Tipster Rob Peterson shares a simple but time-saving macro that will let you control how AutoCAD loads files into the publisher before the publisher opens.

“There are times when I want to publish sheets that are located in multiple open drawings, and there are times when I want to publish sheets only from the current drawing. Because the Publish command will use the setting for ‘Automatically load all open drawings’ that was set the previous time Publish was used, you would have to run the Publish command twice to switch between loading and not loading all open drawings.

“To change the load setting before you run the Publish command, type PUBLISHALLSHEETS and change the setting: Zero 0 (zero) will load only the current drawing, and 1 will load all open drawings.

“I created a new command in the CUI called Publish All Sheets with the macro ^C^C_publishallsheets, and added it to my quick-access toolbar so I can change the setting easily.”

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Reviewer Brian Benton: I like this. It doesn’t matter what the PUBLISHALLSHEETS setting is set to, it’s always wrong! Yes, this adds one more step to the process, but it eliminates a redo or the hassle of removing and adding files to your list of drawings to be published.