I don't understand what it means to assign a scale to print view

I am new to CAD and drawings in general.
I don't understand what it means to assign a scale to print view
I've read where people assign a scale for print view in order to get the image to fit the page.
I don't really understand where this is done.

I see the pulldown menu for (edit, current drawing preferences, general scale) but this only seems to change the size of my dimensionless text and nothing else.


Can someone please explain how to set the correct scale. I'm currently using the defaults on a Letter sized paper just for learning.

My image is on the page and prints.
I just don't understand what the scale means or what print view scale means.

When you set the print view scale, where ever that is, does this mean it sets the scale of the document so that you can use a ruler to measure out on the document itself ? such as 1"=50' or some such thing. ?

Please advise on this subject please
Thanks

In CAD you draw in real world units. Scaling to a paper-appropriate size is done in the printing process. Go to File - Print preview. There is a menu bar that changes it's content according to the actions happening.

Here you can set the scale, for instance 1:1, drawn the same size as the real thing, or 1:10, drawn a tenth the real size, or 1"=50', 1 inch in the drawing represents 50 feet of the real world.
Also the paper size set in the current drawing preferences is shown here. With "center to page" the drawing in the set scale is shifted to the middle of the sheet, you can also do this manually by the mouse. With "fit to page" a page filling scale is automatically set, but will be somewhere, outside of standards.

There is no such thing as scale bar to be found in LC, you will have to make it yourself or seek in the net for it.

dellus