How big is the handwriting on a Scribble card?
A short note starts with a 3.5 mm capital-height target. That measures the centerline of the pen path; the ink adds a little to the visible height. Longer messages step down to fit, with a separate check that keeps the lowercase body between 1.3 and 2.4 mm. A style with unusually tall capitals may need an adjustment to keep its lowercase letters readable. Every card in a campaign uses one size that fits the merged messages.
On this page
The message composer chooses the size from your words, the handwriting and the available space. Its letter-height readout describes the body of a lowercase letter such as n. Capitals, ascenders and descenders extend beyond that measurement. The preview keeps the card proportions, but its physical size on your screen depends on your device and zoom.
#How the size is chosen
The capital-height targets are 3.5, 3.2, 3.0, 2.8, 2.6 and 2.4 mm. The fitter tries the largest first and checks the full message against the writing area. It adjusts a target where needed to keep the lowercase body within the supported 1.3–2.4 mm range.
There is no reliable words-to-millimeters table: a long name, a blank line or a wider handwriting can change what fits. A short note leaves space on the card. If the message cannot fit at a supported size, the composer asks you to shorten it.
#Why the whole batch is one size
A campaign merges a different message for every recipient. A long company name may need more space than a short one, so the batch is checked together and uses one writing size that fits every message.
That is worth knowing when one recipient's merged message is much longer than the rest: it pulls the whole run down a step. The check on the message step reports the size the batch landed on, and the blocked-row table names any single row that is the reason.
#What the message step tells you
| It says | It means |
|---|---|
| 1.8 mm letters · 6 lines, in green | The lowercase body is about 1.8 mm tall. The message fits at the largest size chosen for this handwriting. |
| 1.4 mm letters · 12 lines, in amber | Long enough that the handwriting has come down to fit. Shortening the message may let it use a larger size. |
| will not fit, in red | The message exceeds the writing area at the smallest supported size. Shorten it before sending. |
#Common questions
- Can I choose the size myself?
- The message composer chooses it automatically. You can change the handwriting or shorten the message, then check the preview again.
- Does a different handwriting change the size?
- It can. Styles have different widths, capital heights and loops. The fitter uses each style's measured proportions and may choose a smaller size for a wider hand. The lowercase readout describes one part of the letters, so it does not promise that two styles will look identical in size.
- Is the picture on screen the real size?
- The preview is scaled to your screen. It uses the card geometry and handwriting paths to show the layout, but device size and zoom change how large it looks. Use it to check the message and placement; send a sample to judge the physical size. Letter shapes vary between cards.
- What is the hard limit on a message?
- 500 characters, before merge fields are filled in. That is a backstop rather than the real constraint: whether a message fits depends on the words and the hand, which is what the size readout measures. See limits.
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