Automate saving pdf's?

Does anyone have any advice on a slick way to create a whole bunch of pdf's
drawings automatically. I tried getting the SW task scheduler to do it, but
it doesn't seem to work for pdf's.

Thanks much,

MB

 

Try CutePDF printer
http://www.acrosoftware.com/Download.htm

 

I've tried Bluebeam with the SW task scheduler and it acts like it works,
but saves no files. I also have Acrobat, and it works up till you need to
save, and then it hangs because you have manually enter the part number and
click save for each print to get it to proceed to the next.

I tried writing a macro, to do it with Bluebeam, but I can't get it to work.
(I'm no programmer)

You would think SW would make the scheduler so it can to do it?

MB

 

IMO, this is an idea task for WinBatch.

http://www.winbatch.com/

WinBatch is quicker and easier than VB for what you want to do. The
owner provides tech support and he's an exceptionally nice person.
WinBatch is shareware and you can try it for free and post in their
forums with questions before you buy it. WinBatch is a great way to get
started with programming.

jon

 

See if reading this makes you believe you can easily handle these kinds
of problems in the future ? Give a man a fishing pole and .... :>)


http://www.winbatch.com/quickstart.html

jon

 

Why?

 

I have used GhostScript with FreeDist and small SW-macro that open every
drw in a folder and prints them out as .prn

 

Yeah, that is the same problem I have had with Bluebeam...it never seems
to save a file to a location that I have ever been able to find.

To prevent Acrobat from asking for the file name, you need to modify the
settings in you printer driver. First, make sure you are not in SWX,
then go to Start->Settings->Printers and Faxes. Right click on the
Adobe PDF printer, and open the Properties page. Click the "Printing
Preferences" button from the General tab. Now uncheck the options for
"View Adobe PDF results" and "Prompt for ADobe PDF filename". Click on
OK until the boxes all go away. Now, when you print to the Acrobat PDF
printer, it will save each file with the same name as the .SLDRW file.
The files will be located in your "My Documents" directory. I have not
found a way to change the default destination directory.

You can now use the SWX task scheduler to batch print your files.

Dave

 

Using this method I'm getting closer. I can get it to work saving part
files to pdf. It saves the part number in the file, but I still can't get
it to work using drawings. For some reason the file name is still not
saving.


I'll keep trying.

MB

 

Dave,

Reason you can't generate bluebeam PDF's using batch mode is that the
OEM version of Bluebeam has been disabled.

You would have to upgrade to Bluebeam Plus (149.95 USD) which allows
the print driver to work as you expect it.

Just talked to Bluebeam sales person on another matter and remembered
this posting.

FYI: DBWorks has a master document module that automatically generates
a PDF using SW SAVEASPDF command. Not only is the PDF generated
automatically (I have it set up for released revisions), but I can
batch process a group of drawings. The created PDF is placed in a
released folder and DBWorks "flips" the file reference so that when I
select a released SW drawing from the PDM interface - I get the PDF
version of the file. Should I need to check out the file and make
revisions on the drawing - DBWorks "flips" the file reference back to
SW and makes a compressed zip file of both the previous revision of
the SW drawing and released PDF (later is for naming convention rather
than smaller size). You can go back to reveiw previsous drawing
revisions in either SW or PDF. Sure beats having to manage SW drawing,
E-Drawing, and PDF of the same drawing.

Len

 

I haven't been able to print to the Bluebeam printer even when printing
directly from SWX. It never asks for a filename, nor does it use the
current filename from SWX and save it to a location that I can find.

I suspect that it may be broken due to having some sort of
incompatability with the Adobe drives being installed at the same time.

Dave

 

Oops .... jb was wrong again.

 

For Bluebeam try save as, and choose PDF from file list drop down.

 

I wrote an API program (in Python (because I can ) that gets the
dependancies of the currently active document, and then creates a new
macro that in turn opens the drawing for each part, saves it as a PDF,
then closes the drawing.

I then use tools/macro/run macro to run the batch PDF macro I just
created.

Note to those who want to do the same. The old-school SWX macros (*.swb)
were plain text files, easy to create. Not like the new hi-tech VBA
abomination.

I hate it myself when someone says, "I wrote a program that does that for
me, but I'm not sharing." Unfortunately, the program I wrote is not worth
sharing right now because it makes too many simplifying assumptions based
on how I manage my files. Maybe later, or for the proper consideration

William Wicker.

 

FYI:

Just making sure all the bases are covered.......
PDF generation using Bluebeam has to be enabled in the SW Tools Add-Ins.

Len