General procedure for printing

Commands: PLOT, PRINT, QPRINT, PAGESETUP, PUBLISH, PLOTSTAMP

• 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.

A standard print procedure consists of the following steps:

• Choose either a Layout tab or the Model tab.

• Open the Print dialog.

• 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: On Mac or Linux, printing will always print to PDF. So a PDF document will be generated that then still needs to be sent to the printer for physical printing.
On MAC and Linux there is a relevant PAGESETUP command.

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.

• Press Ctrl+P

• Select the Model tab or a Layout tab, then right click and choose Print in the context menu.

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.

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

Or

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

To define the plot scale

... 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)

... 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.

To set the shade plot mode

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

To define the plot stamp

1. Click the Edit plot stamp button ().
   The Plot stamp dialog opens.
   
   
2. 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.
3. Define the X and Y offset for the header.
4. 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.
5. Define the X and Y offset for the footer.
6. Select a font in the Font list button.
7. Enter a value in the Font Size field
8. Set the unit type to Millimeters or Inches .
9. 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

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

1. 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.

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

3. 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.