PUBLISH to PDF produces no results...

Hey guys,

ive got an issue which is preventing me from being able to PUBLISH multiple DWGs to PDF.

I can successfully PUBLISH multiple DWGs to hard copy with no problem - and it is very easy.

Hoewever i seem to be missing something when trying to PUBLISH to PDF.

Ive tried creating a 'Page Setup' which nominates a PDF writer (Adobe PDF or PDFCreator) and the printing device, and that will only work for 1 of the specified DWGs. I have also tried specifying 'PDF' in the "Publish to:" pulldown in the PUBLISH dialogue box - which returns no result. The PUBLISH dialogue box closes and nothing else happens.

I was just wondering if anyone can please offer me some advice and help me resolve this PUBLISH issue.

Thanks for all your help.

I do not think it will be possible to print multiple page PDFs using the PUBLISH command.

You can use the EXPORTPDF command. It is also found on the Output Tab of the Ribbon.

Make sure that it is set to "All Layouts", not "Current Layout" (I set this in all my templates so it remembers it).

This command reads off the default page setup settings for it margins and paper size and ctb etc. It does not need to be a PDF driver, just have the default page settings set to your default printer and the command will export those same settings to a multi-paged PDF.

hi YZ, thanks for your reply mate.

Im afraid i didnt make myself clear enough in my first post. I do wish to PUBLISH single page PDFs, but i wish to process multiple DWGs at once.

So in the same way i can PUBLISH multiple DWGs to hard copy, i would like to PUBLISH multiple DWGs to their own individual PDFs.

Thanks again mate.

Ah. I cannot help with that one. I've not been able to work that one out myself yet.

Ah. I cannot help with that one. I've not been able to work that one out myself yet.

You would probably find the AUTO PUBLISH OPTION handy. In the settings box you can choose from numerous options which will probably be sufficient. You can choose what to include, probably don't want the model which is shown selected with layouts on this jpg.

Use the "DWG to PDF.pc3" plotter instead. Make sure each Layout has this plotter applied to the Plot settings. This might be your fix. Also, if you use the stock "DWG to PDF.pc3" plotter that comes with AutoCAD, you have options as well, such as creating one PDF per sheet, include layer information, etc.

See if this yields better results for you.

thanks for the help StykFacE.

I looked in the PLOTTERMANAGER folder and found that the "DWG to PDF.pc3" was missing. once i added that PC3 file - everthing worked ok.

Thanks for the help.

So thanks to StykFacE... i have managed to get the PUBLISH to PDF function to work - though i am not really happy with the results.

Let me try to explain... When i do an individual PLOT of any DWG, i select my PDF Plotter (PDFCreator) as the target device (substituting from a hard-copy printer). The PDF printer will then plot a PDF of the current DWG (to whatever settings had been set) and put the new PDF in the predetermined target directory (specified in AutoCADs plot settings, and in PDFCreator's settings). This works fine - with good results... but is only good for single DWG printing.

While PUBLISH with the PDF preset does work (and will process multiple DWGs) the PDF quality im finding is quite poor. Jagged lines and squiggly circles and letters.

So i would like to do one (or maybe both) of two things...

1) Is there a way to tweak the "DWG to PDF.pc3" settings to improved the PDF quality?

2) Is there a way i can PUBLISH - but rather than selecting the PDF preset... can i choose a PAGE SETUP which will plot to a PDF writer? I have tried this in the past with no success (as described above).

Thanks so much for any help.

These screenshots should show the only settings you would need:

I with lamensterms, is there a way to improve the quality? it's total crap, which is unfortunate because it works quite well.