Print to a .pdf file, plot file (.plt) or printer
You can print drawings and selected drawing areas to .pdf files, plot files (.plt) to be sent to a plotter/printer, or to a printer. You can also change the colors and the related line thicknesses (pen numbers) in the printed drawings. You can print to a single printer or to multiple printers.
Print to a single printer
Example: Printing to multiple sheets
In the example below the setting Bottom to top, right to left is selected. The numbers indicate the printing order of the sheets.
In the next example, the option Left to right, top to bottom is selected.
Print to multiple printers
You can print to more than one printer in one go based on the paper size of each selected drawing. When printing to multiple printers you typically have different printers for handling different paper sizes. Tekla Structures automatically selects the appropriate printer for each drawing.
Create single printing settings
To be able to print to multiple printers, you first need to create single printing settings for each of the printers you want to print to:
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On the File menu, click .
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Select Use one printer.
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Define the printing properties as desired on the Options tab and on the Line properties tab. Select the output type and printer, and define the paper size that this printer will handle in the Use multiple printers mode.
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Save the settings with a desired name by clicking Save.
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Repeat this for each of the desired paper sizes. Do not use the size option Auto.
For example, you could create the following single printer settings files with the output type set to PDF file:
- PDF A4: Paper size set to A4, file prefix set to A4_
- PDF A3: Paper size set to A3, file prefix set to A3_
- PDF A2: Paper size set to A2, file prefix set to A2_
When printing a set of drawings in the multiple printers mode using the above single printer settings files, all A4 drawings will generate .pdf files with prefix A4_, all A3 drawings will have prefix A3_, and all A2 drawing will generate .pdf files with prefix A2_.
If you want to print more than one sheet size to the same printer in the Use multiple printers mode, create a single printer settings file for each paper size, and specify the same printer in all of these files.
Print to multiple printers