Batch publishing

Command

Path

Publish

File

The Publish command lets you select multiple sheet layers, saved views, and worksheets 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, you can quickly place all sheets in the current issue into the publish set (Design Series required; see Creating title block borders and Title Block Manager).

The Publish command’s functionality depends on your Vectorworks license.

License

Functionality

Vectorworks Fundamentals product

Export DXF/DWG, DWF, Excel™

Vectorworks Design Series products

       Export DXF/DWG, DWF, Excel, PDF, image formats

       Print

Vectorworks Service Select membership (all products)

Export DXF/DWG, DWF, Excel, PDF, image formats

With Vectorworks Cloud Services, the processing is done on the cloud server (sign in required) instead of on your computer. The generated files are available from the Vectorworks Cloud Services web portal, the cloud processing folder on your desktop computer, and the Vectorworks Nomad mobile app. Learn more about Vectorworks Cloud Services at vectorworks.net/cloudservices.

For details about using the Vectorworks Cloud Services web portal, cloud publishing, and mobile apps, select Cloud > Help.

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, select, and edit its list items; see List box functionality.

To batch publish sheet layers, saved views, or worksheets:

1.      Set up the sheet layers, saved views, or worksheets 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.

2.If you plan to use the cloud publishing feature, click Sign In on the upper-right corner of the Menu bar to sign in to Vectorworks. 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 membership required).

The Publish dialog box opens.

4.The sheets, saved views, and worksheets 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’re 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.

       Worksheets require either Excel or print format, but the Excel format is not compatible with sheet layers or saved views. If there’s a conflict between the selected items and the default format, an alert is displayed.

       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 items already added to the publish list. 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.

9.Click Publish.

10.If the file has not been saved to the Cloud Services or Dropbox storage folder specified, an alert is displayed; click Save Now to save the file and continue.

11.If the publish set has not been saved, you’re prompted to save it.

12.If anything other than Print is a selected publish format, the Select Folder dialog box opens. Specify a location for the output and click Select Folder.

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

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

If you’re 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 published items (including prefix name, list order, publish method, color settings, and custom options) is saved in the active file. If the file set contains items 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.

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.

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 items that cannot be located, you’re prompted to manually locate a missing file, or warned that items are missing. Missing items display in red in the Publish dialog box, and are not included in the publish job.

 

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