Enhancements to printing in Visio 2002 (285183)

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Application Default Printer vs. Drawing Default Printer

In versions of Visio that are earlier than Visio 2002, Visio drawings are targeted at a printer. Information about the printer is stored in the drawing. The information about the drawing is used to determine how Visio renders certain drawing elements. In Visio 2002, this information is no longer necessary. In Visio 2002, the drawing is printed just like it is displayed on screen. In Visio 2002, you do not have to adjust the display to match what print is printed.

In Visio 2002, when you open a drawing that was created in an earlier version of Visio, the target printer information in the drawing is ignored. If you save this drawing is saved in Visio 2002, the target printer information is cleared. If you open this same drawing in Visio 2000, Visio 2000 has to recompose the drawing. Visio 2000 uses the system default printer as the target printer. If you now save the drawing in Visio 2000 and then open the drawing in Visio 2002 again, the target printer information is again ignored.

Also, Visio 2002 does not store any information about a default printer for Visio to use. In Visio 2002, the target printer for any open drawing is the system default printer. If you change the target printer by clicking Print on the File menu, clicking a different printer, and then clicking either OK or Close, the selected printer will be the new target printer for all open drawings (unless you change it again). If you quit Visio and then start Visio again later, the target printer reverts to the system default printer.

Removal of Support for Printer-Resident Fonts

Visio 2002 no longer support fonts that are built into the printer itself (printer-resident fonts). In earlier versions of Visio, the target printer driver provides a list of fonts that are provided by the printer hardware. This list includes fonts that are resident in the printer's ROM. The list also includes fonts that are provided by font cartridges.

In earlier versions of Visio, there are typically no screen fonts that allow the display of text that is formatted with these printer-resident fonts on the screen. Therefore, Windows tries to determine which screen fonts most closely match the printer-resident fonts. For example, Windows matches a serif font with a Roman-style font, and Windows matches a non-serif font with a Helvetica-style font. Windows does not try to match specifics such as X height and descender depth. The screen fonts are used for screen display.

In earlier versions of Visio, Arial is used to display text that is formatted in Helvetica. Helvetica is a font that is resident in all PostScript printers. With the continued development of TrueType font technology and of OpenType font technology, it is no longer necessary to support printer-resident fonts. Therefore, support of printer-resident fonts has been discontinued in Visio 2002. Regardless of the printer that is selected, printer-resident fonts do not appear on the available font list. (There is one exception. Drawings from an earlier version appear on the available font list). The purpose of this change is to make text in Visio 2002 as WYSIWYG as possible. ( WYSIWYG is an abbreviation of "what you see is what you get.")

Support for Missing Printer-Resident Fonts

If a drawing contains text in a font that is not available on the current computer, Visio uses its default font (such as Arial) to display that text. This functionality is essentially the same as in Visio 2000. The only difference is that any printer-resident fonts in a drawing from an earlier version are always treated as missing fonts, even if the current target printer has those fonts built in. The font also will not appear with a small printer icon next to it in the font list.

Support for PostScript Soft Fonts

Because GDI+ does not natively support PostScript Type 1 soft fonts, Visio 2002 uses GDI for this functionality. However, unlike earlier versions, PostScript fonts are only supported if Adobe Type Manager (ATM) is installed and enabled. The only exception is Microsoft Windows 2000. Windows 2000 natively supports these fonts. ATM can still be installed on Windows 2000, but only the font management application is installed.