be able to read the text. ItвЂ™s printed size gets smaller, but its logical size stays the same.Д«ut font-size and line weight donвЂ™t scale (imagine how frustrating that would be!), because they are measured in paper space, or Page Units. A two-meter table-shape remains two-meters long, itвЂ™s just drawn smaller on the page. If you switch a scale from 1:2 to 1:4, you will fit twice as many shapes on the page. The size of a shape will scale, so Width & Height are in drawing units. In Visio, we might better call them вЂњPage UnitsвЂќ and вЂњDrawing UnitsвЂќ, but the idea is this: some quantities are better measured in their printed size (Page Units) and some are better represented in their logical, or scaled size (Drawing Units)

Our basic formula wonвЂ™t work in scaled drawings, because Visio doesnвЂ™t scale certain parts of a shape! I like to borrow concepts from AutoCAD and talk about certain ShapeSheet units being measured in вЂњpaper spaceвЂќ and others being measured in вЂњdrawing spaceвЂќ. But this is good enough for most purposes, and we now have enough font-sizing knowledge to create more sophisticated behaviors.

So our formula wonвЂ™t help us if some wise user makes the shape really thin. The font-size for this shape wonвЂ™t change with the Width of the shape, only the Height. So if we create a shape with 12pt font, that is 0.375 in tall, the formula would look like this: F 0 is the original font size at the time of design, and Height 0 is the original Height of the shape. ItвЂ™s located - aptly - in the Character section of the ShapeSheet. In mathematical-formula style (ie: pseudo-ShapeSheet-code), this looks like this:Д¬har.Size is the ShapeSheet cell that holds the font size for the shape. Okay, okay, enough theory already! What can we do to get our text to resize with our shapes?(!!!) Well, the easiest way to do this is to craft a ShapeSheet formula that compares the current height of the shape to an original height, and multiplies that by an original font size. If you are making a CAD drawing and have a circle with an вЂњAвЂќ in that represents some piece of equipment, you probably want the A to get bigger or smaller along with the symbol.Д«ut if youвЂ™re creating a flowchart, and you have a process box that needs a slightly longer description, youвЂ™d probably get angry if the font-size grew every time you stretched the shape! In this case, the box defines the limits of the paragraph, and the text inside is not symbolic or graphical. Okay, the question is often phrased more like вЂњWhy the heck doesnвЂ™t Visio resize my font size when I resize my shape?!!вЂќ For the user who needs that to happen at a particular time, it seems to make perfect sense, but itвЂ™s really a philosophical issue. So pull up a chair and a warm cup of coffeeвЂ¦

We see quite often in VisioвЂ™s newsgroups the question вЂњhow do I get my font size to change with the size of my shape?вЂќ WeвЂ™ll tackle that issue with some nifty ShapeSheet formulas, and a bit of philosophizing.

How to reduce page size in visio