Types of Print Definitions

Print Organizer supports two types of print definitions (fixed and variable), and a preferences setting to allow you to switch between the two modes. When a fixed print definition is created, it contains all of the printer properties necessary for the print job, unlike variable print definitions that obtain their printer properties at print time from a print style.

The table below gives a detailed description of each type of print definition.

Type of Print Definition	Description
Fixed print definition	Fixed print definitions (including those for DGN, DWG, PDF, and raster source files) contain all of the printing properties necessary for the print job. Examples of printing properties include the view information, paper size, print scale, etc. A fixed print definition always represents a single printed page. A print style may be applied to a fixed print definition to change one or more of the printing properties, but the name of that print style is never retained in the print definition. Subsequent changes to the print style will have no effect on any print definitions.
Variable print definition	Variable print definitions contain only the name of the source file (and an optional model name for DGN/DWG source files) plus the name of a print style. No other printing properties are stored in the variable print definition -- they are all obtained from the print style during printing or previewing. Thus, depending on the contents of the print style, a variable print definition may represent one or more printed pages. Changes made to a print style will be reflected in the output the next time any variable print definition referencing that print style is printed or previewed.

Type of Print Definition

Description

Fixed print definition

Fixed print definitions (including those for DGN, DWG, PDF, and raster source files) contain all of the printing properties necessary for the print job. Examples of printing properties include the view information, paper size, print scale, etc. A fixed print definition always represents a single printed page. A print style may be applied to a fixed print definition to change one or more of the printing properties, but the name of that print style is never retained in the print definition. Subsequent changes to the print style will have no effect on any print definitions.

Variable print definition

Variable print definitions contain only the name of the source file (and an optional model name for DGN/DWG source files) plus the name of a print style. No other printing properties are stored in the variable print definition -- they are all obtained from the print style during printing or previewing. Thus, depending on the contents of the print style, a variable print definition may represent one or more printed pages. Changes made to a print style will be reflected in the output the next time any variable print definition referencing that print style is printed or previewed.