Visio 2016 - Small line weights disappearing when zoomed out

[dsmall]

I just started having an issue with line weights lesser than .25pt disappearing when zoomed out.  I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the current drawing I am working on, driver issues, a windows update, or if I'm hitting a keyboard shortcut since I'm working from home using my kids gaming keyboard!  I've found that "repairing" the Visio install does not fix the issue, but uninstalling/reinstalling does fix it for a period of time.  Once the issue appears it is the same for any Visio file I open, old or new, so I'm thinking it is an application setting or issue.

In the attached snapshots the lines that disappear are .05pt, if I change them to .25pt they do show up better but seem to be "fuzzy".  Oddly changing the line weight to "0" restores the look that I expect, crisp and doesn't change when scaling the view.  Saving to PDF, which is the typical final step for my drawings, the lines show up as expected.  I've been using these weights for years with both 2010 and 2016 without issue. 

Has anyone else had this happen?

[vojo]

while I have never (20 years) ever tried <0.25pt (either 0.25 or more....or....no line), I would think its a
statement of graphics scaling.   Zooming out may need a high res monitor / graphics controller to show the faint of a line.

of course, you could explore the idea of using the zoom level to influence the line thickness in shapesheet or VBA
(trick visio to show lines if way out.....obviously, the danger is that some thick line at zoom out 10% overwhelms the drawing)

[wapperdude]

This might be of interest:  http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=7288.msg30729#msg30729

[dsmall]

Zooming out may need a high res monitor / graphics controller to show the faint of a line.

That is an interesting thought, my monitor situation while working from home is definitely different than in the office.  I still don't understand why everything is normal for me after an install but then after some time (days? hours? reboots?) everything changes.

As for the "why so small", I often import converted CAD or PDF shapes and those line weights are typically less than .25, so I started to standardize on .05 for certain things. 

Curious, what does Visio actually do with a "0" line weight?  In Visio I can zoom in and visually it seems to match the .05 or whatever the smallest Visio uses, but when saved to PDF it appears more like .25.

[dsmall]

I rechecked all my line weights and it seems like it is not just the very small weights.  In the clips I posted the dashed boxes are .25 and the detail flag is actually .75.  So it seems all lines are visually changed, its just the smallest become almost invisible.

[wapperdude]

Using V2019, a monitor with good resolution:  MultiSync EA244WMi @1920 x 1200, NVidia GTX 1050 Ti driver, I cannot replicate this behavior.

I drew 3 lines with widths of : 0.25 pt, 0.125 pt, and 0 pt.

There is a zoom a zoom out threshold where all of the lines appear to have the same visual thickness.  But, all lines remain visible until the image is so small I can barely see it.

When I zoom in, below the threshold, then various widths become distinguishable.  The 0.25pt and 0.125pt lines hit their designated thicknesses and do not change after that.  The 0 pt line just continues to shrink.

Saving as PDF has a different behavior.  The 0 pt line is set to some default size.  Zooming out does not cause the lines to disappear.  There is some threshold beyond which all lines have same visual thickness.  Below that, the 0 pt line is always the heaviest of these three.

Anyway, these are my observations.  Within Visio, I imagine both the display, display settings, and driver have a strong impact.  Going to PDF changes this dynamic. 

[andrew solar]

 I don't have a solution but this sounds very similar to a problem I have had before (it corrected itself) and one I am currently experiencing for over a month now. I posted about it here but haven't been able to fix it. 

The lines are so dull and gray and seemingly thin (although I have not changed any settings and it applies to any file I open even ones that are a year old) that I have had to turn up the weight up to 1.00 just to work on anything and even then it is still less visible than it should be when zoomed out.

  One of my colleagues has had the same problem but it self-corrected like it had for me in the past.  I feel your frustration.

[dsmall]

Interesting, I'm actually glad to hear I'm not the only one even if there is no solution yet!  My current procedure is deal with it until it drives me crazy, uninstall/reinstall, enjoy the normal view for a few days until it changes, then repeat.

Curious, any chance you or your colleague has this happen while using remote desktop? That seems to be the only thing I'm doing differently recently.

[dsmall]

Although I don't consider my issue resolved, I have started to use a line weight of "0" for my shapes and that has been working great as Visio always keeps the lines visible no matter the zooming.  printing and drawings saved to pdf are all very crisp and clear.  I found that a manufacturer (Middle Atlantic Products) has used a line weight of 0 for their shapes all this time and I didnt know it.  Im curious though, does anyone know what Visio is actually doing with a line weight of 0?

[tjandt]

I am experiencing the exact same problem, and just tried the line weight to zero 'fix'.

Works like a charm.  Exactly the workaround I needed to keep my business going!  Sadly, that also means updating over 100 drawings I've been doing over the years!

[dsmall]

I know this is an older post but still curious if anyone has found another workaround for Visio 2016 and newer not scaling line weights the same as 2003?  I no longer use the 0 pt fix because although I can see the lines clearly, I found that when saving to a PDF the lines are converted to 1pt and I loose detail when printing.