So i’m in the habit now of presenting multiple design options to customers. They are labeled rather blandly . Option A thru C. I use auto-text to do the page numbering and have the page numbering on the layer that puts it on every page. So I get auto numbering which is a big time saver, but I would like Option A to be numbered as “A.1, A.2, A.3…” and Option B to be numbered “B.4, B.5, B.6…” and so on. Page #'s count based on whole set but the Letter designator follows the Option letter.
I set up Auto-Text with 4 Option Letter fields. I then referenced those in the drawings, but then realized when I do the first one, that the layer function puts that first on every page. If I change the Letter Field it changes all the pages. No go as a solution.
Just wondering if there is a way to do this in one file or if I’m going to have to go to separate files for each Option and then join them after I print to PDF.
Probably not ideal but based on the available tools and for something you could do right now, you could create three shared layers, call them Option A, Option B, and Option C (or whatever you want. Separate your page numbers into two text boxes. one for the option letter, another for the page number. The Option A text box would be on the Option A layer, Option B text on Option B layer, etc. Then show only the appropriate layer for the pages. So for the Option A pages, Ooption B and Option C layers would be turned off.
Might be a little clumsier than you’d ideally like but it would get the job done. If you decide you need additional pages for one option or another, duplicate a page. So for a fourth Option A page, duplicate A3.
I like that Dave…hadn’t thought of splitting them that way. Should work better than then splitting the file and, once it’s a template, it get the job done, even if it’s a bit clumsy.
Works a charm actually Dave. All I have to do is change visibility. Super simple. Template has multiple Letter Layers. Those can be deleted at start to match number of options. Great Solution!
If you think about it, the ability to use shared layers and control the visibility by page is hugely powerful. And like you say, with it set up as part of your template that clumsiness is only once and it’s pretty minior.
Well here’s a simple one: For the template I used here, I have three “border” layers. One for the large border at the top, another for the bar at the bottom, and a third for the smaller top border. In this situation all three border layers are shared but the large border is currently only displayed on the front page, the smaller top border on the inside pages. The bottom bar is shown on all pages. I wouldn’t really need to have the large border on a shared layer but by doing that, I can use the same border on other pages instead of the small one if I wanted to.
I have a template that I use for Arch E-sized sheets. The printed sheets will be folded for packaging so for the template I added fold lines which are on a shared layer. In this case that layer is turned on when I start. It is used as a guide so I can avoid putting important information where the creases will intersect so it doesn’t disappear from the world like those little towns on the old paper highway maps would do. The layer for these fold lines gets turned off before exporting the PDF for just the pages I’m going to export.
You could probably come up with other ideas about how to leverage that, too. If you were going to double-side print and bind the document, you might create offset page borders as guides. Those could be on shared layers–one for odd numbered pages and one for even numbered. Then just change which one is visible on each page. And then if you don’t want to show those borders in the printed document you could turn off those layers on all pages or even just delete the border lines on one page. If they are deleted on one they will be deleted on every other page they were shared to.
Wow!! Paper maps?! I’m laughing at that one not because maps are old but because I remember exactly those little towns disappearing in the folds.
And…you have now twice given me a revelation. I have had two files for a while to handle my title page and my standard drawing page. With this, I can have one file and control the different layouts with visibility. Not sure why I didn’t think about that before. I think I got locked up on that feature to apply a layer to all pages. Didn’t see the visibility part as the key to per page controls. Really glad I asked this today.
Ahhh…maybe that’s what happened to 1987? Gosh I never thought about that…Elbing, Kansas…by golly…your on to something there. If I find it on google maps it must have come back into our universe somehow…you think?
