When you want to use a Visio diagram as a display, or pin it up so team members can get a good look at it, a regular letter-size or even legal-size printout won't do. Fortunately, no matter what size drawing page you created your diagram on, you can print it on tabloid-size or even plotter-size paper.

For example, this organization chart, which was originally created on a regular letter-size drawing page, can be printed on a plotter to fill a page 34 inches (86 cm) wide by 22 inches (56 cm) tall.

There are two steps involved in printing a diagram to a larger size:

• Set up the printer.
• Fit the contents of the drawing page to the larger paper.

If you already have a printer driver installed for a printer that handles plotter or tabloid-size paper, go directly to the section about fitting the drawing contents to the paper.

Set up the printer

To use a printer that handles plotter or tabloid-size paper, you must have a driver installed for that printer.

To install a printer driver

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Under Printer Tasks, click Add a printer.
3. Follow the instructions in the Add Printer Wizard.

Fit your diagram to the paper size

The following steps are involved in fitting a Visio diagram to a larger paper size:

• Choose a printer that supports the paper size you want to print on.
• Set your diagram to fit on one printed page.
• Choose the paper size.
• If necessary, manually adjust the size of the drawing page to reduce white space on the printed page.

To fit the drawing page contents to the paper

1. On the File menu, click Page Setup.
2. On the Print Setup tab, click the Setup button.
3. At the bottom of the Print Setup dialog box, click the Printer button. Choose the printer that supports the large paper size you want, and then click OK.
4. In the Print Setup dialog box, under Print zoom, click Fit to 1 sheet across by 1 sheet down.

   Optional: Under Small drawings, select the Center horizontally and Center vertically check boxes, and then click OK.

5. On the Print Setup tab, choose the paper size you want, and then click OK.
6. On the File menu, click Print Preview to see how the diagram will print on the paper.
7. To remove extra white space so the diagram fills up more of the printed page, click Close in the Print Preview window to return to the drawing page. Position the cursor at the edge of the page and hold down the CTRL key. When the pointer changes to a two-headed arrow, drag each edge of the drawing page until it extends just beyond the drawing content.

   

8. Repeat Steps 6 and 7 until the preview window matches the printed result you want, and then click Print.
9. Because you have modified the drawing page size in Visio, save the file with a new name so you will still have the original, unadjusted file.

Note  If you are working with a scaled diagram (for example, a diagram in which 1 cm on the drawing page equals 1 m in the real world), you may want to print it at a specific percentage rather than fitting it to a page. To do this, follow Steps 1 through 6 above, but, in Step 4, click Adjust to and then type the percentage you want.