Change the scale of a CAD drawing

In Visio you can change the scale of a CAD drawing that was saved in model space, but you cannot change the scale of a drawing saved in paper space. Paper space drawings can also be slower to pan or resize within Visio.

1. Right-click the CAD drawing, point to CAD Drawing Object, and then click Properties.

2. Click the General tab, and then select a scale setting using one of the following methods:

   • If you want to drag shapes onto a CAD drawing, click Pre-defined scale, and then click Page Scale. This sets the CAD drawing to the same scale as the Microsoft Office Visio drawing so that Visio shapes scale correctly on the CAD drawing.

   • If you want to set a specific industry-standard scale and won't be dragging shapes to the drawing, click Pre-defined scale, and then click an industry standard and a specific scale.

   • To create your own scale, click Custom scale, and then type a scale. (When you first insert a CAD drawing into a Visio page, Visio assigns it a custom scale so that it fits on the page.)

3. Verify the size of the CAD drawing on the Visio drawing page by looking at the preview image. If the CAD drawing does not fit on the Visio drawing page, specify a smaller drawing scale.

4. To accept your changes, click OK.