Page Setups

[Anonymous]

is there a way to 'xref' page setups and/or make them accessible via a function similiar to _attachReferenceTemplate.  over the years as we get new printers or modify our page setups we have to delete the old local setups and import them via the page setup manager.  it would save a lot of time to always have the latest available on legacy projects that have old printers/pc3 files associated.  thank you

[CivilFlow]

Hi have you considered using Design Center?

You can then drag and drop Corporate Standard layouts/Page Setups from a .dwt into new dwgs.

I hope this helps.

[MMcCall402]

I wonder what would happen if you took a pc3 file for the new printer and saved it over the pc3 for the old printer.

[cwr-pae]

TThats how I get around the old/new printer problem. The only problem is with the pmp files not matching up or if an older printer had a page size not available to the new printer. Though usually you can print with no problem from saved page setups.

[Anonymous]

I am looking for a solution that would always be up-to-date with a 'reload' or 'reopen' (like xrefs) rather than an constant import.   Im not sure it currently exists.  

[Joe-Bouza]

Right click the tab and import the page setup.

If using SSM add the setup to template and use pagesetup override

[BushW]

Hello @Anonymous

I'm just checking in to see if you need more help with this. Did the reply of @Joe-Bouza provided work for you?

Please hit the ‘Accept as Solution’ button if/when relevant so, that others can more easily benefit from the information and thank you for doing so. 

Best Regards,

Wendell

[Anonymous]

Im not sure my question is being understood or I am misunderstanding the responses.

I am looking for a solution (that may not exist today) for legacy projects and future projects, that need a dynamic page setup if a PC3 file is added or renamed (for whatever reason), a new CTB or STB file is being used, etc.  For example, if you move offices and/or leasing of plotters change the old page setups (ie name: "24x36" using Canon.pc3 but now you have a HP.pc3) a "xref" of page setups would always be up-to-date.  I think Autodesk needs to add a "Page Setup" tab to the "manage referenced settings" dialog box since you can now have styles and layers stay up-to-date via the master company template xref....why not add page setups so all dwgs stay current to page setups from the template.

thanks for all the responses.  

[Joe-Bouza · Accepted solution]

I get it, but it doesn't work that way, but if the pagesetup in the current drawing is 36x24 and points to PlotterNameX.pc3/stb and now you need PlotterNameY.pc3/stb

then redefining pagesetup 36x24 in the template will solve the problem going forward. Importing from template in legacy files will update 36x24 with the new driver. It is a pain you'll have to go through, but a lisp savy person could probably write something to automate the process.

I mention SSM because you can set it up to always point to your template for pagesetup overrides. Using SSM eliminates the problem of updating legacy files since it can be set to plot settings outside the specific drawing

[cwr-pae]

@Joe-Bouza was recommending using the page setup overrides available in SSM where you have an external file with page setups saved and point the SSM to that file. The override setups are applied to paper space layouts when you  plot.

Somewhat similarly you can use publish and apply a page setup from one file to whole list of files to publish them, provided they all have paper space layouts. This can be done with model space page setups provided they all cover the same window at the same scale.

@MMcCall402 pointed out that If you save the pc3 for your new printer with the name of your old printer autocad will probably not notice any difference and will print old page setups that reference the old printer to the new printer, unless perhaps the page setup references a page size not available on the new printer. We recently upgraded to a new plotter. We created a new pc3 and saved it over the old pc3 and haven't missed beat.

3 ways to keep up to date on printing with difference printers.