ACad 2004; change plot device

[stroyer74]

I'm a network admin rather than a seasoned ACad user, so I may be missing some obvious ACad settings.

Our engineering dept is running ACad 2004. I recently retired their main printer and installed a new one. All their drawings are set to default to the old printer. First time they open an old drawing, they have to change the printer settings before printing. Once they have saved it once, that particular drawing will default to their new printer.

My questions are:

1) Is it possible to set a drawing to just default to the system's default printer and paper size?

2) Is there a way to do a mass-change to all drawings to set each one's default printer to the new printer?

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sheldon

 

[TCARPENTER]

Sheldon,

[ol]
[li]Yes. It will only work for new drawings, but it can be done. In the options dialog box, in the tab "Plotting", in the upper left hand corner is a frame labeled "Default plot settings for new drawings", select the plotter you want all new drawings to default. [/li]

[li]Yes. You can use a script file to batch process all of your drawings to change the drawings current plotter. Or you can batch plot each drawing. With either option, make sure you have the option to "Save changes to layout" checked, and then make sure you save each drawing after you process it. [/li]
[/ol]

HTH
Todd

 

[stroyer74]

Todd,

Thanks for the response. I think I may have not accurately described what I'm hoping to do.

1. Rather than specifying a specific plotter to be the default for all new drawings, is it possible to specify the default system printer as the default plotter? It appears to me that ACad always wants to save a specific printer setting with each drawing. What I am hoping for is a way to save a drawing with only {Default Printer} as the printer setting.

I do realize there is a way to save a drawing with no plotter settings, but from what I've seen, the user must then select a specific plotter each time they print, rather than ACad automatically assuming whatever printer is the user's default Windows printer.

2. I found the Batch Plot utility and am testing with that. You made mention of being able to write a script file change the files; if you have any samples or notes that you could point me to, that would be great.

Thanks
Sheldon

 

[stroyer74]

1. I just realized that there is a spot to select "Default Windows System Printer" as the plotter. When I change a drawing's plotter to that, it seems to do what I was hoping.

Still am interested in any sample script files that anyone may have for changing the default plotter for multiple drawings.

Thanks
Sheldon