? In Windows Explorer, double-click on a DST file.
In either case, AutoCAD displays the sheet set information in the Sheet Set Manager palette, as shown in Figure 14-1. Click each of the three tabs to get an idea of how the particular sheet set that you opened is configured.
With a sheet set open, you’re ready to perform tasks such as these:
? Double-click a name on any of the tabs to open the corresponding DWG file in AutoCAD. Double-clicking a sheet name on the Sheet List tab or a drawing name on the Resource Drawings tab opens that DWG file, while double-clicking a view name on the View List tab opens the DWG file and zooms to the view. Thus, you can use the Sheet Set Manager to navigate quickly among all the drawings for a project.
? Right-click the sheet set name or a sheet subset name on the Sheet List tab to create a new sheet, using the template drawing (DWT file) configured for the project or sheet subset. (The “Getting Your Sheets Together” section, later in this chapter, describes how to specify the DWT file for a sheet set or subset.)
? Right-click a resource drawing to place it — either the entire drawing or a named view within it — on a sheet drawing.
? Right-click a sheet or view to rename and renumber it. Names and numbers can be linked to labels on the sheets, so that when you change the names or numbers in the Sheet Set Manager, AutoCAD automatically updates them in all drawings where they appear. (See the next two paragraphs for more information.)
? Right-click the sheet set name to add a sheet list table (that is, an index of the drawings for the project) to the current drawing. AutoCAD uses the name and number data described in the preceding paragraph to create the sheet table list and keep it current.
? On the View List tab, right-click the sheet set name and choose Properties to specify label blocks and callout blocks. Then you can right-click view names to place these automatically updating blocks in drawings. Label blocks show the number and name of a part of a drawing (for example, a single detail or a plan). Callout blocks reference another part of the drawing set — usually on another sheet (for example, a pointer on a plan to an elevation or detail on a different sheet).
? Right-click sheets or subsets to publish (that is, plot) them, package them for electronic transmittal, or archive them for yourself. (Chapter 16 includes instructions for these tasks.)
The rest of this chapter provides details and procedures for many of these operations.
You don’t have to use all the features described earlier in order to benefit from sheet sets. For example, you might use the Sheet Set Manager just to create a navigational list of your drawings, add a sheet index to the cover sheet of the drawing set, and batch plot all the sheets.
The Sheet Set Setup
If you don’t have an obliging CAD manager to configure sheets sets for you, then you’ll have to do it yourself. You use the Create Sheet Set wizard for this task. Follow these steps to create a new sheet set:
1. Open the menu at the top of the Sheet Set Manager palette and choose New Sheet Set.
The Create Sheet Set wizard appears.
2. Choose Create a Sheet Set Using Existing Drawings, and then click Next.
The Sheet Set Details page appears, as shown in Figure 14-2.
Figure 14-2: Sheet Set Details.
3. Type a name and description for the sheet set, and choose a directory for the DST (sheet set configuration data) file.
By default, AutoCAD stores DST files that you create in your local My DocumentsAutoCAD Sheet Sets folder. Unless you’re the only person working on a project, you should instead put DST files in a commonly accessible place on your local network. You can store the DST files for all projects in a single network folder or simply keep each project’s DST file in the same folder that holds the project’s DWG files.
4. Click the Sheet Set Properties button, review the other settings, and click OK.
You can change all this stuff later in the Sheet Set Manager palette, so don’t worry too much about it now. Use the dialog box help (click the question mark and then click on a setting) to find out more about any of the settings.
5. Click Next.
The Choose Layouts page appears. You can click the Browse button to add any drawing(s) that you’ve already created for the project to the sheet set, but it’s just as easy to add them later in the Sheet Set Manager palette. (I show you how in the next section.)
6. Click Next.
The wizard displays a summary of the settings that it saved to the new DST file.
7. Click Finish.
AutoCAD closes the Create Sheet Set wizard and opens your new sheet set in the Sheet Set Manager palette.
The other way to create a new sheet set is to copy one from an existing DST file. If you choose Create a Sheet Set Using An Example Sheet Set in Step 2, then you can choose from half a dozen Autodesk samples or open a file dialog box and browse to other DST files. The Autodesk examples are fine for experimenting, but you will need to modify them in order to make them usable on real projects.
To change any of the sheet set properties (which you reviewed in Step 5 above), right-click the sheet set name on the Sheet List tab of the Sheet Set Manager palette and choose Properties.
Getting Your Sheets Together
A new sheet set without any sheets is a lonely thing indeed, so after you create a new sheet set, you’ll need to populate the set with drawings. A common way to get started is to create a drawing with a suitable layout and title block in paper space and then
Use these steps to add an existing drawing to the sheet set for a project:
1. Create and save at least one properly set up drawing, including a paper space layout. (See Chapter 3 for details.)
If you delete any unused layout tabs (right-click the tab and choose Delete), the sheet list will turn out cleaner and less confusing. When you’re using sheet sets, it’s usually best to set up and use just one layout per drawing file.
2. Open the Sheet Set Manager palette.
3. (Optional) On the Sheet List tab of the Sheet Set Manager palette, right-click the sheet set name and choose New Subset. Type a subset name and click OK.
You can use sheets subsets to group your sheets into categories. See the “Sheet subsets” section after these steps for an explanation and examples.
This isn’t your only chance to assign a sheet to a subset. You can create the subset later and then drag the sheet into it.
4. Right-click the sheet set name (or the subset name that you created in the previous step) and choose Import Layout as Sheet.
The Import Layouts as Sheets dialog box appears.
