Last updated July 28, 2026
Text on a drawing has to be sized for the plot, not for the model. Write 2.5 high text on a plan you intend to plot at 1:100 and it comes out at a fortieth of a millimetre on paper. The arithmetic is not hard — plotted height times scale factor — but doing it in your head every time you change scale is how drawings end up with four different text sizes on them.
TEXTSIZE does the sum for you and shows its working. It reports the drawing’s current unit style and scale, lets you change either, and sets the text height to match.
It is by Jeff Foster, dated 2 May 1997.
The author asks for ten dollars
Worth stating plainly since the listing says Free. The header carries a request rather than a licence condition: if you find the routine helpful, the author asks you to consider a ten dollar cash contribution, and gives a postal address in North Carolina to send it to.
There is no nag screen, no run limit and nothing that stops working — it is an honesty-box arrangement of the kind that was common in 1997. Given the age, treat the address as historical; we cannot tell you whether anyone is still there. But the request is in the file, and it seemed wrong not to mention it.
What it does in practice
It starts by telling you where you are. It reads the LUNITS system variable and reports your current unit style by name — scientific, decimal, engineering, architectural or fractional — then asks whether you want to change it, handing you AutoCAD’s UNITS dialog if you say yes.
Then it does the same for scale, reading DIMSCALE and reporting it in the form “1=50”. Again you can accept it or type a new one, and the prompt gives an example of the format it wants.
That two-step structure is the useful part. Most text-height calculators assume you already know your scale factor; this one shows you what the drawing currently thinks and gives you the chance to correct it first. On an inherited drawing where DIMSCALE was never set properly, that is often the actual problem.
Command reference
The file defines a single command, TEXTSIZE.
Note that TEXTSIZE is also the name of an AutoCAD system variable — the one holding the default height for new text. That is not a conflict in itself, because commands and system variables live in different namespaces, but it does mean you need to be clear about which you mean when you talk about it, and typing SETVAR TEXTSIZE and typing TEXTSIZE do quite different things.
How to load it
Unzip Textsize.zip and load textsize.lsp with APPLOAD, or add it to the Startup Suite. The author’s own instructions in the header suggest loading it from the command line with a full path, which works but is more typing than APPLOAD needs. Our AutoLISP guide covers the options.
Step-by-step usage
- Type TEXTSIZE. It reports the current unit style.
- Answer Y or N to changing the units. Y opens AutoCAD’s units settings.
- It reports the current scale as “1=” and a number. Answer Y or N to changing it.
- If you said yes, type the new scale in the form it asks for — 50 for 1=50.
- Use the resulting height for your text style, or check it against what your standard says the plotted height should be.
Compatibility notes
Dated 1997, so written-for rather than tested-on. It reads system variables and drives the UNITS command; the system variables have not changed, but UNITS became a dialog rather than a command-line sequence some releases ago, so the part that hands you the units settings may behave differently from what the author intended.
Plain AutoLISP with no dialog boxes of its own and no Express Tools calls, so nothing requires the full product; LT users on LT 2024 or later, the release that brought AutoLISP to LT, should be able to run it. See what runs on AutoCAD LT. It changes settings rather than geometry, so nothing you have drawn is at risk.
Download
| Name: | TEXTSIZE |
| Description: | The purpose of this routine is to allow the user to easily calculate text heights based upon a given scale. |
| Type: | AutoCAD AutoLISP Routine |
| Author: | Jeff Foster |
| File Size: | 2 Kb |
| Cost: | Free |
| Worked on: | AutoCAD |
| Download File: | Textsize.zip |
The Cost row reads Free because the download is free and nothing is withheld. As set out above, the author asks for a voluntary contribution.
Related routines
- CHT — force existing text to one style once you have the height sorted.
- VPTEXT — rescale existing text to a viewport scale.
- LLP Suite — includes text height and viewport scale commands.