During my latest round of Technical Support for Ideate, Inc. we saw a bunch of PDF Publishing cases. In one case in particular, a customer reported an issue when trying to produce Single-Sheet PDF files using the Publish Dialog Box.
An issue occurs within the Publish command when a certain combination of options is selected for the Page Setup and Publish To items. In all cases, the Single-Sheet option was selected for the output type in the Sheet Set Publish Options, however one combination continued to produce a Multi-Sheet PDF file. We ran a series of tests on the varying combinations and verified with Autodesk that this is an issue within the Publish command and Publish Dialog Box options.
The Issue: Selecting the Single-Sheet output option within the Sheet Set Publish Options still produces a Multi-Sheet PDF file.
The Reason: The combination of Publish To and Page Setup options selected by the user affects the PDF output file, regardless of the Single-Sheet specification in the Sheet Set Publish Options.
Per the Autodesk tech that assisted us with confirming the issue (thanks Mike!) the issue occurs because of conflicting information being sent to the application by the selected Publish Dialog options. When the combination of Publish to: Plotter Named in Page Setup and Page Setup: 36x24 (or anything besides Default) is specified, a conflict is created when the application tries to use the plotter originally named in the Page Setup (per Publish to) and the user specified Page Setup (per Page Setup). The result is a multi-sheet PDF file, even if the single-sheet option was specified.
The Solution: Always select the “Default:<None>” option for the Page Setup when using the Publish to: Plotter Named in Page Setup, rather than specifying a user-defined page setup from the list. If you prefer a user-defined page setup instead of default, use the PDF option under the Publish to drop down list. Remembering to use those combinations results in single-sheet PDFs as expected.
Here are some screenshots of the Publish Dialog Box options along with a note on what type of PDF file is produced.
Publish Options: Single-Sheet file
Publish To: PDF
Page Setup: 36x24 (user defined)
Output: Single-Sheet PDF files
Publish To: PDF
Page Setup: 36x24 (user defined)
Output: Single-Sheet PDF files
Publish Options: Single-Sheet file
Publish To: Plotter Named in Page Setup
Page Setup: Default
Output: Single-Sheet PDF Files
Publish Options: Single-Sheet file
Publish To: Plotter Named in Page Setup
Page Setup: 36x24 (user defined)
Output: Multi-Sheet PDF
Infrastructure Solutions Application Specialist
Matt is a licensed Civil Engineer in the state of Hawaii. Matt obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and has 7 years of private sector design experience which he applies in his role as an application specialist with Ideate, Inc. His project experience includes residential and commercial site development, private and public sewer, water and drainage systems, harbors improvements, and roadway improvements. While in Hawaii, Matt was involved in multidisciplinary projects for City and County agencies, State Departments, the Army COE and private developers. @MattM_PE
Get it. Know it. Use it.
