Check a drawing in print view

What you'll do

See how a sheet will look on paper before you print it from the program that made it: black on white, line weights at their true width, and without layers that are set not to print.

Steps

1. Open a DWG or DXF drawing.
2. Click a sheet tab above the drawing.
3. Click Print view at the end of the tabs, or press PP.
4. Zoom in on a detail to compare heavy and light lines.
5. Click Print view again, or press PP, to go back to the normal colors.

What you should see

• White paper on a gray desk, every line and text in black, whatever the theme.
• Line weights: on a sheet each weight is drawn at its real width on paper, so a 0.5 mm line is twice as thick as a 0.25 mm line at any zoom. A line is never drawn thinner than its screen weight.
• Layers set not to print, and the DEFPOINTS layer, are hidden.
• The Print view button stays pressed. Print view stays on when you switch sheets or open another drawing, until you turn it off.

In Model, print view uses screen weights only (thin lines one pixel, heavier ones a little thicker), because model space has no paper size.

Common mistakes

• Expecting it to print. Print view is a preview. Printing and PDF export are not built in BimCraft yet; print from the program that made the drawing.
• Expecting plot styles. Pen tables and plot style colors are not read. Everything is plain black.
• Pressing P while typing. FF and PP do nothing while you are typing in a field, or while the equipment schedule is showing.