General procedure for printing

Commands: PLOT, PRINT, QPRINT, PAGESETUP, PUBLISH

The Plot command plots drawings to printers and to files, through prompts at the command bar; this command is meant for scripts and routines.

The Print command prints drawings to plotters and files through a dialog box.

The Qprint command prints the drawing with the default plot configuration, without displaying the Print dialog box (short for "quick print").

The PageSetup command creates and edits page setups for plotting drawings in the Drawing Explorer.

Printing a layout

Creating page setups and layouts

A standard print procedure consists of the following steps:

Choose either a Layout tab or the Model tab.
Do one of the following to open the Print dialog:
- Choose Print in the File menu.
- Type print in the command bar, then press Enter.
- Press Ctrl + P
Select a Page Setup name. (1)

The following steps are optional and only necessary if you want to use overrides on the selected page setup definition.

Choose a Printer or Plotter Configuration. (2)
Choose a Plot style table. (3)
Choose a Paper Size. (4)
The image reflects the position and orientation of the drawing on the selected paper size.
Choose the Paper Units. (5)
Choose the Drawing Orientation.(6)
Define the Plot offset. (7)
Specify the Area to plot. (8)
Define the Plot Scale. (9)
Check the Plot Options. (10)
When printing model space, choose a Shade Plot mode. (11)
This option is disabled when printing a paper space layout.
Check/uncheck the Print to file option (12)
Specify the Number of copies. (13)
Click the Preview button to see a preview of the plot output.
When in a layout, click the Apply button to update the layout.
Click the Print button to start printing.

NOTE	All print settings and options are saved in the Model and each of the Layouts.

To open the Print dialog

Do one of the following:

Choose Print... in the File menu.
Type print in the command bar, then press Enter.

NOTE	If you click the Print () button in the Standard toolbar, the Qprint command is launched, which will start printing the currently selected view tab using previously saved print settings.

To choose the paper size

Press the down arrow, then select the paper size in the Paper Size list.

The available sizes depend on the selected printer.

To choose the paper units

Select either Inches or Millimeters.

The paper size image indicates the size, position and orientation of the plot area on the selected paper size.

NOTE	The Scale and Plot offset setting units are changed according to the chosen Paper units.

To choose the paper orientation

Select either Portrait or Landscape.

Portrait: The drawing or layout x-axis is aligned with the shortest edge of the selected paper size.
Landscape: The drawing or layout x-axis is aligned with the longest edge of the selected paper size.

The paper size image changes accordingly.

When in a layout, click the Apply button to update the display.

To define the plot offset

Select either Center on page

type the plot offset in the X: and Y: fields.

The offset is calculated from the bottom left corner of the paper.

When in a layout, click the Apply button to update the display.

To specify the area to plot

Option	Result
View	Prints the portion of the drawing that displays in the current viewport or a saved view.
Extents	Prints all entities in the drawing
Limits	Prints to the limits defined in the drawing This option is only available when printing in Model space.
Layout	Prints the current layout. This option is only available when printing in Paper space.
Window	Prints the portion of the drawing contained in a user defined window, maintaining the aspect ratio of the windowed area to the drawing. Click the Select print area button (), then specify the two corners of the print area in the drawing. or Type the the X- and Y-coordinates of the corners of the print area in the X: and Y: fields.

To define the plot scale

NOTE	The SCALELISTEDIT command allows to edit the list of available scales in the Print dialog and the Standard Scale property of a paper space viewport.

... when printing in paper space:

If you print in paper space, the final scale of the plot output is the product of the viewport scale and the plot scale.

In order to keep control over the scale of the plot output:

Specify the width and height of the viewports in drawing units.
Set the scale of each viewport to the scale you want in the plot output.
The plot scale reflects the relationship between paper units and drawing units. (see table below)

Paper units	Drawing units	Plot scale	Printed Millimeters or Inches	Drawing Units
mm	mm	1:1	1	1
mm	cm	10:1	10	1
mm	m	1000:1	1000	1
inches	inches	1:1	1	1
inches	feet	12:1	12	1

... when printing in model space:

If you print in model space, the scale of the plot output equals the plot scale, on condition your drawing units equal the paper units. Otherwise you need to multiply the plot scale with respect to the relationship between paper units and drawing units. E.g. if you want to plot at a 1/50 scale in a drawing of which 1 DU = 1 cm, the plot scale = 1/5, if 1 DU = 1 m the plot scale = 20/1 or 1/0.05

To set the plot options

Click to toggle the plot options On / Off.

Option	Result
Plot object lineweights	If Plot with plot styles is off, object lineweights are plotted.
Plot with plot styles	Settings of the assigned STB or CTB file are used.
Plot paperspace last	Entities in Model space are plotted first, paperspace entities last.
Save changes to layout	All changes made in the Print dialog are saved in the layout. This option toggles the Save changes to layout variable
Plot stamp	Adds a header and / or footer. Click the Edit plot stamp button () to define the plot stamp.
Hide paperspace objects	Removes hidden lines from 3D entities in paper space. This option is disabled when printing model space.

To set the shade plot mode

Under Shade viewport options, click the list button, then select an option:

NOTE	This option applies to model space printing only. The Shade Plot mode of a paper space viewport is defined in the Shade Plot property of the viewport.

To define the plot stamp

Click the Edit plot stamp button ().
The Plot stamp dialog opens.
In the Header field, do one of the following:
Type the header text.
Click the down arrow button, then choose a variable in the drop down list.
Type one or more variable names.
Leave the field empty.

In the Footer field, do one of the following:

Type the footer text.
Click the down arrow button, then choose a variable in the drop down list.
Type one or more variable names.
Leave the field empty.

Select a font in the Font list button.
Enter a value in the Font Size field
Set the unit type to Millimeters or Inches.
Click the OK button to confirm.

The plot stamp settings are saved to a series of user preferences in the current user profile, which can be edited in the Settings dialog under Program Options / Plot and Publish / Plot Stamp:

Variables

Name	Description
$Name	Adds the name of the current user, as definied in the User Name field of the License Information.
$Company	Adds company name of the current user, as definied in the Company field of the License Information.
$Date	Adds the current date.
$DateTime	Adds the current date and time.
$DwgName	Adds the file name and path of the drawing.

NOTE

The header and footer text consists of three parts (left, center and right), separated by commas.

By default the header and footer text is centered.

The header and footer text can be outlined left center and/or right by separating the text with commas.
e.g. $Name,$Company,$Date places your name left, company name centered and the current date at the right.

Type a space before one of the commas to leave one of the parts empty, thus outlining the header or footer left or right.

$Company, , ($Company,<space>,<space>) outlines the company name left.
, ,$Company (<space>,<space>,$Company) outlines the comapny name right.

To specify the number of copies

Do one of the following:

Type the desired number in the Number of copies field.
Click the up-arrow and the down-arrow buttons to specify the number of copies.

To see a preview of the plot output

Do one of the following:+
Click the Preview button on the Print or Page Setup dialogs.
Choose Print Preview... in the File menu.
Type preview in the command bar, then press Enter.

(option) Use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom. Double click the middle mouse button to zoom extents.

To close the Print Preview window, do one of the following:
Click the Close button to return to the drawing window.
Click the Print Settings... button to open the Print dialog.
Click the Print button to start printing.