Printing messed up - reset defaults?

[KeithSWD]

My Autocad 2013 Mac plotting is messed up somehow. When I plot an A3 sheet at 1:1 it is being printed scaled up slightly. It has been driving me nuts for ages, but I have now discovered it is definitely user settings because if I log in as another user everything prints correctly.

I don't really want to completely reset my Autocad and lose all customizations. Is there a way to reset just the printer defaults/paper sizes etc?

thanks

[maxim_k]

Hi,

If you are using Custom paper size (A3 you mentioned in your post) - then you can delete it and then recreate in Manage Custom paper sizes dialog (select bottom item in Paper Size list from Print or Page Setup dialog).
If you are using one of predefined paper sizes from System printer, you can try to reset this Printer from Mac OS System Preferences (delete it and install again).
You can also try to Reset Printing System in OS Print & Scan dialog (right-click on one of the installed printers and select "Reset Printing System". Then you have to add Printers again.

Maxim

[KeithSWD]

Hi Maxim,

I have already done a complete reset of the printing system. No joy. It is something within Autocad that is messed up.

I only have A1 and A2 set up as custom sizes, as we do not have physical printers for these sizes. But we do have separate A4 and A3 printers. I normally select A3 Borderless and print at 1:1 from a Layout. With my titleblock this should give a 1cm margin around my titleblock frame. But suddenly it is expanding my print and my frame is almost at the paper edge. I have checked everywhere looking for a scaling setting I might have missed, including using CUPS to look at printer settings. Nothing appears to be set to do any scaling.  But as I say, logging on as another user seems to fix it. I think I am going to have to reset Autocad completely.

I really loathe the OS X printing system. Having migrated over to Apple about 2 years ago, it is one of the things I really thought was much better implemented in Windows. (And I am not just talking about Autocad printing).

I also notice that if you are in PAGESETUPEDIT and change the printer, the list of paper sizes doesn't update. YOu have to close the dialog and reopen it with the new printer selected, then they appear.

[maxim_k]

The notice about PAGESETUPEDIT is true, there is a bug in AC for Mac.
Have you tried to "reset" only AutoCAD preferences file (.plist) you can find it in ~/Library/Preferences folder, can not tell exactly it's name, but I'm sure you can find it.
Quit AutoCAD, move .plist file to the safe place and launch AutoCAD. Try printing. If this wouldn't help you can always return customized .plist file back.

Maxim

[maxim_k]

What if you try to print from Preview? (Open as PDF) in Preview in Print dialog?

Maxim

[KeithSWD]

I have just done a few tests. First I backed up and then deleted the .plist file as you suggested.

My A3 titleblock frame is 283mm wide across the short axis.

First I left the pagesetup as I normally have it (Paper: A3 (Borderless), Printing 'Layout', Scale 1:1).  The resulting print had been enlarged so that my frame was just inside the paper edge and was about 293mm wide.

Then I changed the pagesetup to Printing: Extents, Scale 1:1, Centre Plot.  Same result as above.

I did a PDF preview - the title block looked correct, with an 1cm margin all around. I was then able to print the PDF ensuring that scaling was turned off and the result was good, with no visible scaling.

Not sure where I go to from here but I suppose I could reset the printing system AGAIN! I don't really want to have to go via PDF every time I print.

Incidentallly, I printing to an Epson WF-7515 using Epson's latest drivers.

[maxim_k]

If you can print fine (no distortion of scale) from another account, then the cause is somewhere in your Home folder, most likely in ~/Library/ folder, so resetting printing system may not help. Only if any of printer settings are not stored in your home folder.

Maxim

[KeithSWD]

I have also discovered that exactly the same file prints perfectly with all the same print settings and from my MAc account using Autocad LT!!

So it is surely an Autocad 2013 problem?  

[maxim_k]

Could be so. The only way to check this is to isolate all AutoCAD (full, but not LT) related preferences files and "reset" them in some way.
I also dig into ~/Library/Preferences folder I found a lot of such files:
com.apple.print.custompresets.forprinter.XXXXX.plist, for each of installed system printers, where XXXX is the name of System Printer. What if you will try to isolate temporary such file for Epson printer?

Maxim

[KeithSWD · Accepted solution]

Thanks Maxim,

I have just moved com.autodesk.AutoCAD.plist,  com.autodesk.AutoCAD.Subservice.plist and com.autodesk.Autocad.LSSharedFileList.plist to Trash, restarted Autocad and it seems to be fixed.

Many thanks for your time & help with this.

Keith

[maxim_k]

Keith,

Glad to hear that the issue seems resolved.

Maxim