Once in a while for no explanation, AutoCAD’s plot styles, also called pen styles or pen tables, will go wacky and you will print in color when you want black and white. After several frustrating sessions with broken pen tables, I have discovered a couple of ways to fix the problem. The following paragraphs are full of technical AutoCAD jargon. Forgive me if you are not familiar with AutoCAD. There just isn’t a better way to describe the fix without using the AutoCAD jargon.

The first solution I found was to start a new drawing and then to block insert the old model space elements into the new model space. The new drawing worked because it is a template file that is right protected. It’s pen tables had never been altered. This method is not a problem if you are working in model space. The headaches come if you are working with paper space. If you are using paper space, you will unfortunately have to re-create your tabs, re-attach your x-references, etc. Anything that was blocked or x-refed into your old drawing will have to be set up all over again.

The second method is the preferred method. It seems a little quirky, but it works.

Step 1 is critical; shut down the AutoCAD program. If you don’t, your new pen tables may not work.

Step 2, Locate your pen styles and copy them to a temporary folder. If you don’t already know where they are, see your CAD or IT manager. I keep a back up copy of the pen styles in a folder that isn’t included in AutoCAD’s “file search path”. That way they can’t become corrupted.

Step 3, After making your copies, navigate to the folder that stores your pen styles. Delete the old pen style files and copy in the new ones.

Now you can open the program back up. That should take care of the problem. If this second method doesn’t work, you will have to use the first method. I have had good success with method 2, but it doesn’t always work. Fortunately, pen style corruption doesn’t happen too often. If I could figure out why the pen tables get corrupted in the first place, I might be able to find a way to prevent it.

If anyone knows a better way, please pass it on. AutoCAD is complex enough that there are usually several ways to approach a problem. Unfortunately, that complexity is probably why there are plenty of buggy problems to frustrate us too. I’m always open to taking suggestions from AutoCAD users.

[tags]AutoCAD, Cadalyst[/tags]