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. For files that manage issue data with the title block border object (Design Series required; see Adding a Title Block Border and Title Block Manager), you can quickly place all sheets in the current issue into the publish set. The Publish command’s functionality depends on your Vectorworks license.

For each publish item, you can set custom options, and select either color or black and white output. 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/Sign Up 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 > Cloud Publish (Vectorworks Service Select members 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. 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.
Add Items From Other Files	Automatically adds all saved views and sheet layers from files within the folder (and any subfolders) to the available list. Click Select Folder to open the Choose Project Folder dialog box. Select a folder that contains Vectorworks files to be published. 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 Store and Process on Vectorworks Cloud or Store on Dropbox and Process on Vectorworks Cloud is selected, PDF and Image options are also available; the Print option is not available.
Path	Displays the most recently selected project folder and file path
Storage and Processing	Specifies where the files to be published are saved and processed. ●        Store and Process Locally: Select input files from and save output files to any location on your local drive. This option is always available. ●        Store and Process on Vectorworks Cloud: For Vectorworks Service Select members, select input files from your Vectorworks Cloud Services folder. The cloud server processes the files and adds them to your cloud content. ●        Store on Dropbox and Process on Vectorworks Cloud: For Vectorworks Service Select members, select input files from your Dropbox folder. The cloud server processes the files and adds them to your Dropbox folder. (Select Cloud > Dropbox Integration to enable this feature.)
Add	Adds one or more selected items from the available list to the end of the publish list
Add Current Issue	Adds all items in the available list with an Issue Date matching the current issue 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
Set 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
File Export Options	Opens the File Export Options dialog box to control the publish operations for a multi-file output

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 are using the cloud publishing feature, first select either Store and Process on Vectorworks Cloud or Store on Dropbox and Process on Vectorworks Cloud from the Storage and Processing list, and then select the folder.

5. If you plan to publish several items, select a default format from the Add New Items as list.

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. To organize the published output, click File Export Options.

The File Export Options dialog box opens.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Export PDFs as separate files (Design Series or Service Select membership 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 Store and Process Locally 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.
Multi-File Naming Scheme	Files can be named based on their title block information, such as their sheet number, sheet title, project ID, and so on
Predefined	Lits the file naming configurations available for the publish set; select Custom Name to create a custom naming configuration
Custom Naming Scheme	Displays the current naming configuration. If Custom Name is selected, the parameter is editable; delete unneeded fields
Insert Field	Select data fields to add to the Custom Naming Scheme; fields are inserted at the end of the configuration, regardless of cursor placement
Add	Adds the Custom Naming Scheme to the Predefined list
Edit	Edits the custom naming configuration
Save	Saves edits to the custom naming configuration
Delete	Deletes the custom naming configuration

9. 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.

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

11. 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.

If you are using the cloud publishing feature, the output folder must be in your Vectorworks Cloud Services or Dropbox folder, as appropriate.

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

If you are using the cloud publishing feature, 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.

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:

In the Publish dialog box, click Save a Set.

The New Saved Set dialog box opens.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

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 and Processing type for the set to be recalled.

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), and change the publish options as needed.
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 lists 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 membership), no PDF items display. Also, if the Storage and Processing type is set to Store and Process on Vectorworks Cloud or Store on Dropbox and Process on Vectorworks Cloud, 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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