{"id":8543,"date":"2018-10-02T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com/blogs\/autocad\/?p=8543"},"modified":"2020-04-07T14:45:41","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T21:45:41","slug":"plotting-small-sheet-big-tuesday-tips-seth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com/blogs\/autocad\/plotting-small-sheet-big-tuesday-tips-seth\/","title":{"rendered":"Plot Small When A Sheet Is Big: Tuesday Tips With Seth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many companies have their main sheet size set to 22×34 so they can plot large, and then half scale (11×17). However, there are many companies that are required to plot 24×36. This makes plotting half-scale plans a little more difficult. That said, it is still doable. Let\u2019s look at the steps to \u201cplot small, when the sheet is big.”<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all in the Page Setup<\/h2>\n

When you go to plot, you can either modify the layout\u2019s page setup or create a named page setup that can be applied to all your layouts and used company-wide. This is what I recommend you do. Create all the layouts and named page setups you need for all the different printers\/plotters in your company\u2019s or personal drawing template (.DWT file).<\/p>\n

To do this, open the .DWT file, and create all the layouts you use for the different sheet sizes\/plotters you plot to at your company (don\u2019t forget to create one for .PDF files, too).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Next, right-click on the active layout and choose Page Setup Manager from the context menu. Now, in the Page Setup Manager dialog box, you should notice a few things. First, any \u201cline\u201d that is surrounded by an asterisk (*) is an actual layout. In addition, any rows that are not surrounded by an asterisk (*) are called named page setups.<\/p>\n

\"Page<\/p>\n

Think of a named page setup just like a reference file. If you associate a named page setup to a layout (or layouts), then that named page setup is \u201clinked\u201d to those layouts and any changes you make to the named page setup will update all layouts that are associated to it (now that is automation).<\/p>\n

To create a new named page setup, simply click the New button in the Page Setup Manager dialog box.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

As you will notice, you are now editing a page setup in the Page Setup dialog box, just as you normally do if you were editing a layout\u2019s page setup. First, create your standard 1:1 named page setups that plot 24x 36. Now, to do the half-size page setup set the appropriate settings for the right plotter, color\/plot style table, Plot Option toggles, etc. Then, the key settings for plotting small are listed below:<\/p>\n