WORKFLOW AUTOMATION · SHEET W-001
CAD automation services, built by people who draft.
We write AutoLISP routines, .NET plug-ins for AutoCAD and Windows apps that take the repeat steps out of your drafting. The usual ones are plotting whole folders, mirroring plan sets, filling cover sheets and trimming sheet indexes. Our drafters use the same tools on the sets we draw for a US architecture firm we've worked with since 2022.
Show us the step your team complains about. If it repeats the same way each time, we can usually script it.
It starts with a workflow review
We go through how your team produces a set, from the first sheet to the issued PDF, and time each step. You get a written list of the steps worth automating, the hours each one takes now and what fixing it would involve. You keep the list whether or not you have us build anything.
What we build
Four kinds of tool, each with an example we already use.
Commands and palettes
AutoLISP routines and .NET palettes that run in the drawing you have open. One click mirrors a garage-right plan to garage-left and fixes the notes and dimensions that MIRROR flips the wrong way.
Batch tools
Windows apps that work through hundreds of drawings without anyone opening them. Publishing a whole project folder to PDF is the common one.
Sheets filled from your data
Cover sheets filled in from the order PDF, and a sheet index trimmed to the layouts each lot needs.
Checks before issue
Tools that compare two drawings, or two areas of one, and put every difference on its own layer so the person checking knows where to look.
To see these tools inside a full production workflow, read how we draw lot-specific plans.
Two of our tools, in use now
Both run on the work we draft for that US firm.
PublishFlow CAD
WINDOWS APP · INCLUDEDPublishes a folder of DWGs, or a hand-picked list, to PDF, DWF or both. It runs AutoCAD in the background with your named page setup, so nobody has to open and plot each file.
XMirror
AUTOCAD PALETTE · BUILT TO ORDERTurns a garage-right plan set into its garage-left version one drawing at a time. We fit it to each office's drawing conventions before it runs, which is why it's built to order. It covers floor plans, the foundation, the roof plan and elevations. After the mirror it fixes what MIRROR gets wrong, such as note order, dimension text, electrical symbols and the washer and dryer. We measured it against real right- and left-hand sets drawn by hand: it lays out 85% of notes correctly, where plain MIRROR manages 19%. A drafter still checks and finishes every sheet.
What comes with a seat, and what's built to order
Ready-made tools
Tools that work the same in any office, such as PublishFlow CAD and region compare. Your team uses them from day one, on your drawings and in your template, and you don't install or run anything.
Tools fitted to your standards
Some tools have to learn how your office draws before they work, such as XMirror and the cover-sheet fill. Each one starts with the workflow review and is quoted once, separately from seats. Your team lead can flag a chore worth one, and firms without a team with us can order them too.
Questions about automation
What can you automate in AutoCAD?
Steps that happen the same way every time: plotting and publishing, mirroring, filling title blocks and cover sheets, sheet setup, renaming, and checking one drawing against another. Steps that need judgment, like fitting a plan to an odd lot, stay with a drafter.
Which AutoCAD versions do you support?
We build for the version your team runs. PublishFlow CAD works with AutoCAD 2025 to 2027 today, and we add other versions when a client needs them.
Do we need a drafting team from you to buy automation?
No. You can order a tool on its own, and we hand it over with written instructions for your staff. With a team, the ready-made tools come with every seat.
Who owns the tools you build?
A tool we write from scratch for your work is yours, with the source code and written instructions, and you can keep using it if we stop working together. Our own tools stay ours, including a version we tailor to your office, like XMirror. You get a license to use your version.
How is automation priced?
Ready-made tools are part of the monthly seat price. A built-to-order tool has a one-off build fee, quoted on a call after the workflow review once we both know the scope. The review is paid, unless you have a team with us.
Tell us which step takes up your team's week. On a 30-minute call we'll tell you whether we can script it.
scripts do the repeats, people do the checking