In Microstation V8, in the Print dialog > Settings > Print Attributes there is a Print Border setting. Print Border – if selected, a border is printed based on the border statement configuration in the plot driver file (.plt). This setting is on by default if the printer driver file has a BORDER record.

It the plot driver file (.plt), remove the “;” comment in front of the border statement:

border /time /filename /text_height=0.35

This border statement will give you a border output on paper with the name of the design file being printed, and date and time of the plot.

If you would like the full path of the design file location in your border you will need to have the following border statement in the plot
driver file:

border/text_height=0.35/time/comment=(“${_DGNFILE}”)

However, there is a limitation of 80 characters when using the “comment” qualifier.

Thanks to William Fiorillo of SITE-Blauvelt Engineers, Inc.for the tip.

1) From the “Reference” dialog box, select the reference file you want to plot.

2) Go to Settings | Level Symbology. This will open the “Ref Level Symbology” dialog box for that reference file.

3) Select the levels you want to make “thinner”, then click on the Weight check box, under the “Settings” area.

4) Modify the Weight and click <OK>.

5) In the View Attributes for your active view, turn on “Level Symbology”.

Enable the “Level Symbology” view attribute to see the level symbology you just set.
That’s it! This does not affect the actual element symbology, only how the element displays in that view. You can turn off the level symbology when you are done plotting.

If you use this procedure often, it would be good practice to set up this up in an unused view. This gives you a “plotting view” that you can modify however you want, without modifying the actual drawing.

1. Open a design file and select “File | Print” from the main menu. This opens the Print dialog box.

2. Locate the magnifying glass icon under the Print and Paper Size label. It should be next to the Bentley Driver drop-down menu.

3. From the Select Printer dialog box, choose the PDF.PLT file and press <OK>. This activates the PDF plot driver.

4. Edit the PDF plot driver file. Select “File | Edit Print Driver” from the menu inside the Print dialog box. This opens the plot driver file in Notepad.

5. As a safety precaution, save the file as another name by selecting “File | Save As” from the Notepad menu. In our example, well name it PDF2.PLT. Remember that all plot drivers are simple text files with a “PLT” extension.

6. For the most part, the PDF plot driver doesn’t require any changes to generate a PDF file. However, the new PDF file does offer the ability to toggle levels on or off from inside Acrobat Reader. But it needs to be enabled.

7. In the Notepad window, locate the section called, “Turn the Level/File optional content on and off.” Enable this function by removing the semicolon in front of the line immediately below this function. It must look exactly like the following line:
CmdName /appname=”pdf” /command=”FileOptionalContent” /qualifier= “On”

8. Comment out the next line by inserting a semicolon in front of it. The line must look exactly like this:
;CmdName /appname=”pdf” /command=”FileOptionalContent” /qualifier=”Off”

9. Save the changes in the PDF plot driver by selecting “File | Save”.

10. Once the new PDF driver is saved, it needs to be reloaded. Click on the magnifying glass icon next to the Bentley Driver drop-down menu.

11. Select and activate the PDF2.PLT file from the Select Printer Driver file box.

12. Now print the same file by clicking the Print icon. Enter the name and location for the new PDF file. Watch the progress bar as the PDF is created. When completed, the “Finished Creating Print” message appears inside the Status Area.

13. Locate and open the PDF file using Acrobat Reader 6.0 or a newer version. Once the PDF file is opened, press the Layers tab on the left side. All level names appear inside the left display area. Click the eye icon to toggle levels on or off.

There is a better way to plot the full path location of the design file
being plotted.
1. Open the “Plot-(V7)” or the “Print-(V8)” dialog box.
2. Attach the “PenTable” you wish to use.
3. Edit that “PenTable”.
4. Click on “Text Substitutions”.
5. Click “Edit”.
6. Insert “Design File Long”, (this places the code $FILEL$ into the
design file).
7. Now place that text anywhere you want into the file (it must be
visible when plotted).
8. The file Path will be printed wherever the $FILEL$ text is located.

You can also insert the time and date in the same way once the “PenTable”
has been edited in a similar manner!

This works in both V7 and V8, (the code text changed in V8, so you may have
to edit the “PenTables” from V7 to V8).

Rick Niewoehner
Zapata Engineering