AutoCAD Electrical Etransmit and Publish: How to Share Electrical Projects as PDF (Updated July 2026)
You've designed your electrical control panel. The wiring diagrams are complete, the BOM is generated, the audit is clean. Now the client wants the full package — and your manager asks if you've used Etransmit or Publish. If you're staring blankly, you're not alone. Most AutoCAD Electrical beginners spend weeks learning to draw schematics and never cover the output and handover commands that every professional must know. Publish lets you batch-print your entire project to PDF or DWF in one operation — not one drawing at a time. Etransmit packages all your DWG files, xrefs, fonts, and support files into a single ZIP so the recipient can open everything without missing reference files. This tutorial covers both commands in detail, grounded in real AutoCAD Electrical workflows.
- Publish batch-prints your entire AutoCAD Electrical project to PDF or DWF — one command, all drawings
- Etransmit packages all project files (DWGs, xrefs, fonts, blocks) into a single ZIP for client handover
- Both commands are accessed through the Project Manager in AutoCAD Electrical
- Use Publish for review submittals and contractor sets; use Etransmit for design handover to fabricators and clients
- Missing xref issues in Etransmit can be fixed by checking the 'Include all dependent files' option
What Is the Publish Command in AutoCAD Electrical and When to Use It
The Publish command in AutoCAD Electrical lets you output multiple drawings to a single PDF, DWF (Design Web Format), or to a physical plotter — in one operation. Without Publish, you'd have to open each drawing, plot it individually, and combine the PDFs manually. That's a tedious process for projects with 50 or 100 sheets. With Publish, you define a drawing set (called a publish list), configure the plot settings once, and let AutoCAD Electrical generate all the output files in one batch operation. Publish is what you use when a client requests the full drawing set for review, when an electrician needs the installation set on site, or when you're submitting for approval to a certifying body.
Step-by-Step: How to Publish Your AutoCAD Electrical Project to PDF
To publish your project: open AutoCAD Electrical and open your project in the Project Manager. Right-click the project name and select Publish. The Publish dialog opens showing all drawings in the project. Set the Publish To option to PDF (most common) or DWF. Click Publish Settings to configure paper size (A3 or A4 is standard for electrical drawings), plot scale, and whether to create a single multi-page PDF or individual PDFs per drawing. Click Add All Sheets to include every drawing, or manually select which ones to include. Click Publish. AutoCAD Electrical generates all the PDFs in sequence. The output files go to the folder you specified. For large projects (50+ sheets), the publish operation takes 2–5 minutes — don't interrupt it.
| Command | Purpose | Output Format | When to Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publish | Batch-print all drawings | PDF, DWF, physical plot | Review submittals, installation sets |
| Etransmit | Package project with all dependencies | ZIP archive with DWGs + support files | Handover to fabricator or client CAD team |
What Is Etransmit and Why It Solves the Missing File Problem
Etransmit solves a specific problem every experienced CAD engineer has faced: you send a DWG file to a client or fabricator, and they call back saying some drawings look blank or have missing symbols. This happens because AutoCAD drawings frequently reference external files — xrefs (external reference drawings), fonts (.shx files), plot style tables (.ctb files), and custom block libraries. If those support files aren't included in the package, the recipient can't see the drawing correctly. Etransmit scans your project, identifies all referenced files, and bundles everything into a single ZIP archive. The recipient extracts the ZIP and gets a self-contained package that opens correctly without needing anything else from your system.
Step-by-Step: How to Use Etransmit in AutoCAD Electrical
To use Etransmit: in AutoCAD Electrical, open the project in the Project Manager. Go to File > Etransmit (or type ETRANSMIT in the command line). The Create Transmittal dialog opens. Select 'Include all dependent files' — this is the key checkbox that ensures xrefs, fonts, and block libraries are included. Choose a transmittal setup (Standard is fine for most purposes). Select ZIP as the output format. Choose a path to save the ZIP. Click OK. AutoCAD Electrical scans all drawings, identifies every external dependency, and packages them into the ZIP. For a 50-sheet project, expect a 10–30 MB ZIP depending on how many images and blocks your project uses.
DWF vs PDF vs Printed Output — Which Format for Which Situation
PDF is the correct format for review submittals, client approval sets, and regulatory submissions — it's universally readable and non-editable. DWF (Design Web Format) is Autodesk's format for markup collaboration — reviewers can add comments and markups using the free Autodesk Design Review tool without accessing the original DWG files. Use DWF when the client or engineer has Design Review and needs to markup the drawings with comments you can import back into your project. Use physical plot (PDF to plotter) for on-site installation sets that electricians work from. DWG with Etransmit is for design handover — when the fabricator or client's own engineering team needs to work with the design in AutoCAD.
Common Publish and Etransmit Errors and How to Fix Them
Common Publish error: 'Paper size not found' — this means the drawings reference a paper size that isn't installed in your plotter configuration. Fix by opening Page Setup Manager, confirming the plotter is set to a standard plotter (DWG to PDF.pc3) and the paper size exists in that plotter's size list. Common Etransmit issue: missing font warnings — the package finds a font file your system doesn't have. Add the .shx font file manually to the Include section of the Etransmit dialog. Another common issue: some DWG files are locked (read-only) and Etransmit can't access them — check file permissions and ensure all drawings are closed before running Etransmit.
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FAQs
Why does my client say the drawings look blank when I send DWG files?
The most common reason is missing external reference (xref) files. When you created your project, some drawings may have been inserted as xrefs — external DWG files that your drawing references instead of copying. If you send only the main DWG without the xref files, the recipient's AutoCAD can't find the referenced drawings and displays blank sections. The fix is to use Etransmit instead of manually copying DWG files — Etransmit automatically detects and includes all xref files, fonts, and other dependencies in one package.
Can I publish only selected drawings, not the whole project?
Yes. In the Publish dialog, you can manually check or uncheck individual drawings from the publish list. Right-click the project in Project Manager, select Publish, and in the Publish dialog, remove the sheets you don't want to include by unchecking them or selecting and deleting them from the sheet list. You can also save a custom publish list (a drawing set file, .dsd extension) for recurring output configurations — for example, a 'client review set' and an 'installation set' with different drawings.
What is the difference between Plot and Publish in AutoCAD Electrical?
Plot works on the currently open drawing and outputs to a single printer or file. Publish works on multiple drawings — you define a list of drawings and outputs them all in one batch operation without opening each one individually. For a single drawing, Plot and Publish achieve the same result. For a project with 20+ drawings, Publish is faster by an order of magnitude. Use Plot for quick single-drawing proofs; use Publish for project-level output.
Does Etransmit work with AutoCAD Electrical project files or just individual DWGs?
Etransmit in AutoCAD Electrical works at the project level — it processes all drawings in the current project and includes all their dependencies. You initiate it from the File menu within AutoCAD Electrical (not from outside it). It correctly handles the AutoCAD Electrical project structure, including the WD_M.DWG master drawing file, all schematic sheets, panel layout drawings, and title blocks. For it to work correctly, make sure your project is open in the Project Manager and all individual drawings are closed (not open in the editor) before running Etransmit.
