plot notification

[thechinaman]

Is there a way to get notification of completion of a plot?

[Gigliano70]

Is there a way to get notification of completion of a plot?

your XP taskbar has an icon that shows when any plotting is going on. It's right next to your clock in XP. it might be hidden so click on the "<" button and it will show all hidden icons. one of them will be your plotter spool when it is gone your plot should be in the process of printing or complete. if you double click on that icon it will show you what plots are completed and which ones are still pending or in error. when all plots are completed the icon disapears again.

Hope this helps,

~Frank

[dzatto]

You can turn on the XP balloon notification. I have Vista now, but I think it's the same.

Go to printers and faxes, right click (not on a printer, just in the window), go to print server properties, advanced tab, at the bottom check "show informational notification for network printers" or the one for local printers depending on what you have.

You can also turn on balloon notification in CAD by setting traynotify to 1, and traytimeout lets you control the length of time it is displayed.

[thechinaman]

I was aware of the balloon in Windows. In my case, when the balloon disappears, and I check the plotter, the plot is still going on.

[BrenBren]

I was aware of the balloon in Windows. In my case, when the balloon disappears, and I check the plotter, the plot is still going on.

That's because it's no longer spooling on your computer, and has moved to the plotter.

You want the plotter to notify you when it's done. I'm thinking, out of the box, there isn't going to be a way to do this. Once that plot has left your computer, it has most likely gone through a print server, and on to the plotter. Your computer sees it as done, meaning it's been sent to the plotter, and baring any server/plotter issues, all is fine.

Depending on the plotter, there may be a way to do it from your printer options in windows, but I'm not sure.

This isn't just an AutoCAD thing, any software will do the same.

[billy342601]

All the icon does is let you know that the file has been sent to the printer and is fully stored in the printer memory. (BrenBren beat me to this fact.)

Unless there is some way to have the printer reply back that printing is completed (some newer standalone models do just this); I doubt you would get the results is appears you are looking for. Maybe someone has developed a program to do this, I am not aware of it though.