Need Batch Plot Your AutoCAD Drawings to Several Plotters at Once?

I saw Shaan Hurley (@mrcadman) asked his followers, whether they already aware that: using page setup allows them to publish to different plotter. I know that we can do that, but then I’m thinking: can we send the AutoCAD sheets to different printers/plotters at once? After playing with it for a while I found that yes, we can! This is another reason why you should use AutoCAD layout!

Page Setup Manager

Before you can use AutoCAD batch plot, you have to set each layout to use a proper page setup.

You can define page setups in page setup manager. You can open it from AutoCAD menu> print> page setup. Or you can activate a layout, right click on layout tab and choose page setup manager from contextual menu.

Now you will see the manager dialog box opened. In some AutoCAD default templates, several page setups are already defined. But mostly not yet. We can create a new one by clicking new.

Give it appropriate name. I use A1 dwf. I want to set the paper size to A1 and I want to plot it to dwf printer.

Now I create another one: A3 pdf. I want this one go to pdf printer. You may want to give it a try to your real printer.

Don’t forget to set the AutoCAD layout to use the page setups. You need to open the layout you want to set, then open page setup manager. You should see the layout name in current layout. Below my current AutoCAD layout is Layout3.

Choose which one you want to use, then click set current. You should see the page setup name in the parenthesis.

Now you can finish the AutoCAD sheets. Add all information you need before you plot it.

Batch Plot

Now that we have several sheets (well, I only have two) we can try to plot them at once to different printers. Open from AutoCAD menu > publish. Or you can use print> batch plot.

Below, you can see that the model and layouts from my drawing. You can add more layout from other drawings too (you don’t need to open the drawings).

I think it’s very useful if you need to plot many AutoCAD sheets at once, especially if you want to do it to different printers. You probably want to print some AutoCAD drawings to A3 size printer, while the others to A1 plotter.

Below is the report of my batch plot.

Job: – Plotted

Job ID: 1
Sheet set name:
Date and time started: 10/14/2010 2:09:51 PM
Date and time completed: 10/14/2010 2:10:08 PM
UserID: Edwin
Profile ID: AutoCAD
Total sheets: 2
Sheets plotted: 2
Number of errors: 0
Number of warnings: 0

Sheet: batchplot-Layout1 – Plotted

File: C:\Users\Edwin\Documents\batchplot.dwg
Category name:
Page setup: A1 – dwf
Device name: DWF6 ePlot.pc3 – plotted to file
Plot file path: C:\Users\Edwin\documents\batchplot-Layout1.dwf
Paper size: ISO A1 (594.00 x 841.00 MM)

Sheet: batchplot-Layout2 – Plotted

File: C:\Users\Edwin\Documents\batchplot.dwg
Category name:
Page setup: A3 – pdf
Device name: DWG To PDF.pc3 – plotted to file
Plot file path: C:\Users\Edwin\documents\batchplot-Layout2.pdf
Paper size: ISO full bleed A3 (297.00 x 420.00 MM)

Want to try it? Have fun!

About Edwin Prakoso

I work as a Solution Consultant in Datech Solutions, Tech Data Indonesia. I've been using AutoCAD since R14 and Revit since Revit Building 9. I occasionally write for AUGIWorld magazine and also active in Autodesk discussion forum.
I'm an Autodesk Certified Professional (ACP) for Revit Architecture and AutoCAD. I'm also a member of Autodesk Expert Elite, appreciation for individuals who give contribution to Autodesk community.
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