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What kind of output device do I need?

SoftPlan can print in a number of different ways to any size or scale depending on the output device being used. Some customers do all of their printing in-house while others prefer to print on small format printers at their office and take their larger printing needs to an outside service.

SoftPlan can print to any printer or plotter device that utilizes Windows® drivers. Whether connected to the computer directly or through a network, the current print driver simply needs to be installed to match the output device.

Likewise, if creating printer files to be printed at another location such as a print shop, the driver that matches the output device simply needs to be installed on the system operating SoftPlan. To use this feature, you need to call the print shop and ask what make and model of plotter will be used. The print shop may supply a driver to you, but they will most likely direct you to the web site for the plotter manufacturer where you can download and install the correct driver for the plotter as directed by them. Once installed, print as usual but select the new plotter from the list and select the ‘print to file’ option. By selecting the ‘Print to File’ option when printing from SoftPlan, a file is created that can then be copied to the printer at the remote location.

Some print services now prefer to use PDF file format to print drawings. These files can be created using the reView module from SoftPlan and taken to the print service to be output.

Using the same reView module, a file can be authored with print capabilities and sent to the print service. By downloading and installing a free version of the reView Viewer from our web site, the print service can then print the files directly from the reView Viewer.

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