How-to guide · how to use etransmit in autocad
How to share a drawing with all its blocks using eTransmit
By Sumana Kumar · Published 15 Aug 2023 · Updated 21 Oct 2024
You email a drawing to a client, they open it, and half the references are missing — the xrefs didn't come, the custom fonts substituted, the linked images are gone. The fix is eTransmit, AutoCAD's tool for packaging a drawing with everything it depends on into a single, self-contained bundle. This guide shows how to use it so a drawing arrives complete and opens correctly on a machine that has none of your project files.
We'll cover what actually needs to travel with a DWG (it's more than the file itself), running eTransmit and reading its dialog, choosing a transmittal setup, the decision around binding xrefs, and the pre-send checks that stop the most common 'it won't open right' complaints. If you regularly send drawings outside your office, eTransmit is the difference between a clean handover and an afternoon of missing-file emails.
Why a DWG alone often isn't enough
A drawing rarely stands alone. It can reference external drawings (xrefs), attached raster or PDF images, custom fonts (.shx and TrueType), plot style tables (.ctb/.stb), and more. The DWG stores pointers to these, not the files themselves, so emailing just the DWG sends the pointers with nothing to point at. On the recipient's machine the xrefs come up 'not found', fonts substitute to something generic, and images show as empty frames.
Blocks are usually fine here — block definitions are stored inside the DWG, so a block you've inserted travels with the file. The danger is the external dependencies. eTransmit exists precisely to gather all of those referenced files and bundle them with the drawing, so the recipient gets a complete package rather than a drawing full of broken links. Understanding what's external versus embedded is the whole reason the tool matters.
Run eTransmit
Save the drawing first — eTransmit packages the saved state. Then type ETRANSMIT (or use the application menu's Publish > eTransmit). The Create Transmittal dialog opens, showing a 'Files Tree' or 'Files Table' view that lists the current drawing plus every dependency AutoCAD has detected: xrefs, images, fonts, plot styles and so on.
This list is the heart of eTransmit — it's AutoCAD telling you everything the drawing needs. Scan it. If an xref or image you expect is missing from the list, the drawing's link to it is broken and you'll want to fix that before sending. You can tick and untick items to control exactly what goes in the package. Add a note in the transmittal report field if the recipient needs context. Then choose where to save the package and how it's bundled.
Choose how the package is bundled
eTransmit offers a few output formats via the transmittal setup. The most common is a single self-extracting or standard ZIP, which keeps everything in one file that's easy to email or upload — recipients unzip it and have the whole project folder. You can also output a plain folder of files or a self-extracting executable.
Inside the setup (the 'Transmittal Setups' button) you control important options: whether to preserve the folder structure or flatten everything into one directory, whether to convert the DWG to an older version for compatibility, and whether to include fonts, plot styles and unloaded xrefs. Preserving folder structure matters when xref paths are relative — flatten them and the links may break on the other end. For most external handovers, a ZIP that keeps the structure and includes fonts and plot styles is the safe default.
Decide whether to bind or include xrefs
Xrefs raise a real choice. By default eTransmit includes the xref files alongside the host drawing, so the recipient gets the host plus its referenced drawings, with the links intact (eTransmit can fix the paths so they resolve in the package). That's ideal when the recipient needs to keep working with the xrefs as separate, updatable files.
The alternative is to bind the xrefs into the host drawing before running eTransmit (use XREF > Bind, or the BIND command), which merges the referenced geometry into the host as named blocks so there are no external references left to send. Bind when you want to hand over a single, frozen, self-contained DWG that can't lose its references — a final issue, an archive, or a recipient who shouldn't edit the xrefs. Include-and-package when the recipient needs the live, separate files. Choosing correctly here prevents both broken links and unwanted flattening.
Include fonts, images and plot styles
Three dependency types cause most 'it looks wrong' complaints, so handle them explicitly in the transmittal setup. Fonts: if your drawing uses custom .shx fonts or non-standard TrueType fonts, tick the option to include fonts, or the recipient sees substituted text that can shift and misalign. Images: attached raster images and PDF underlays are external — eTransmit lists and includes them, but confirm they're ticked, or picture frames arrive empty. Plot styles: include the .ctb/.stb so the drawing plots with your pen assignments rather than the recipient's defaults.
These inclusions are toggles in the transmittal setup, and the conservative choice for an external recipient is to include all of them. The slight extra package size is far cheaper than a round of emails explaining why the text reflowed or the logo vanished. If you're sending within your own office where everyone shares fonts and plot styles, you can trim them out — but for anyone outside, include and be safe.
Pre-send checklist and common mistakes
Before you hit create, run a quick mental checklist. Is the drawing saved? Does the Files Tree show every expected xref and image, with nothing flagged missing? Are fonts and plot styles ticked for an external recipient? Is the folder structure preserved if the xref paths are relative? Have you set an appropriate DWG version if the recipient runs older software?
The recurring mistakes are predictable: emailing the bare DWG and forgetting the dependencies entirely; sending without fonts so text substitutes; flattening the folder structure and breaking relative xref paths; and not noticing a missing xref in the file list, so it was already broken before packaging. A good habit is to unzip the eTransmit package on a different folder or machine and open the drawing from there — if it opens clean with every reference resolved, the recipient will have the same experience. eTransmit only takes a minute, and that minute is what turns a drawing handover from a source of follow-up emails into a clean, complete delivery.
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Questions
Frequently asked
Do blocks get included when I send a DWG by email?+
Yes — block definitions are stored inside the DWG, so any block you've inserted travels with the file automatically. The files that don't travel are external references: xrefs, attached images, custom fonts and plot styles. eTransmit exists to bundle those.
What does eTransmit actually do?+
ETRANSMIT packages a drawing with all its dependencies — xrefs, images, fonts and plot styles — into a single bundle (usually a ZIP). It detects what the drawing references and gathers those files so the drawing opens complete on a machine that has none of your project files.
Should I bind xrefs before using eTransmit?+
Bind xrefs when you want a single, frozen, self-contained DWG — a final issue or archive — so there are no external links to lose. Leave them as included files when the recipient needs to keep the xrefs as separate, updatable drawings. eTransmit handles both.
Why does my text look wrong when someone else opens my drawing?+
The drawing uses fonts the recipient doesn't have, so AutoCAD substitutes them. Fix it by ticking 'include fonts' in the eTransmit transmittal setup, which packages your custom .shx and TrueType fonts so text displays exactly as you drew it.
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