Plotting and printing to PDF

Plot from a layout, not model space. Because the layout is already the real sheet size and the viewports carry the drawing scale, the plot scale is always 1:1. Plotting model space 'to fit' gives an unknown scale — fine for a quick check, never for issue.

Plot style tables decide how objects print. CTB (colour-dependent) maps each screen colour to a printed colour and lineweight — red on screen might print black at 0.35 mm. STB (named) assigns named styles to layers or objects. Many offices now set lineweights on layers and use monochrome.ctb just to print everything black.

If lines print too thick or all the same, check whether lineweights come from the layer or the plot style, and that Plot object lineweights is ticked.

Save named page setups (Page Setup Manager) such as A3 PDF and A1 plotter, ideally in your template, and import them into other drawings.

PUBLISH plots many layouts — from one or many drawings — into a single multi-sheet PDF or separate files. It's how full drawing sets are issued.

Open the PDF and check: scale (measure a known length), line weights, text legibility at 100%, that hatches and images printed, and that no layers you froze appear. KitWren's free PDF tools can merge sheets into one set, compress large files for email, or turn a sheet into an image.