Layers not printing with sheet set

[Anonymous]

I am working on a project using a sheet set and have been having issues getting it to print properly.  For certain sheets, the plan backgrounds (xref) do not print when I use the "publish to pdf" or "publish to plotter" commands from the sheet set.  Our linework prints, the xref linework does not.

The sheets print properly when I print sheets individually using ctrl+p or even batch plot commands.  The xrefs are not on a non-plot layer, and I don't get any error/warning messages when I plot the sheet set.  I've seen a similar issue on the forum before but no real answers for how this happens or how to fix it.

I admittedly do not have a lot of experience using sheet set files, and this file pre-dates my time on the project.  Many thanks for any help with this.

[jrreid]

I have one idea.

You sure that sheet set is using the same Pen Settings (.ctb) file? 

If you are using Publish to Dialog Box it should be using the CTB file that is inside each drawing.

But if you set your Sheet Setup to use Publish to Plotter or Publish to PDF it uses your Sheet Setup File CTB Settings.

I say this because maybe one of the pen colors in a CTB is way to light to print / showup.

But I also did a search or other suggestions and found this link from a couple of years ago. XREF issues.

Link:  Layers not publishing - Autodesk Community - AutoCAD

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/layers-not-publishing/td-p/9714562

Hope one of these helps!!

JRR.

[Anonymous]

I tried using the "Publish Using Page Setup Override" to make sure that every sheet used the same .ctb and tried opening the final PDF in illustrator to see if there was linework that was just too light for me to see, no luck.

There are no nested xrefs like in the one you shared and binding these xrefs is not an option here.

Is there a difference between the "Export To" and "Publish To" dialog boxes?

I'm really trying to figure out a solution that doesn't require making a new .dst entirely

[Valentin-WSP]

@Anonymous ,

Welcome to the AutoCAD forum.

Consider these solutions from Autodesk support:

• Drawing objects do not plot and are missing from print preview in AutoCAD
• Optimizing drawing files in AutoCAD with Purge, Audit & Recover
• How to repair corrupt AutoCAD files

[Anonymous]

Hi Emilio, thanks for your response!

I've gone through the link you posted and still doesn't seem like any of these are the issues.  I tried purging the drawings, made sure that the xrefs are set to "attach" and that the references are not nested, and checked the layer states.

Again, the sheets plot correctly if I use the plot command to print individually, and everything shows properly in preview, but I only have this issue when I use the sheet set file to print the full set.

I have the same issue whether I use the "publish to" or "export to" dialogs, and I set a page setup override to try and make sure that all sheets print using the correct plot style and still the xrefs will not print.

[pendean]

Can you share some DWGs and PDFs that show this PUBLISH-only issue?

[JTBWorld]

What version of AutoCAD and do you use background publishing? 

[Valentin-WSP]

@Anonymous ,

---

@Anonymous wrote:

...I'm really trying to figure out a solution that doesn't require making a new .dst entirely

---

In the unlikely event of DST file corruption or a major user error, the previously saved sheet set data file can be recovered.

• To Recover Sheet Set Data Files

[Anonymous]

Hi Jimmy,

We are running AutoCAD 2019 and we do use background publishing.  I've run batch plot in the background with good results, again it's only the sheet set that seems to give me issues

[pendean]

As a test, only a test, if background publishing was turned off does he problem go away?

[Anonymous]

I just went ahead and gave that a try, and still had the same issue.

I then tried saving the list of sheets as a Drawing Set Description (.dsd) in the batch plot dialog box, and used this later and it all printed just fine.  Very confusing to me, because I saved the .dsd from the sheet set and the settings should be exactly the same.

I know it's difficult to replicate without uploading files here but this is a very proprietary project for us.

[JTBWorld]

Report this bug to Autodesk or contact Autodesk support. 

[scott_clingan9H77F]

Did anyone ever find a fix for this? I am in AutoCAD 2024 and experiencing the same thing. 
I did find that if I open the PDF in Bluebeam and go to the layer palette, the layers that are not showing up are turned off. 

[pendean]

@scott_clingan9H77F