With the various functions of the Free Plot tool, you can control in detail the appearance of your prints of the active view.
When you start the tool, you must first define one or more areas of the active view that you want to print. You also decide the print format and which graphics the printout should contain.
The next step is to review and customize the printable area in the Preview. Here you can adjust the print scale, change the map theme, adjust the drawing heads, zoom and rotate the print area, place the compass arrow, and draw coordinate crosses.
You can also create permanent print areas based on certain types of surface objects, such as surface area, project area, inspection area, or concession area. By right-clicking on the surface, there is the Preview option, which means that you end up directly in the Free Plot tool.
When you select the menu option File > Free Plot..., the Print tab is created in the sidebar (If the Sidebar is hidden, the Free Plot settings open in a separate window instead).
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If the Free Plot tool is used from the right-click menu, you will need to create a new preview if you change anything in the map. |
Open the Free plot tool
Choose File> Print> Free Plot. The Free Plot window opens.
Settings
Printing options
There are five different options to choose from to define which area or areas of the active view to plot: Active View (Full Screen), Rectangle, Scale, Split over pages, and Automatic:
Active view |
Plots the content of the entire active view. 1.Select the Active view option. 2.Click Preview. The Preview application window opens.
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Rectangle |
Allows you to define one or more print areas within the active view to be plotted. 1.Select the Rectangle option. 2.Define printing area by clicking (and entering the starting point), moving the mouse arrow, and clicking again (end point) in the active view. A red rectangle shows the defined printing area.
3.Repeat step 2 to plot multiple areas at once. In this selection, the areas will also be numbered (1,2,3 ... etc.) So that you know which area was defined first. 4.Click Preview to view a print preview. If several areas have been selected, the Preview creates one tab per print sheet, as well as the Overview tab that shows the grid of print sheets to be plotted.
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Scale 1: |
Allows you to specify a specific scale in which to plot an area of the active view. 1.Select the Scale option. The pink field indicates a mandatory field and must be filled in before the function can be used. 2.Enter a scale factor, ex "4000". 3.A red rectangle appears next to the mouse cursor. The rectangle shows the area of the plot area in the current paper size and zoom level. Position the rectangle over the area you want to print by clicking on the map. 4.Repeat step 3 to plot multiple areas at once. In this selection, the areas will also be numbered (1,2,3 ... etc.) So that you know which area was defined first. 5.Click Preview to view a print preview. If several areas have been selected, the Preview creates one tab per print sheet, as well as the Overview tab that shows the grid of print sheets to be plotted.
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Split over pages |
Allows you to define a map area that consists of a grid of print sheets. These print sheets receive a common paper size and map scale. Split over pages plot makes it possible to print a larger map area over several pages, with any overlap between the print sheets. In the Preview, one tab per print sheet is created, as well as the Overview tab that shows the grid of print sheets to be plotted. By default, each print sheet contains scale ruler and page numbers. You can choose to hide them, see Settings > Settings > Tab Export / Print.
1.Select the Split over pages option. The pink fields indicate mandatory fields and must therefore be filled in before the function can be used. 2.Enter Scale. 3.Enter the number of Columns and Rows in the grid of print areas, such as 2 x 2 or 2 x 3, and so on. 4.Specify in millimeters how large the overlap should be between the pages of the printout. If you do not enter a value, the pages will not overlap at all. 5.A net of page numbered boxes appears next to the mouse cursor. The grid shows the scale area spread given the current paper size and zoom level. 6.Position the grid over the desired area and finish by left-clicking. The Preview application window opens.
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Automatic |
Used for automatically create a plot area that covers selected geometries such as lines or polygons.
1.Select the Automatic option. 2.Enter Scale. 3.Enter any overlap in millimeters. 4.Click in the map at the area you want to plot. 5.Select the component to be plotted. 6.Free plot is created.
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Map settings
Use Product settings |
The map product's preset drawing attributes are retained in the printout. Own adaptations of temporary drawing attributes are not retained in the printout.
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Use View settings |
Prints the graphic according to the appearance in active view, with all its own temporary adjustments to the map product's drawing attributes that have been made in the Map tab in the Side bar (show, hide, show scale dependency, show / change attributes). |
Tool buttons
Preview |
Click Preview when you have defined the plot area (s) and want to view a preview of the printout. |
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Opens settings for printer selection, paper size, page orientation, margins, etc. and is available for printer settings and page setup. The settings are valid as long as you are logged in to the application. Printer Settings: Changes the printer selection, paper size, page orientation. Page setup: Paper size settings, page orientation, page margins. See also File > Print > Page setup. |
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Deselects the drawing frame for the printout, if selected. The icon is activated only when a drawing frame for the printout is selected. |
More information
•The default print setting contains scale ruler and page numbers. To hide scale ruler and page numbers, see Settings > Settings > Tab Export / Print.
•For multiple defined print areas in one plot, specific pages can be deleted in the preview. Right-click on the tab that refers to the page you want to delete and select Delete Page. In the same way, you can also copy an active view, hide the overview and show the overview.
Drawing frame
To make a printout containing a drawing frame on each print sheet:
1.Open the sidebar.
2.Select the tab Free plot (if the tab is not shown, choose File > Print > Free plot to makre it appear in the sidebar).
3.Click the settings icon 
in the Drawing Frame panel. The 'Select drawing frame to open' window opens.
4.Select drawing frame.
5.Click OK. The name of the drawing frame appears in the Drawing Frame panel. The deselect icon is activated.
To plot a printout without a drawing frame, click the deselect icon.
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For more information on creating a drawing frame, see the Administration userguide > Editing Drawing Frames.