Did you know there is any easy way to Import your AutoCAD page setups to your current drawing?
In this post I will show you how to re-reuse your company standard AutoCAD page setups, even when plotting other peoples drawings!
If you have followed the steps I outlined in my Introduction to AutoCAD Page Set ups, then you will have created a number of Page setups for your standard plots (i.e, A0, A1, Reduced to fit A3 e.t.c).
You will probably have saved these page setups in your template file, and placed the template file on the server for everyone to use.
But what if a Designer, Consultant, Subcontractor or Freelance drafter sends you a drawing that doesn’t have your Page setups in it? The good news is that importing and exporting Page setups is really very easy.
Importing Page Setups via the Plot Dialogue
A quick and easy way to import Page setups is via the Plot dialogue. Simply fire up the plot dialogue in your usual way, and from the ‘Page Setup’ drop down – pick ‘Import…’.
The ‘Select Page Setup from file’ dialog will open. Browse to the template file you want to import Page setups from, select the DWG, DWT or DXF file and click on ‘Open’.
The ‘Import Page Setups’ Dialogue will open. You will see a list of all the available Page Setups you can Import. Use the windows CTRL+Click and SHIFT+Click options to select which Page setups you want to Import and then click on the ‘OK’ Button – easy!
You can now pick on the required Page Setup from the ‘Page Setup’ drop down.
Importing page Setups Via the Page Setup Manager
You can also find the ‘Import’ Page Setups option in the Page Setup Manager dialog.
Importing Page Setups during the ‘Publish’ Command
You will also find the ‘Import’ page setups option under the ‘Page Setup’ drop down in the Publish Command.
Importing Page Setups Via a script
Finally, you can use a script or macro to import your Page Setups by using the command line version of the Page Setup command
If you enter ‘-psetupin’ at the Command prompt, the following prompts are displayed.
Enter file name:
Enter user defined page setup to import or [?]:
NB: Expert mode must be set to 2.
This will import the user defined page setup into your current file.
Page Setups save you time and effort
I hope to have demonstrated that creating a set of company standard Page setups will save you and your colleagues time and effort – every time you plot one of your drawings or someone else’s drawings!
To find out more about Plotting with AutoCAD read AutoCAD Plotting 101