More AutoCAD Options for Plotting success.

There are a few more settings in AutoCAD’s ‘OPTIONS’ dialogue which you may want to be aware of to make sure your plotting runs smoothly.

This post is a continuation of my previous post – An introduction to AutoCAD’s Plotting options

This post looks at the settings in AutoCAD’s ‘Options’ Dialogue – under the ‘Files’ tab, that may effect your plotting success.

To Access AutoCAD’s Plotting/File Options:

Go to Tools>Options

or

Right click over the command line and choose ‘Options’ from the short cut menu

or

Type ‘Options’ at the command line

Once you have the ‘Options’ Dialogue open, navigate your way to the ‘Files’ tab.

You should see something like the screen shot below (Click for a larger Image).

 The nodes under ‘Printer Support File Paths’ are:

‘Print Spooler File Location’

This is simply an location on your disk that Autocad will write out temporary plot files to, which will then be automatically be added to your printer’s print queue.

This is usually preset to be your ‘TEMP’ file. It’s fine to leave it as the default setting. Autocad should clear out these temporary plot files after it has finished with them, but it is good practice to make a note of this location and clear your Temp file out periodically.

‘Printer configuration Search Path’

This is where Autocad will look for your PC3 – Plot configuration files.

These files are Autocad’s own printer drivers that allow you to have different plot settings inside Autocad, compared to your usual windows software (More on setting these up next time). If you are on a corporate network this may be pointing at the server.

‘Printer Description Search Path’

This is where Autocad will look for PMP – Plotter description files.

These work hand in hand with your PC3 files, and can be used to limit the sizes of paper available to the plotter, or add custom sizes. This path may also be pointing at the server.

‘Plot Style Table Search Path’

This is where Autocad will look for it’s pen tables – CTB or STB files.

These files map the colour or style that you allocate to objects inside an Autocad file to the line weights plotted by your printer. Autocad comes with a range of standard pen tables.

You may have a corporate standard pen table which will be stored on your server. You may be required to use pen tables form other companies if you need to plot out their drawings as originally intended.

Once you’ve taken all this on board, I recommend that you look into Autocad’s page set ups!