What could be making publish so slow?

[helen.jobe]

My autocad is consistently slow when publishing.  If I print each sheet manually using my default page layout they print right away.  But if I use the publish command, using the same page layout as I used for plotting for all sheets, it takes a really long time.  Just now I tried to publish a set of 5 sheets (Clip 1), and it got to the last sheet and then froze.  I did a test run plotting each of those 5 sheets individually and it took 2.5 minutes, including opening time, and flipping to the correct layout.  Admittedly, there are some x-refs in some of these drawings (3 MB max) but shouldn't it take the same amount of time (if not less) to publish as it does to plot?  Another thing to note is that the file with the last sheet (the one that publish froze on) didn't have large x-refs.  It was a 4.6 MB file, with 4 x-refs in it: 0.76 MB, 0.01 MB, 0.66 MB, and 0.5 MB.

I've also attached the page setup settings (Clip 2) used for both plotting and publishing, as well as the pdf options used for both (Clip 3).

Does anyone have any suggestions on settings that might be throwing it off?

[pendean]

DO you have background publishing turned on? That's slow  😐

[helen.jobe]

Good question. No, I have background publishing off.

[pendean]

Can you post a screenshot of your PUBLISH command pop-up as it is ready to click OK so we can see what you've chosen? Include the pop-up for PUBLISH OPTIONS button.

Do the same for the PLOT command from one of those layouts.

TIA

[helen.jobe]

I believe they're already posted...since I was using the "plotter named in page setup" option there are no publish options in this particular instance.  But I also have the same problem if I change it to publish to PDF, in which case I have my PDF settings exactly the same as my DWG To PDF - 24x36 settings.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> and it got to the last sheet and then froze

Can you please uncheck the option to view the file after _PUBLISH is ready?

What happens when you change (in the publish-dialog) the setting from "Plotter named in page setup" to "PDF"?

- alfred -

[pendean]

I missed your screenshots, forgive me.

In addition to other replies, where is 😧 drive? It's the location you are publishing to, is that the same place you PLOT to from the other screenshot?

Can you post a screenshot of your ABOUT command pop-up?

[helen.jobe]

---

@Alfred.NESWADBA wrote:

Hi,

>> and it got to the last sheet and then froze

Can you please uncheck the option to view the file after _PUBLISH is ready?

What happens when you change (in the publish-dialog) the setting from "Plotter named in page setup" to "PDF"?

- alfred -

---

I unchecked "open in viewer when done" and it still froze just as before.  Changing from "plotter named in page setup" to "PDF" doesn't appear to have any impact.  FYI, I have the same settings for both.

@pendean wrote:

In addition to other replies, where is 😧 drive? It's the location you are publishing to, is that the same place you PLOT to from the other screenshot?

Can you post a screenshot of your ABOUT command pop-up?

---

I plot to my D drive in both instances.  See Clip 4.

[pendean]

Where is the D drive, and what is it?

[helen.jobe]

It's my main hard drive.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

any chance you can upload your file so we can try it on our systems and verify if it's the file or the workstation/installation?

- alfred -

[helen.jobe]

Unfortunately, that's not an option.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> Unfortunately, that's not an option.

Ok, do you have more than one workstation with AutoCAD Architecture where you can try your file?
Best would be to test this in a different environment, so in case it depends on network, permissions, ... you get a better result.

- alfred -

[helen.jobe]

We tried it on another station and it worked fine.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> We tried it on another station and it worked fine.

Ok, now same workstation that has issues, but login with a different Windows user account...

- alfred -

[helen.jobe]

So I created a test windows user profile and published.  When publishing to “plotter named in page setup” it published successfully, creating 5 individual pdf files. It didn’t ask me where to save them, just automatically dumped them into the documents folder on my C drive.  I tested changing the save location to my D drive from inside the publish window and that worked also. When I tried to publish to “PDF” using the settings from Clip 1 it froze on the last sheet.  I also tried using the “PDF” settings with the save location on my D drive and it froze on the last sheet. 
I checked the settings on my DWG To PDF - 24x36 page setup and its the same as they were on my original user profile.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> When I tried to publish to “PDF” using the settings

>> from Clip 1 it froze on the last sheet

And the same file with this same setting was working well on your colleagues workstation?

Can you recreate a file that does not have any secrets, but shows the same effect when using this pagesetup?

If so then please upload this file.

If this is not possible then try to copy and paste the modelspace content to a new file and create just two or three layouts manually ... then publish these 2 or 3 layouts using this pagesetup ... better now?

- alfred -

[helen.jobe]

Yes, the same file was working fine on another workstation.  I copied the model space contents into a clean drawing and the problem carried over.  It works if I publish to: "plotter named in page setup" - with my page setup pointing to the OOTB DWG to PDF.pc3 plotter.  It plots each sheet as an individual file to the location specified in the publish options.

If I set it to publish to: "PDF", the publish spools endlessly.  But doesn't publish to: "PDF" use the same exact OOTB DWG to PDF.pc3 as my page setup did?  As far as I can tell the settings for both are identical.

What is really bizarre is that when I first started this thread publishing to: "plotter named in page setup" it didn't work, but now it does.  As far as I know, the settings I've used in this last round of testing are the same as I started out with.

I've got to be doing something wrong but for the life of me I can't figure out what.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> use the same exact OOTB DWG to PDF.pc3 as my page setup did?

Can you go to your plottermanager folder, use the add-a-plotter wizard to create a new PDF-plotter device and give it a new name (as described >>>here<<<, but not with the default name, make sure it's a really unique name).

Run command _PUBLISH and set "PDF Preset" to your new pc3 file and the other options shown in this screenshot:

- alfred -

[helen.jobe]

Creating a brand new pc3 file didn't make any difference either...this is behaving so oddly that I decided to run a repair on my autocad.  I tried to run the publish again and this time got a new error message (Clip 5).  It says there was a file open error...but the file was already open in order to publish it.  What does that mean?