Batch Publishing

The Publish command lets you select multiple sheet layers and saved views to export, both from the current file and from other files in a selected folder. The functionality depends on your Vectorworks license.

For each publish item, you can set custom options, and select either color or black and white output. If you use the Issue Manager (Vectorworks Architect or Vectorworks Landmark required), you can sort the list by issue date for quick publishing. To make custom publishing faster and easier, save the sets of files and options that you use frequently.

This dialog box has specialized functions to sort and select its list items; see List Box Functionality.

To batch publish sheet layers and/or saved views:

1. Set up the sheet layers and/or saved views for publishing.

Set the visibility of layers and classes in the viewports and views. All visible and grayed layers are published. Invisible layers and classes are not printed or published to PDF or DWF; they can be published as invisible DXF/DWG layers, if the option is selected in the DXF/DWG Export Options dialog box. Each sheet layer or saved view is published as a separate file.

2. If you plan to use the cloud publishing feature, select Cloud > Log In to log into Vectorworks Cloud Services. Then select Cloud > Open Vectorworks Cloud Services Folder, and place the files to be published in the folder. Alternatively, if you have enabled Dropbox integration, place the files in your Dropbox folder.

3. Select File > Publish or Cloud > Publish (Vectorworks Service Select subscribers only).

The Publish dialog box opens.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Sheets and Saved Views Available (Available list)	Lists the sheet layers and saved views in the current file, indicated with <Active File> in the File Name column. If you select a folder to publish from, sheets and saved views from files in that folder display also, indicated with a file name and path. Click a column header to sort the sheets and views by the column parameter. For example, click the Issue Date column to sort by the Issue Manager issue date (Vectorworks Architect or Vectorworks Landmark required). Sheets and saved views from recalled sets that cannot be found display in red and cannot be published.
Show All Items	As items are added to the publish list, also keeps them in the available list. Select this option if you need to publish items to multiple formats—for example, to both print (Vectorworks Design Series required) and export to DWF. Deselect this option to remove items from the available list as they are added to the publish list.
Storage type	Specifies the location of the files to be included in the publish batch. The Local Storage option is always available. If you are a Vectorworks Service Select subscriber, the Cloud Services and Dropbox Storage options are also available. ●    Local Storage: Select input files from and save output files to any location on your local drive. ●    Cloud Services Storage: Select input files from and save output files to your cloud processing folder. Output will be available in your cloud library. ●    Dropbox Storage: Select input files from and save output files to your Dropbox folder. Output will be available in your cloud library. (Select Cloud > Dropbox Integration to enable this feature.)
Folder path	Displays the most recently selected project folder and file path, for including sheet layers and saved views from other Vectorworks files within the folder
Select Folder	Opens the Choose Project Folder (Mac) or Select Folder (Windows) dialog box. Select a folder that contains Vectorworks files to be published. All saved views and sheet layers from files within the folder (and any subfolders) are automatically added to the available list. Files must be the same version as the active file.
Add New Items as	Sets the default Publish To value for each item added to the publish list. The DWG/DXF and DWF options are always available. ●    If Vectorworks Design Series products are installed, Print, PDF, and Image options are also available. ●    If Cloud Services or Dropbox storage is selected, PDF and Image options are also available; the Print option is not available.
Prefix Name	By default, published items are named after the sheet layer or saved view. Enter a string to add to the beginning of the name, to make it easier to identify published items.
Add	Adds one or more selected items from the available list to the end of the publish list
Add All	Adds all sheet layers/saved views in the available list to the end of the publish list
Remove	Removes one or more selected items from the publish list
Remove All	Removes all sheet layers and saved views from the publish list
Set to Publish	Select a previously saved set to publish
Save a Set	Saves the current publish set in the active file, to be restored later; see Saving a Publish Set
Manage Sets	Manages saved file sets, and restores a previously-saved set of sheets and views for publishing; see Managing Saved Publish Sets
Sheets and Saved Views to Publish (Publish list)	Lists the sheet layers/saved views to be published; to change the list order, use the cursor to drag and drop the items in the # column. Click Color for each item to toggle between color and black and white output.
Publish To	Select one or more items in the publish list, and then select from this list to change the output format. The options are the same as the Add New Items as list.
Options	Opens the appropriate dialog box to set custom options for the currently selected items: ●    DWG/DXF and DWF: see DXF/DWG and DWF Export Options ●    Print: see Printing a File ●    PDF: see Exporting PDF Files ●    Image: see Exporting an Image File; some image export options are not available when publishing
Export PDFs as Separate Files (Vectorworks Design Series or Vectorworks Service Select subscription required)	For items to be published to PDF, exports each selected sheet layer and saved view as a separate PDF file. A folder is created for each file from which PDFs are published. Deselect this option to create a single PDF file, named after the active file.
Open Destination Folder upon Completion	If Local storage is selected, opens the folder that contains the published files when publishing is complete
Create Folder for Each File Type	Creates a folder for each file type within the destination folder Certain publish formats, such as DWG/DXF, require subfolders for output organization, even when this option is deselected.

4. The sheets and saved views in the active file display in the left pane of the dialog box. To expand the list to other files, click Select Folder and select the folder where the files to be published are located.

If you plan to use the cloud publishing feature, first select either Cloud Services or Dropbox Storage from the storage list, and then select the folder.

5. If you plan to publish several items, set the following options before you add items to the publish list:

●    From the Add New Items as list, select the default format for publish items.

●    Enter a Prefix Name to be added to the published file names.

6. Select available items from the list in the left pane of the dialog box, and use the buttons in the middle of the window to move them to the publish list in the right pane of the dialog box. Alternatively, double-click an item (or press Shift and double-click multiple selected items) to move it to the publish list. The Publish To column in the right pane indicates the current output setting for each item.

To publish an item to multiple formats, select Show All Items; add the item to the publish list multiple times, and specify a different format for each one.

7. To set custom output options, select one or more items from the publish list and click Options.

8. When all publish settings are complete, click Publish. If the file has not been saved to the Cloud Services or Dropbox storage folder specified, an alert displays; click Save Now to save the file and continue.

9. If the publish set has not been saved, you are prompted to save it.

10. If PDF, DWG/DXF, DWF, or Image is a selected publish format, the Select Folder dialog box opens. Specify a location for the output and click Select Folder.

11. If there are files in the selected folder already, you are prompted to confirm that you want to continue.

If you published to either Cloud Services or Dropbox storage, a status dialog box opens to display the progress of the cloud publishing.

The output files are printed or created based on the selected settings. A publish log file is created in the output folder.

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Saving a Publish Set

You can save the current publish settings to be reused later. The set of sheet layers and saved views (including prefix name, list order, publish method, color settings, and custom options) is saved in the active file. If the file set contains sheet layers and views from a selected folder, specify how to save the path relative to the active file.

To save the export list as a set:

1. In the Publish dialog box, click Save a Set.

The New Saved Set dialog box opens.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Name	Enter a unique name for the set
Absolute path	Sets an absolute path to files used by the saved set. Use the absolute path when the location of the referenced files with respect to the active file is not going to change.
Path relative to the active document	Sets a relative path to files used by the saved set. Use the relative path when the files might be moved to another computer or platform; as long as the relative path between the files remains the same, the referenced files can be found. All files must be saved on the same volume or server to select this option.
Open Destination Folder upon Completion	Opens the folder that contains the published files when publishing is complete
Create Folder for Each File Type	Creates a folder for each file type within the destination folder
Export PDFs as Separate Files (Vectorworks Design Series or Vectorworks Service Select subscription required)	For items to be published to PDF, exports each selected sheet layer and saved view as a separate PDF file. A folder is created for each file from which PDFs are published. Deselect this option to create a single PDF file, named after the active file.

2. Click OK. The settings are saved with the active file and are available for future publish jobs.

Managing Saved Publish Sets

After you have saved a set, you can recall it to publish the same set again. There are also options to edit and delete saved sets.

To manage saved publish sets:

1. In the Publish dialog box, select the storage type for the set to be recalled: Local, Cloud Services, or Dropbox storage.

2. Click Manage Sets.

The Manage Saved Sets dialog box opens.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
List of saved sets	Lists the currently saved sets by name
Edit	Select a set and click Edit to open the Edit Saved Set dialog box. Rename the set, change the file path style (relative or absolute), change the publish options as needed, and then click OK.
Delete	Select one or more sets and click Delete to remove the sets from the list
Recall	Select one or more sets and click Recall to add the saved list of saved views and sheet layers to the publish list in the Publish dialog box, along with their settings. Alternatively, to restore a single set, select it from the Set to Publish list in the Publish dialog box.

3. Edit or delete sets, as needed.

4. To simply close the dialog box without recalling any saved sets, click Close. To recall saved sets, select one or more sets and click Recall.

The settings for the selected saved sets display in the Publish dialog box, with the following exceptions.

●    The recalled set may not show all of the original items, if the saved set is opened on a computer that has a different Vectorworks product installed. For example, if you open a set with the Vectorworks Fundamentals product (and no Vectorworks Service Select subscription), no PDF items display. Also, if the storage type is set to Cloud Services or Dropbox Storage, no Print items display.

●    If the saved set includes sheet layers or saved views that cannot be located, you are prompted to manually locate a missing file, or warned that sheets or views are missing. Missing sheets and views display in red in the Publish dialog box, and are not included in the publish job.

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