pdf printing problem

[FRED JOHNSON]

Hello,

I have 7 files in VW, 24" x 36" which print out fine.  I made pdf files out of each and used Preview to combine the files into one pdf file, something I have done often.  This time however the files will not print larger than 8-1/2 x 11 even on D sheets no matter what page setup I use.  Did Preview screw up the drawing print size or did I do something wrong?  Any help appreciated.

Fred Johnson

[Pat Stanford]

There are three places you can set scale of drawings to print in VW.

 

1. Page Setup: Printer Setup...:Scale

 

2. Print:Paper Handling (this one may depend on your printer driver

 

3. Page Setup:Printer Setup...:Vectorworks.

 

My money is on numbers 2 or 3.

 

Three was added in the Mid 80s when Mac printer drivers did not support scaling so VW (Minicad at the time) had to provide that option.

[FRED JOHNSON]

Pat,

The drawings were correctly set up for my printer and printed fine as VW files and individual pdf files.  Its only when grouped into one multipage pdf file using Preview that they somehow changed to 8-1/2 x 11 sheet size.  Perhaps there was a step in combining the pdfs in Preview that I missed; still investigating.

[Jeff Prince]

1 hour ago, FRED JOHNSON said:

Pat,

The drawings were correctly set up for my printer and printed fine as VW files and individual pdf files.  Its only when grouped into one multipage pdf file using Preview that they somehow changed to 8-1/2 x 11 sheet size.  Perhaps there was a step in combining the pdfs in Preview that I missed; still investigating.

 

So you are saying Vectorworks makes the individual PDFs correctly. (double check)

When you view one of these in Preview, the size is correct. (double check each PDF and verify this is the case).

When you combine the separate PDFs into one using Preview, the error happens.

 

If that's the case, it sure sounds like a Preview problem.  Try combining them in Acrobat and see if the same thing happens.

 

21 hours ago, FRED JOHNSON said:

This time however the files will not print larger than 8-1/2 x 11 even on D sheets no matter what page setup I use.  Did Preview screw up the drawing print size or did I do something wrong?

So, when you say "print" are you talking about making a paper print or a PDF?

 

 

I haven't experienced the problems you are having.  You can combine multiple PDFs in Preview, even files with different sizes.  Preview will remember the different individual sheet sizes and display them correctly.  I would bet on something has changed in your VWX settings over Preview being the culprit.  Have you tried making your PDFs via Publish instead of Print from VWX?  One thing that does happen frequently is people thinking they set up VWX to print correctly, but end up having a discrepancy between the 1st dialog box in "Page Setup" (from File->Page Setup) and the second "Page Setup" which is accessed from the first by hitting the "Printer Setup" button found in the 1st dialog.  It's confusing and should be fixed.  For reference, Pat's post shows these dialogs as the first two images in his post.

Edited May 31, 2023 by jeff prince

[Pat Stanford]

Check that you did not have the "Print Current View Only" check box checked when you printed the PDFs.  I believe this causes the current window to print at whatever scale fits it on the the default Printer page size.

[FRED JOHNSON]

Pat,

Found the problem - once in Preview and the pdf files have been combined you need to select PRINT TO PDF, then select the sheet size, then save the combined file under a new name.  Having done this the file now prints out correctly on D size sheets.   Apparently this is how I did it in the past but just forgot the extra step.

[DBruhnke]

On 6/1/2023 at 10:16 AM, FRED JOHNSON said:

Apparently this is how I did it in the past but just forgot the extra step.

Here to save you the extra step.

 

Select the files in Finder.

Right click and select Quick Actions...

Then Create PDF.

You can select Images & PDF's to make a single PDF file.

 

If you don't have this option, it can be found in System Preferences/Privacy & Security/Extensions/Finder...

The real ProTip is that the in the resulting file, the pages are arranged in the order that you select them in Finder.

Or the order of the current sort, if you are selecting an entire folder full of stuff.

The Files do not even need to be in the same folder, as long as you can see (and click on them) in a single Finder window.

Think List View with several folders "kicked open" to see contents.

This has saved me lots of time monkeying around with Acrobat, Preview, PDF Expert, etc.

[mjm]

@DBruhnke — great tip thanks so much.