Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

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This month…

From the Vault

Originally published May 2005

Converting Plot Style Tables

Giving credit where due, I first heard about this a couple years ago from a friend of mine that works in the Facilities Department at Southwest Airlines. Since AutoCAD 2000 came out, there are two types of plot style tables; Named plot style tables (.STB), and Color plot style tables (.CTB)… and they don't play well with one another. You can't select a .CTB plot style if the drawing was originally created using .STB styles.

STB > CTB

To convert a drawing currently configured for .STB styles to be able to read your .CTB files, type Convertpstyles, at the command line. You get a warning dialog box advising you of the conversion logistics. Now when you check the Plot Style Table dropdown list in the Page Setup or Plot dialog box, you see .CTB styles.

CTB > STB

Prior to converting your .CTB to Named plot style tables, I would back up all of them. To make the conversion, use Convertctb to convert .CTB files to .STB equivalents.

A dialog box appears in which you select the name of one .CTB file to convert. After selecting the .CTB file for conversion, you get another dialog box in which you specify a name for the new .STB file (it presumes the name of the original .CTB). After the conversion, in the Plot Style dropdown list you will notice that the .STB files that were converted are indicated by a colorful icon beside them. Isn't that nice.

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