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Work in Colour but Print in B&W?


grahamc

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It depends on how you print:

* If you print from design layers, then you'll have two options:

* use layer colors and check the option in the doc prefs.

* use the doc pref your mentioned.

* If you print from sheet layers, you can set your viewport in black and white by setting class overrides. You'll have to draw with attributes set to from class.

Maybe there are other options, but these are the one I know in VW12.

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grahamc,

This can be done quite easily with VectorScript. Just create a new script in the VectorScript plug-in editor, choose "Command" for the type (this is the default), give the script a name, like "Print B & W..." or something similar, and paste in the following code:

SetPref(10, TRUE);
DoMenuTextByName('Print',0);
SetPref(10, FALSE);

Save the script, and using the Workspace Editor, and add this script to your workspace in the file menu. Put it right below "Print...".

Now when you want to print in color, choose "Print...", when you want to print in Black and White, choose your new menu item, "Print B & W...". If you print this way more often than not, you can reassign the key command ("Command-P") to the new menu item.

I know this works in VW 12.5. I do not know about VW 2008 or 2009, but I am pretty sure it would still work if you upgrade. Maybe someone else can confirm that they did not change anything in VectorScript that would break this code.

If you have never used VectorScript before, this is just one example of the many things you can do with scripting.

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If you use gradients and colour images/image fills, they always print in colour irrespective of the document settings.

You can achieve similar to above using layer colour override on a viewport, but it still does not fix the issue with gradients and colour images.

If you use viewport attributes, you can do it on a layer by layer basis and have more control as to what components (fill/line etc) are set to what colour. This can be useful if you want to pick out the contents of a certain layer and print in a different colour - ie red. I use it for demolition items and I know that some people use this feature for highlighting fire controls and circuits.

If 2009 does not already do it, I can certainly see a valid reason to treat gradient and image fills in the same way as colour solid fills when displaying/printing a document in B&W only. Whilst you can sometimes do this in the printer prefs, it would be very useful to have the option of having a simplified black outline/white fill instead of a greyscale rendition of the print.

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