Page setups not holding paper size

I'm having problems with page setups. For example....I create a page setup
for our HP5000 laserjet and select 11x17 for the paper size and save the
page setup. Then I do a full preview, everything looks fine so I exit back
to the printing dialogue box and the paper size changes to 8 1/2 x 11 which
is the default size for the printer. If I pick on my saved page setup it
will reset it to 11x17 and it prints fine. Then the next time you go to
plot that layout it comes up with the proper page setup but the size had
reverted back to the default paper size for the printer which is 8 1/2 x 11.
So you have to actually pick the saved page setup to get it to go back to
11x17. Does anyone know why this happens? This happens on all printers and
plotters that we use. We used to have different printer configurations for
each paper size and never had problems like this but that is way to much
work to maintain when you update printer drivers. Is there any way to stop
this from happening?

Thanks,
Pete

 

Pete,

Try setting up a pc3 file by editing the plotter properties to filter out
the unwanted page sizes. Then save the pc3 to a name indicating the sheet
size.
Now when you save a page setup with the pc3, only one paper size shows.

Dave Alexander

 

Thanks for the reply Dave. That's basically what we had setup before and
I'm trying to avoid that. When you have a ton of paper sizes like we do and
then you need each size to plot in draft, final and enhanced mode it's just
too many pc3's to update when printer drivers are updated. We print
everything from 8 1/2x11 to 36x108 and it is a pain to maintain them all
that way. Right now I basically have one pc3 for each plot quality for each
printer/plotter with all the paper sizes available and it is much less to
maintain. But because of the paper size reverting to the default all the
time we have users plotting to the wrong size paper beause they don't catch
it. I guess if there is no way to work around this I'll have to go back to
doing it the other way.

 

Pete,

We never had that many sheet sizes or plot qualities to worry about but I
know that many pc3's are a pain to scroll through.
There is a trick with using short-cuts to folders which has been bandied
about in the n.g. but all that would do is allow you to separate your sheet
sizes by plot quality which is probably a problem with using named page
setups.

Dave Alexander

 

The standard plot configurations are set in the template files. The problem
only happens when you change the paper size to something that is not the
default set in the pc3 file. When you are trying to repeat the problem is
11x17 the default paper size set in the pc3 file? If it is try changing it
to letter and see if it switches back to 11x17. And yes SAVE CHANGES TO
LAYOUT is checked.

Let me try to explain exactly how this is setup and what is happening just
in case I wasn't clear the first time. Here is an example of a pc3 file
that is set up for our HP1050C plotter.

The name of the pc3 file is HP1050C-Enhanced. The default paper size set is
Arch D - 24 x 36 in. If you print with those settings everything is fine.
Now, say you need to do a scale to fit reduction to 11 x 17, so you change
the paper size to ANSI B - 11 x 17 (which is a standard paper size
available), set it to scale to fit, save a page setup and preview, then when
you exit the preview the paper size is reset to Arch D - 24 x 36. Or if you
plot from the preview the plot comes out fine but when you go back into the
plot dialogue box the page setup is set to the 11 x 17 setup but the paper
size has switched back to Arch D 24 x 36.

Because of this problem I will basically have to create about 30+ pc3 files
rather than 5 to get all sizes at all qualities. If saving the page setup
won't hold the paper size if it isn't the standard size in the pc3 file then
what is the point in even allowing the paper size to be changed?


And we are running Land Desktop 2004 SP2 incase anyone was wondering.

Pete

 

Can anyone duplicate this problem? From what Dean posted it sounded like he
was doing something different.

Thanks,
Pete

 

Are we talking about how the Plot Dialog box will change the paper size
after exiting the Preview? That happens to me alot and I have yet to figure
it out.
I've created the numerous Page Setups in the drawing including custom paper
sizes. Most of the time I can preview the plot with no trouble but in some
drawings I'll exit the Preview in order to tweak something and I'll notice
the Paper Size changes to the same custom size every single time for that
drawing.

Aside from adding this to my "1001 Reasons for Cussing at post-ACAD14
Plotting Procedures" I've exhausted all ideas for solving this problem. I
too would appreciate some assistance in this matter.

 

I have found that for getting page setup values to hold it is best if
you create or modify a page setup from the PageSetup dialog first, then
use the Plot dialog to change back and forth between your desired
devices and page setups. I have had more switching and lost values when
trying to create from the Plot dialog, especially when my required
device is new and hasn't been previously accessed in any of my saved
page setups.

Ron Meicho