Publish Dialog Box

Specifies drawing sheets that you can assemble, reorder, rename, copy, and save for publishing as a multi-sheet drawing set.

You can publish the drawing set to a DWF, DWFx, or PDF file or send it to the plotter named in the page setup for hard-copy output or as a plot file. You can save this list of drawing sheets as a DSD (Drawing Set Descriptions) file. Saved drawing sets can replace or be appended to the current list for republishing.

List of Options

The following options are displayed.

Sheet List

Displays the current drawing set (DSD) or batch plot (BP3) file.

Load Sheet List Button

Displays the Load Sheet List dialog box (a standard file selection dialog box), in which you can select a DSD file or a BP3 (Batch Plot) file to load. Displays the Replace or Append dialog box if a list of drawing sheets is present in the Publish Drawing Sheets dialog box. You can either replace the existing list of drawing sheets with the new sheets or append the new sheets to the current list.

Save Sheet List Button

Displays the Save List As dialog box (a standard file selection dialog box), in which you can save the current list of drawings as a DSD file. DSD files are used to describe lists of drawing files and selected lists of layouts within those drawing files.

Publish To:

Defines how to publish the list of sheets. You can publish to a multi-sheet DWF, DWFx, or PDF file (an electronic drawing set) or to the plotter specified in the page setup (a paper drawing set or a set of plot files).

Plotter Named in Page Setup

Indicates that the output devices given for each drawing sheet in the page setup will be used.

DWF, DWFx, and PDF

Selects the output file format: DWF, DWFx, or PDF.

PDF Preset

Loads publish options from a plotter configuration file containing settings preconfigured to generate PDF files meant for a specific purpose. The name of the PDF preset typically indicates its purpose.

Automatically Load All Open Drawings

When selected, the contents of all open documents (layouts and/or model space) are automatically loaded in the publish list. When not selected, only the current document’s contents are loaded in the publish list.

List of Sheets Buttons

Add Sheets Button

Displays the Select Drawings dialog box (a standard file selection dialog box), in which you can select drawings to add to the list of drawing sheets. The layout names from those files are extracted, and one sheet is added to the list of drawing sheets for each layout and model.

The initial drawing sheet names are constructed from the base drawing name and the layout name or the word Model separated by a dash (-).

Remove Sheets Button

Deletes the selected drawing sheets from the list of sheets.

Move Sheet Up Button

Moves the selected drawing sheets up one position in the list.

Move Sheet Down Button

Moves the selected drawing sheets down one position in the list.

Preview Button

Displays the drawing as it appears when plotted on paper by executing the PREVIEW command. To exit the print preview and return to the Publish dialog box, press ESC, press ENTER, or right-click and then click Exit on the shortcut menu.

Note: The Preview button is inactive when a sheet includes a 3D DWF page setup. (Not applicable to AutoCAD LT)

Sheets to Publish

Contains the list of drawing sheets to be included for publishing. Click the page setup column to change the sheet’s settings. Use the shortcut menu to add sheets or make other changes to the list.

Sheet Name

Combines the drawing name and the layout name with a dash (-). Includes the Model tab only if the Include Model When Adding Sheets option is selected. You can copy sheets by clicking Copy Selected Sheets on the shortcut menu. You can change the name shown in Sheet Name by clicking Rename Sheet on the shortcut menu. Drawing sheet names must be unique within a single DWF, DWFx, or PDF file. The shortcut menu also provides an option for removing all the sheets from the list.

Note: The drawing sheets that populate the Sheets to Publish list are controlled by the PUBLISHALLSHEETS system variable.

Page Setup / 3D DWF

Displays the named page setup for the sheet. You can change the page setup by clicking the page setup name and selecting another page setup from the list. Only Model tab page setups can be applied to Model tab sheets, and only paper space page setups can be applied to paper space layouts. Select Import to import page setups from another DWG file through the Import Page Setups for Publishing dialog box (a standard file selection dialog box).

You have the option to set the page setup for model space sheets to 3D DWF or 3D DWFx. The 3D DWF option is not available for layout entries in the sheet list.

Note: 3D DWF and DWFx files are not available in AutoCAD LT.

Status

Displays the status of the sheet when it is loaded to the list of sheets.

Show Details

Displays and hides the Selected Sheet Information and Selected Page Setup Information areas.

Selected Sheet Details

Displays the following information about the selected page setup: plot device, plot size, plot scale, and details.

Publish Options Information

Displays a summary of the currently selected publish options.

Location

Specifies the folder to create DWF, DWFx and PDF files. This option is available if you choose Plotter named in page setup in the Publish to: box. If the page setup of any of the sheets in the list of sheets are setup to plot to DWF, DWFx or PDF, they are created in the specified folder.

Publish Options/ Sheet Set Publish Options

Opens a dialog box, using which you can customize the settings for the plotter selected in the Publish to box. This button is named Sheet Set Publish Options when you invoke the Publish dialog box from the Sheet Set Manager. This button is named Publish Options when you invoke the Publish dialog box from elsewhere.

Publish Output

Number of Copies

Specifies the number of copies to publish. If the Publish to DWF, DWFx, or PDF option is selected, the Number of Copies setting defaults to 1 and cannot be changed. If a sheet's page setup specifies to plot to file, then the number set in this option is ignored and a single plot file is created.

Precision

Optimizes the dpi of DWF, DWFx, and PDF files for your field: manufacturing, architecture or civil engineering. Or you can configure a custom precision preset in the Precision Presets Manager.

This setting overrides the dpi setting in the .PC3 driver. This option is grayed out if no file type is selected in the Publish to: drop-down list.

Note: The precision override is not applied to model sheets that are exported to 3D DWF. (Not applicable to AutoCAD LT)

Include Plot Stamp

Places a plot stamp on a specified corner of each drawing and logs it to a file. The plot stamp data is specified in the Plot Stamp Dialog Box.

While this check box remains active for sheets that are set for 3D DWF publishing, no plot stamp is added to 3D DWF or 3D DWFx files even if the check box is checked. (Not applicable to AutoCAD LT)

Plot Stamp Settings

Displays the Plot Stamp Dialog Box, in which you can specify the information, such as drawing name and plot scale, that you want applied to the plot stamp

Publish in Background

Toggles background publishing for the selected sheet/s.

You can also set the background publishing in the Plot and Publish tab of the Options dialog box (OPTIONS command). Select the Publishing checkbox in the Background processing options group.

Send the Sheets to the Plotter in Reverse Order

When selected, sends sheets to the plotter in reverse of default order. This option is available only if the Plotter Named in Page Setup option is selected.

Open in Viewer when Done

When publishing completes, the DWF, DWFx or PDF file will open in a viewer application.

Publish

Starts the publishing operation. Creates one or more single-sheet DWF, DWFx, or PDF files or a single multi-sheet DWF, DWFx, or PDF file, or plots to a device or file, depending on the option selected in the Publish To area and the options selected in the Publish Options dialog box.

To display information about the published drawing set, including any errors or warnings, click the Plotting Details Report Available icon in the status tray on the right side of the status bar. Clicking this icon displays the Plot and Publish Details dialog box, which provides information about your completed plot and publish jobs. This information is also saved to the Plot and Publish log file. The shortcut menu for this icon also provides an option to view the most recently published DWF, DWFx, or PDF file.