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Export to PDF file


Tom Chitwood

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Whenever I try to export drawings from layout form to PDF, the preview always looks perfect, then has one edge cut-off after saved. I have tried several different aproaches to solve this problem, made sure the scale was 1:1, used extents,layout, center the plot. Nothing seems to work. Any help would be appreciated. I am using AUTOCAD 2014.

 

Thanks,Tom

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Did you try publish option instead of export ?

 

I do not have cad 2014 here but i hope the publish option still exists in new version

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Have you installed this service pack yet.

 

Are you using the term Export generically to mean to put something out, or is there an actual command that does this. I have never used it, or even looked for it. Batch plot, publish, plot all work fine for me instead of export.

 

Simply put, the pdf plotter/printer drivers that come with AutoCad sometimes suck.

 

Look at the plot offset in the lower left corner of your page setup or plot dialog window. This offset is from 0,0 in the lower left corner of the paper. The offset is supposed to keep you out of the unprintable area around the edge of the paper. This offset is editable, and it usually defaults to the correct value. For pdf's, not so much.

 

Compare the default offset distance there for the pdf to a hard copy layout you know works on the same size paper as your pdf will be.

 

You can see a larger offset of as much as 0.3 to 0.4 inches along the x axis and a tenth or more in the y axis for the pdf. This is enough to drive your border line out of the printable area

 

Luckily, you can adjust the offset to correct for drunken programmers at the driver factory. You may have to play around with it some, but most likely you need merely to set the values back to the same values you find on your had copy layout.

 

You may or may not see a red warning stripe around your top and left border in the silly little plot preview window on the layout/plot dialog after you change the offset for your pdf plot. As long as your entire drawing fits the plot preview and final pdf the way you want it, you can ignore the red stripes because, apparently AutoCad doesn't know where your plot needs to be on the page anyway.

 

I have found that a plot offset of 0.20 in both directions suits most of what I do in both hard copy and pdf plotting, so I simply use that for every paperspace layout I do.

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Thank-you for the replies. After two hours of fiddling with it this morning, I think I have a template I can live with. It is still weird though. I am trying to use the dotted line in paper space as a boundry for my drawing borders. This does not work, with the border of my drawing well inside the dotted line, my x set at 0, and my Y set at -.5, I finally got it to show the whole image in the PDF file. It worked, just doesn't seem right to do it this way. Seems like if I used the dotted line as my drawing space limits and set my X and Y to 0.....it should be good. Oh well this is something I will probably have to spend more time on.

Thanks, Tom

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I agree in trying to "print" to a PDF instead of "export" to a PDF. I haven't tried export yet but I might just to see if the results are different. I will say that in my experience I have learned that at times it might be better the use the default DWG to PDF driver instead of a 3rd party, such as Adobe. I sometimes print drawings with transparent hatch patterns in them. The Adobe PDF driver almost always screws them up while the DWG to PDF driver make them perfect every time and at a considerable smaller PDF file size. I am using Arobat X Pro as well :?

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Thank-you for the replies. After two hours of fiddling with it this morning, I think I have a template I can live with. It is still weird though. I am trying to use the dotted line in paper space as a boundry for my drawing borders. This does not work, with the border of my drawing well inside the dotted line, my x set at 0, and my Y set at -.5, I finally got it to show the whole image in the PDF file. It worked, just doesn't seem right to do it this way. Seems like if I used the dotted line as my drawing space limits and set my X and Y to 0.....it should be good. Oh well this is something I will probably have to spend more time on.

Thanks, Tom

The 0,0 is at the lower left of the printable area (dashed line) in paperspace, not at the corner of the paper.

You are right in that we should not have to do it this way. It depends on the printer, and the driver how accurate this stuff is. AutoCad has always been pretty nasty with pdf printing, but since 2010, it has started getting better.

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I agree in trying to "print" to a PDF instead of "export" to a PDF. I haven't tried export yet but I might just to see if the results are different. I will say that in my experience I have learned that at times it might be better the use the default DWG to PDF driver instead of a 3rd party, such as Adobe. I sometimes print drawings with transparent hatch patterns in them. The Adobe PDF driver almost always screws them up while the DWG to PDF driver make them perfect every time and at a considerable smaller PDF file size. I am using Arobat X Pro as well :?
Since I use AutoCad LT, I find it easier and more efficient to use TrueView and its dwg to pdf.pc3 for my pdf plotting. I don't have those weird blurry text issues with it that I can get with the 2009 version of the dwg to pdf.pc3. 2009 LT does not have Batch Plot, or multi sheet pdf file, or exclude layer and block information without having to use Publish. The TrueView pdf files per page, are usually about 60% smaller than I can generate using 2009 LT.
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Have you installed this service pack yet.

Luckily, you can adjust the offset to correct for drunken programmers at the driver factory. You may have to play around with it some, but most likely you need merely to set the values back to the same values you find on your had copy layout.

I wouldn't say they're drunk. High maybe but not drunk.

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I wouldn't say they're drunk. High maybe but not drunk.
Why? Do they write the driver code in Colorado?

 

And the Colorado rocky mountain high

I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky

I know he'd be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly

Rocky mountain high

 

It's Colorado rocky mountain high

I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky

Friends around the campfire and everybody's high

Rocky mountain high

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

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