Batch Plotting Files

The batch plotting utility allows you to plot directly from a vault. Use the Plot Manager dialog to build and manage large plot lists and to submit any number of plot jobs to a plotter or printer. The progress of submitted jobs is tracked using the Plot Monitor dialog. CAD files, Microsoft Office files, text files, and any other file type stored in the vault can be added to a plot list. Individual sheets from file formats that support sheets can be added to the list as well.

Learn about the Plot Command and the Plot Manager

The Plot command is accessed from the File menu and is also available on the main toolbar. Files are added to the plot list through the Plot Manager dialog box. Any revision of any file can be added to the list. Select files from the History tab, the Where Used tab, or the Uses tab to create a plot list.

The Plot Manager dialog box enables you to manage the list of files to be plotted. Files can be added to the plot list or excluded from the list, the number of copies for each file in the list can be specified, and a printing device for each file in the plot list can be selected in the Plot Manager dialog. Individual sheets from within files that support sheets can be excluded from the list, as well, allowing you to print only the necessary sheets from a file. The page setup for each file can also be specified.

Each row in the Plot Manager dialog represents a file or sheet in the plot list. Plot lists can be saved, so you can create a list of commonly plotted files that can be opened and printed at any time. The plot list is organized by the following columns:

Note: The plot list can be sorted by any of the columns, allowing you to sort files and sheets by the size of the output, the device, and so on. Click on a column header to sort the list by the values in that column.

The Page Setup section of the Plot Manager enables you to view the default page setting for a file or create custom page settings. The Details pane displays a sample of the selected sheet using the current page settings. If the selected file has a .dwf file associated with it, the preview dynamically updates to reflect the page setup options. If no .dwf file exists, the preview is a static thumbnail image.

Batch Plot Files from a Vault

  1.  Access the Plot Manager dialog box by performing any of these steps:
  2. Select File > Plot. The plot Manager dialog is displayed with an empty plot list.
  3. Click Plot in the main toolbar.
  4. Select a folder or file(s) from the main grid or any of the main view tabs and click Plot in the main toolbar. The selected folder or file(s) are automatically added for plotting.
    Note: The leading revision is added for plotting unless a specific revision is selected from the History, Uses, or Where Used tab. A specific revision can also be selected from Searches.
  5. In the Plot Manager dialog box, click the Add drop-down and then select files, folders, items , or related sheets to add to the plot list. 

Assign a Plot Job Name

  • In the Plot Job Name field, enter a name for the plot list. By default, the plot list is named using the current date and time. The plot name is used to identify plot jobs in the plot monitor. 

Add or Remove Files and Sheets

Files and sheets can be added to an existing plot list or to an empty plot list.

  • In the Plot Manager dialog, click Actions and then select the source from which to add files or sheets.
    • Add Files: browse the vault for specific files to add to the list and select the revision to use. Any file type can be added. If a CAD file is selected, the file is examined to determine which sheets to add to the plot list.
    • Add Folders: browse the vault for a folder containing files to add to the list. If the selected folder contains subfolders, the contents of the subfolders are added as well.
      Note: Select the Get Revisions check box to select the newest released revisions available. Otherwise, the command gets the latest versions.
    • Add Related File Sheets: browse the vault for an assembly file or a part file. All the sheets for all of the drawings related to the assembly structure are added to the list. If a part file is selected, all of the drawings associated with the part are added to the plot list.

Files and sheets can be excluded from a plot list.

  • In the Plot Manager dialog, select a row and then click Exclude.

    For example, if a .dwg file is added that contains unwanted Model sheets, sort the plot list by the sheet column. Select the unwanted Model sheets and then click Exclude to eliminate them from the plot job.

    Note: Once a sheet is removed, the file must be re-added to re-add the sheet. 

Adjust the Order of a Plot List

  1. In the Plot Manager dialog box, select a file or sheet.
  2. Click Move Up to move the selected file or sheet higher in the list or click Move Down to move the selected file or sheet further down the list. Files and sheets are printed sequentially, starting at the top of the list.

    Note: Sheets can be moved independently of the files from which they originate. You can change the print order of any sheet in the list.

Review/Customize the Page Setup for Files and Sheets

By default, the page setup associated with each file is used for printing the file and related sheets. The page setup can be customized. If a file has no page setup associated with it, the computer's default plotting device is used with that plotting device's default settings.

Review the page setup

  • Select a file or sheet from the plot list. The default page settings are displayed below the file list. A preview of the selected file or sheet is also displayed.

Customize the page setup

Note: There are potentially many print settings for any one file. The Page Setup section contains only common settings. 
  1. Select one or more files or sheets from the plot list.
  2. Select a Page Setup for the file(s).
  3. Select an output device for the file(s).
  4. Select a page size for the file(s).
  5. Select an orientation for the printed output.
  6. Specify black and white, gray scale, or color output.
  7. Specify the scale of the output.

If a .dwf file is available for the selected file, a true preview of the printed output is displayed. If no .dwf file is available, a static thumbnail of the file is displayed.

You can apply a plotting device to be used for multiple sheets at the same time. For example, you can sort the plot list by sheet size, select all of the files with the same sheet size and then specify the plotting device to use for that selection of files.

Note: Click Details in the toolbar to hide the Page Setup and Details section. It is displayed by default.

Submit a Plot List

  1. Once you have created a plot list, click Submit.
  2. If one or more of the files in the list are out of date, that is, the version is not the latest version in the vault, you are prompted whether or not to continue. If you want to refresh the list to plot only the latest versions, click No and then refresh the plot list. Click Yes to plot the list using the file versions originally selected for the list.
  3. You are prompted to save the current plot list. Click Yes to save the plot list and then begin processing the list or Click No to not save the list, but still begin processing the list.
  4. If any data files have out-of-date visualization files or non-compliant properties, a dialog is displayed listing those data files and you are prompted to chose whether or not to continue. It is recommended that you resolve any non-compliant files.
    • Click No to correct the non-compliant visualization files and properties before proceeding.
    • Click Yes to continue with the operation using the out-of-date visualization files and non-compliant properties.

Once submitted, an animated plotting icon is displayed in the lower right corner of the window indicating that the plot list is being processed. Click the processing icon and then select Monitor Plot Jobs to launch the Plot Monitor dialog box.

Save a Plot List

Note: The plot list is saved on the local hard drive. The selected revisions of the files and sheets in the list are also stored. When a saved plot list is opened and submitted, the file revisions originally added to the list are printed.
  1. In the Plot Manager dialog, select File > Save As.
  2. In the Save As dialog, specify a location and file name for the plot list.

    Note: By default, the name of the file is the same as the Plot Job Name.

  3. Click Save. The plot list is saved as an .xml file.

Open a Plot List

  1. Select File > Plot or click Plot in the main toolbar. If no file was previously selected, the Plot Manager dialog is displayed with an empty plot list. If a file was selected when the Plot Manager was started, that file is displayed in the plot list.
  2. In the Plot Manager dialog box, select File > Open List.
  3. In the Open dialog, select a saved plot list to open and then click Open.

    Note: Opening a plot list overwrites any files in the current plot list. Plotting a saved list will plot the versions revisions of the files and sheets that were added to the original list. To update the revisions to the latest, click Refresh.

Refresh a Plot List

When a previously save plot list is opened, that plot list prints all the same files and revisions originally captured in the list. The Refresh command detects when a list contains one or more older versions of the selected revisions and then gets the latest version of each file in the list. It will also determine if the visualization file needs to be updated.

  • From the toolbar, click Refresh.
Note: Any sheets explicitly excluded by the user remain excluded. If new sheets have been added to files in the list, the sheets are added as excluded.

Create a New Plot List

A new plot list can be started from the Plot Manager dialog.

  • Select File > New List. You are prompted to save your current list. Click Yes to save the current list before starting a new list or click No to discard the changes to the current list and begin a new list.

View the Data Source for a Plot List

The data source dialog allows the user to view which source objects were responsible for adding the files to a plot list.

  1. Select View > Data Source.

    The Data Source dialog displays the files as children to the objects responsible for adding them to the list. Possible reasons for a file being added to the plot list are:

    • An assembly was selected for plotting and the files is a member of the assembly.
    • A folder was added for plotting and the files is contained within the folder.
    • The file itself was selected for plotting.
  2. Click Add and select additional files, folders, or assemblies as sources.
  3. Click Remove to delete a file from the plot list. If you select a master node and click Remove, then that source and all files which consider it to be a source are removed from the plot list.
  4. Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog.

Specify Plot Job Options

Options that affect the entire plot job can be set using the Plot Options dialog box available from the Edit menu in the Plot Manager dialog box.

  1. In the Plot Manager dialog box, select Edit > Options
  2. In the Plot Options dialog box, the Plot Using Visualization Files check box is turned on by default. When this check box is turned on, the visualization files (either .dwf or .dwfx) that are created when CAD files are checked into a vault are sent to the specified device instead of the native CAD data. This significantly reduces the processing time for plot jobs. If no visualization file exists, the native CAD file is used. If visualization files are available, then the native CAD application is not needed for processing the files, meaning that a CAD license is not needed to print.
  3. Turn on the Include plot stamp check box to add a configurable information stamp to the plotted output. Click Configure to specify plot stamp settings.

  4. A custom watermark can be added to the background of every plot. Select one of these options:

    • Select a property from which to draw the text for the watermark from the Property-based watermark drop-down list. Click Configure to specify watermark options.
    • Select Custom Watermark and then enter text to use for the watermark. The watermark can consist of up to 256 alphanumeric characters. Click Configure to specify watermark options.
  5. Click OK.

Specify Plot Stamp Options

  1. In the Plot Manager dialog box, select Edit ► Options.
  2. Turn on the Include plot stamp check box to add a configurable information stamp to the plotted output. Click Configure to specify plot stamp settings.
  3. In the Plot Stamp Settings dialog box, select which stamp fields to include:
    • File Name: the name of the file (on by default)
    • Sheet Name: the name of the sheet from within the file
    • Date and Time: the date and time that the file or sheet was printed (on by default)
    • User Name: Autodesk Data Management user account name.
    • Device Name: the name of the printing device
    • Paper Size: the size of the paper
    • Plot Scale: the scale of the drawing (on by default)

      The selected stamp fields are printed linearly, in order, separated by commas

  4. From the drop-down list, specify the location for the plot stamp:
    • Top Right (default)
    • Top Left
    • Bottom Right
    • Bottom Left
  5. From the drop-down list, select the orientation of the plot stamp:
    • Vertical (default)
    • Horizontal
  6. From the drop-down list, select a font for the stamp.
  7. From the drop-down list, select a color for the stamp.
  8. Three sizes are available: small, medium, and large. From the drop-down list, select a size for the stamp.
  9. Click OK.

Specify Plot Watermark Options

The watermark will appear on every sheet in the list.

  1. In the Plot Manager dialog box, select Edit ► Options.
  2. Select Custom Watermark and then enter the text to use for the watermark. The watermark can consist of up to 256 alphanumeric characters.
  3. Click Configure.
  4. In the Custom Watermark Settings dialog box, select a location for the watermark, either in the center of the page or on the border of the drawing.
  5. Select an orientation for the watermark on the page, either diagonal or horizontal. If Border is selected as the location of the watermark, the orientation of the watermark is automatically set to Horizontal.
  6. From the drop-down list, select a font for the watermark.
  7. From the drop-down list, select a color for the watermark.
  8. Three sizes of watermark are available: small, medium, and large. From the drop-down list, select a size for the watermark.
  9. Click OK.

Monitor Plot Jobs

The Plot Monitor dialog box tracks the processing of the sheets before they are sent to the device. The list displays the order of the sheets in the plot job and tracks the progress of each sheet. Using the Plot Monitor dialog box, you can pause, stop, or continue processing plot jobs. Once files are sent to a printer or plotting device, use the Windows print manager to track the status of the output.

Each row in the Plot Manager represents a file or sheet from the plot list submitted using the Plot Manager. If multiple plot jobs have been submitted, the files and sheets for each job are grouped together by the job name. The sheet that is currently being processed is highlighted with a green border. A file or sheet that did not print is displayed in red text.

The list is organized by the following columns:

Monitor Plot Jobs

Once a plot list is submitted from the Plot Manager, an animated plotting icon is displayed in the lower right corner of the window indicating that the plot list is being processed.

  • Click the processing icon and then select Monitor Plot Jobs to launch the Plot Monitor dialog box.  

The Plot Monitor dialog tracks the processing of the sheets before they are sent to the device. The plot list displays the order of the sheets in the plot job and tracks the progress and status of each sheet. The list displays the order of the sheets in the plot job and tracks the progress of each sheet. Using the Plot Monitor dialog box, you can pause, stop, or continue processing plot jobs. Once files are sent to a printer or plotting device, use the Windows print manager to track the status of the output.

Stop, Pause, and Restart Plot Jobs

  • Once submitted, the only way to cancel a plot job is to use the Plot Monitor dialog. Click Stop to permanently cancel processing plot jobs. The file currently being processed is finished before the plot job is cancelled. If more than one batch plot job has been submitted, you are prompted to select either the job currently being processed or all plot jobs.
Note: Once stopped, a batch plot job cannot be restarted. To process a plot list that has been stopped, the plot list must be re-submitted from the Plot Manager dialog.
  • Click Pause to temporarily hold processing plot jobs. The file currently being processed is finished before pausing the job. The next sheet in the list is displayed with a blinking red arrow and outline to indicate that the job is paused. Jobs that are paused can be restarted again. You can pause the processing to check the status of a printer or plotting device before sheets are sent to it or to temporarily free up resources on the computer.  
  • Click Start to continue processing a batch plot job that has been paused. Processing picks up where it left off when the job was paused.

Export the Plot Monitor List

 The list of files and sheets and their current status displayed in the Plot Monitor can be exported to a number of different file formats. This allows you to quickly create plot reports.

  1. Select File > Export.
  2. In the Save As dialog box, specify a location and a file name for the exported list.
  3. From the Save as type drop-down list, select the type of file to export the list as:
    • Excel spreadsheet (.xls)
    • HTML file (.html)
    • Text file (.txt)
    • XML file (.xml)
  4. Click Save.
Parent topic: General Vault Tasks