Print FAQs

I am no longer able to print all pages when using batch print?

This behavior is possibly due to a recent Windows Security Update. Please try uninstalling KB3176493 on Windows 10 and KB3177725 on Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Why are my symbols printing solid?

Several symbols have been defined with a solid paint fill to allow the symbols to be more visible in Room mode. The paint in the symbols can be made visible by selecting Options > Visible Items and checking the option Paint in Symbols, found under the Drawing Items group. When the Paint in Symbols is made visible it will print with the default print pen for paint. To stop Paint in Symbols from printing, turn off its visibility for the mode you are printing from.

Can SoftPlan print to a larger format plotter?

Yes. As SoftPlan is a Windows program, any Windows driven printer or plotter can be used by loading the appropriate driver into the Windows > Control Panel > Printer folder.

How do I change the walls to display with a shaded texture as well as print the walls with this shade?

The screen display and the printed display for walls are controlled separately within SoftPlan. To change the display on screen, select File > System/ Drawing Options > Define Wall > Edit > and select the wall to change. Each material will have a setting for the Texture Visible, Texture Pattern, and Texture Color. These items will control the display of the wall on screen. Turn on the Texture Visible for the materials to be shaded. Then select the solid Texture pattern and assign a gray Texture color. The preview of the wall will update to show you what it will look like in plan view. The wall setting, for printing purposes, is controlled by the Texture Pen in the same section of the Wall Definition menu. The pen number that is selected relates to the Pen Setup. Select File> System/ Drawing Options > Pen Setup. Click on Configure Print Pen Styles. Assign a gray shade to the corresponding pen number. The wall will print shaded.

How do I create a .pdf file from my SoftPlan drawings?

SoftPlan has a pdf writer available in the reView add-on module. If you have purchased and installed reView, go to File, reView, and click on Portable Document Format (PDF). For more information on reView or to purchase it, please contact our sales department at 1-800-248-0164 or sales@softplan.com

How do I enter in a custom scale size for printing such as 1”=15’?

The scale must be converted to a decimal format. In this case 1/15 or “0.067."

How do I insert a logo into SoftPlan?

File types that can be imported into SoftPlan are DXF or DWG for drawing type files. BMP, JPG or TGA files are image files that can also be imported. To import a logo in a DXF or DWG file type, click on File, Import, DWG/DXF and click on the drawing surface. You will then be prompted to browse to the location of the file you wish to import. For more information, see page 596 in the Version 12 Learning SoftPlan manual, Importing DXF and DWG Drawings. To import a logo in a BMP, JPG or TGA format, click on File, Import, Image and a window will open prompting you for the location of the image. Browse to the location where the image is stored, highlight it and click the Open button. Place your cursor in the approximate area you would like the image to appear, click your mouse and an expandable box will start, adjust the size of the box to the area you want the image to occupy and left click your mouse.

Is there an easy way to insert a border (title block) ?

Yes - see Plan Sets.

Where do I set up the pen settings for Walls?

All pen settings are assigned from within the Wall Definition menu, on a per material basis. To change, select File> System/Drawing Options > Define Wall > Edit > and select the wall to change. Each material will have a pen setting for both the outside and inside lines, as well as the texture being used. Note that these settings are used only if the material has been set to be visible. As the walls have already been pre-defined with Pen numbers, you may want to accept those settings and set up your other items with the remaining Pen numbers, as it would be much easier to change those than to edit each material of each wall type. 

My SoftPlan Version 12 or earlier will not print.

If you are running Windows XP and recently installed the Windows XP Service Pack 3, SoftPlan Version 12 and earlier will not display the print position window to allow it to print to a scale. See Microsoft for instructions on how to remove the Windows XP Service Pack 3. Newer Versions of SoftPlan do not have this issue.
 
SoftPlan Versions 12 and earlier are incompatible with the Windows XP-SP3, Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8,  and 10 operating systems. It is strongly recommended that users of earlier SoftPlan versions wishing to avoid printing problems upgrade to the current version of SoftPlan.  

How do I change the plan view of a wall to print with a grey tone fill?

Your printer driver will refer to this as a gray scale. If your printer allows for gray scaling go to File > System/Drawing Options > Define wall > Edit > select the wall in question > scroll to the far right> change Texture pattern for a material(s) to solid and change the Texture pen of that item to pen 16. Click OK. The default print pen color for pen 16 is gray.