How can I make microstation printing workflow more efficient?

To expand on what Duncan posted, once you have your pltcfg files created you can include those in your Print Organizer Print Styles.  The "Printer" tab in that dialog is where you would assign it.  When you have these pieces set up and saved Print Organizer will be able to batch print your files consistently.

Cheers,

Ian

To expand on what Duncan posted, once you have your pltcfg files created you can include those in your Print Organizer Print Styles.  The "Printer" tab in that dialog is where you would assign it.  When you have these pieces set up and saved Print Organizer will be able to batch print your files consistently.

Cheers,

Ian

In the workspace config you can define the default  printer to use , I even have a setting  ( which right no eludes me  I'm at home) the places a fence auto fit to the view drg element extents and as I dont leave any thing out side my frame or title block it always works with control p, forces the default or last used print setting and print driver and places fence ... 

Along time ago I published a script that  you can put on an F key  and it will load auto plot and paper size and you just then either  then press the print  or if you want change a setting on screen ie mono, colour etc from its already chosen settings .. you can even put the execute command at the end then you just send it automatic to the printer, I set mine to make pdfs as that what I send to clients so I print from the pdf to see what they would most likely see too allowing for small differences in printers...

here is the article I wrote 6 years ago on how to make the custom F key script and how it works beware the keyin is one long line  of text no word wrap even tho shown here with word wrap...

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I made a script a long time ago that from a Function key  launches place fence by element then waits for you to data point on the enclosing element then launches the plot function, select my default printer and default paper size and prefered pentable and can either print immediately or is defined to wait for me to hit the print  button just incase I want to change the scale or other options... It needs to be customised to your requirements...

here is a snip of the article I posted in control alt delete mag..

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Customised Key-ins for V8 plotting

Tips

I have several network printers available to me but I can only have one as my preferred printer. The network settings

only permits me to change the default paper size for the preferred printer. This article sets out how to have preferred

settings for all your available printers and have a pull down to choose your printer.

The first thing needed is to have several customised copies of printer.plt. For each printer, we need to

define settings such as pentables and the network path and name for each printer. Then we set a script in our custom

pull down (or function key/s) and define the paper size within the script.

Assuming you have already defined the path and network name of each printer and set the pentable of choice for

each printer and they are saved with unique name of the format “name.plt”.

Also we assume that printing will be done from a drawing that contains a frame or closed boundary element.

This helps automate the fence placement and activate the Print command. We also assume the reader is familiar

with the customise menu creation featured in previous articles by the author. This essentially has the workflow workspace>

customise>Menu bar> insert/ modify. or an F key assigned

The script when executed ( an assigned F key is fastest way) expect the user to then double click on a boundary (in my case a construction closed shape element which is not printable but will hold the fence). Then it automatically selects the right printer driver and path to the

network printer. Set my print preferences and choose the paper size I have set (my default or preferred size is A3

landscape).

It then has the option to wait and allow me to redefine the scale and print or just print immediately. And so the

script is as shown below. ( WARNING) the next two lines what should be one continuous keyjn script but word wrapping here

place fence element;%D;DIALOG PLOT;PRINT DRIVER printer_col.PLT;print fullsheet       

off;PRINT PAPERNAME A3;PRINT ATTRIBUTES CONSTRUCTIONS OFF

The above waits for me to hit the Print button, to make it print immediately we just append at the end.

; PRINT EXECUTE

So reading through the script

• place fence element;%D lets you place the fence by selecting an element via data point twice ( double click) on the element.

• DIALOG PLOT tells Microstation to bring up the printer dialog. Leave this out if you want instant printing ( better not to.)

• PRINT DRIVER printer_col.PLT tells MicroStation to use my customised printer.plt called pinter_col.plt

 (which in my case happens to be our laser printer which has its network path and network name

defined inside the printer_col.plt file as sysprinter /name="\\mel2\colourL6"

PRINT FULL SHEETOFF is self explanatory.

• PAPERNAME A3 sets the paper size by its windows name.

• PRINT ATTRIBUTES CONSTRUCTIONS OFF makes construction elements invisible to the printer hence they  wont  print...

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today we would use he pltcfg printer files instead of the plt files