How to save a drawing to PDF in AutoCAD.

The “PDF” document format has long been the standard for everyone working with electronic documents, design layouts, drawings, as it allows you to display exactly the same formatting on almost every device.

There are several ways to convert a PDF file to AutoCAD format.

But many users, especially beginners, have difficulties: how to convert PDF to AutoCAD or, conversely, how to transfer to DWG from PDF to AutoCAD. The answers to these and other questions will be covered below.

Method 1

In order to convert a drawing from DWG to PDF, you will need to perform the following simple manipulations:

On the object to be converted, open the “Plot” section by pressing the “Ctrl+P” key combination or entering the “Plot” command.
In the window that opens, in the “Printer/Plotter” block, select “DFG to PDF.pc3” from the list.
In the “Format” line, indicate the type of sheet you need; if none of the proposed ones suits you, create a new one:

next to the selected device “DFG to PDF.pc3” click “Property”;
go to the “Device and Documents” tab, then go to the “Custom Format” section, click “Add”;
using the step-by-step custom format creation wizard, complete all the suggested steps.

Next, to save the print area, select “Frame” in the “What to print” line, click on the button of the same name and use the mouse to place the desired object to save in the frame.

How to Convert DWG Files to PDF

Hello friends!

Recently I encountered the following problem: how to convert a dwg to pdf . The fact is that not everyone has the AutoCAD program installed and the customer cannot print out a drawing or as-built diagram and asks to send it in pdf format.

I used to do this using the Total CAD Converter . It’s a good program and can be downloaded on this site: https://www.coolutils.com/ru/TotalCADConverter

The only problem is that it is paid and costs 3,000 rubles. But you can use it for free for 30 days.

That's what I did. Alternatively, on the same site you can convert dwg to pdf online, but unfortunately for some reason these files are not entirely adequate. Lines are drawn in different thicknesses. Here is the source file itself:

And here is what happens after online conversion:

And then I began to look for other ways to solve my problem and came across Mikhail Orlov’s https://acad-prog.ru/dwg-v-pdf/.

On this site I found an article on how to convert from dwg to pdf using the AutoCAD program.

Without hesitation, I did not reinvent the wheel, but asked Mikhail to post this article on his website. So, read, study and implement.

“In this article, we'll look at how to convert DWG files to PDF .

When creating a project based on AutoCAD, there is always a need to transfer it to the customer or related organizations. The easiest way is to transfer the file in AutoCAD format with the dwg extension. But this method has several significant disadvantages. Firstly, it often happens that the person to whom you need to transfer the project simply does not have AutoCAD installed. Secondly, by transferring drawings in dwg format, you give the other person full access to the results of your work. Your works can be edited and used to their advantage.

In part, the AutoCAD developers made sure that users could protect their information. To do this, AutoCAD provides the ability to convert DWG files to PDF.

Well, files in pdf format can be opened by any user using the free, publicly available Acrobat Reader program. And everything will be fine with information protection.

The procedure for converting a dwg file to pdf is quite simple. Let's take a closer look at it.

Converting an AutoCAD file to pdf is done by printing to the file.

Open your drawing.

Click the Application Button.

Move your mouse pointer below to the “Print” line. In the list that appears, select “Print”.

Or just press Ctrl+P on your keyboard.

The “Print – Model” window will open. There are many printing customization options. We will look at one of the possible printing options.

The main thing that needs to be done is to specify DWG To PDF as the printer. pc3. Let's look at some advanced settings for the DWG To PDF printer. pc3. To do this, after selecting the DWG To PDF printer. pc3, click on the “Properties” button.

In the window that opens, click on the line “Advanced properties”. Then click on the “Advanced Properties” button.

The DWG to PDF Conversion Properties window opens.

Here, in the “Fonts” frame, you need to select the “Enable All” radio button. AutoCad attaches all the necessary fonts to the PDF file. If you do not do this, it is possible that some text in the PDF file will not be displayed correctly. When opening the PDF file, it will display messages about which font is missing.

In the "Advanced Output Settings" frame:

If you check the “Include layer information” box, the generated PDF file will have the ability to manage layers.

If you uncheck this box, a PDF file will be created without this option.

If, after creating a PDF file, you want it to immediately open in Acrobat Reader, check the “Open in PDF viewer when finished” box.

After the properties are set, click OK.

Then click OK in the “DWG To PDF Plotter Options Editor” window. pc3".

In the “Changes in Plotter Parameters File” window. In order to save the settings for other files, select the “Save changes in the next file” radio button and click OK.

All other settings are made as with normal sheet printing:

Specify the sheet format;

Print area; What to print: select “Frame”; click on the “Frame<” button; Specify the print area;

(Selecting the print area can be done differently)

To preview what the printed document will look like, click “Preview...”;

If everything suits you, click “OK”.

A window will open in which you need to specify the location and name of the file. Click save.

AutoCAD will create a file with a pdf extension.

If in the settings you checked the box “When finished, open in a PDF viewer”, then after creation it will open. If not, then in order for it to be seen, it needs to be found and launched.

I hope that this article was useful to someone and you will convert DWG files to PDF .

If you have any questions, ask them in the comments.

I will be happy to answer.

If you want to receive news from my site. Subscribe.

Until next time.

“Author: Mikhail Orlov””

Also, friends, I recorded a video for you, where I clearly demonstrated the whole process:

That's all, I'm waiting for your comments and likes)).
If you liked the article, you can show it with stars below. Rating: ( 5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Method 2

To convert to PDF format in AutoCAD, you can use the tools of the Universal Document Converter distribution kit; by the way, it is distributed free of charge. All steps are the same as those described in “method 1”, except that you will need to specify “Universal Document Converter” in the “Printer/Plotter” list.

You can also use another method for defining the print area and specify “Borders” instead of a frame, and also set “Align drawing to . Using the same distribution, you can convert the drawing and protect it with a password.

To do this you will need the following:

Open "Properties" and on the "Device and Documents" tab select "Advanced Properties"
An editor window will open, in which select the “Format” section
In the “Standard” line, indicate “Password protection” and, accordingly, set the password you need. And in the future, users who open this document will need to enter a password, and using this section you can also set a watermark.

How to convert (convert) PDF to DWG

This feature is implemented using the “Import” function. This method is suitable for versions of AutoCAD software no older than 2010.

So, in order to convert PDF files in AutoCAD, you need the following:

Open the menu section by clicking on the letter “A” and select “Import”, then select “PDF”.
The file import window will open, in which click on the “Browse” button to select the downloaded file.
If the downloaded object has many pages, below in the “Pages to import” block, indicate the number of the desired fragment.
On the left you can see blocks with parameter settings, set the ones necessary for work and finally click “OK”.

Convert from PDF to DWG

When developing drawings, you have to deal with situations where the source file is lost, but its PDF version is preserved. To avoid redrawing objects, you can transform the image. This is done with the help of specialized editors.

The module recognizes circuit elements and encodes them for use in CAD. Extended sections become lines, and letters become blocks with text. The quality of drawing depends on the type of original. When working with scanned copies, it is not always possible to achieve an acceptable result, but if the image was created by resaving the original document, then it is possible to completely restore the drawing.

This function is required when importing individual fragments. Previously, they were inserted as an object, which became a substrate and caused difficulties when applying layers. Now it is possible to edit and modify it. The ZWSOFT company distributes the pdf2dwg module for ZWCAD completely free of charge; you can get it by contacting the developer.

Useful Commands and Variables

“EXPORT” – to save objects in another format;
“EXPORTPDF” – to display the “Save to PDF” window;
“EXPORTEPLOTFORMAT” – to install the default extension;
“EXPORTMODELSPACE” – to determine the part of the drawing to be exported;
“PDFSHX” – serves to save text objects used in the SHX font to a PDF file in the form of comments during export.

Converting files with an extension from PDF to DWG or vice versa is also carried out using third-party converters, for example “Aide Converter” or “PDF2DWG” and others.

Simply download the program installer, install and convert documents in the extension required for the job.

Features of PDF to DWG formats

How to convert PDF to DWG

PDF is an electronic document format that was developed by Adobe Systems. The main purpose is the presentation of printed products in electronic form. It can be viewed on almost any device using a variety of programs. Editing can only be done using special software. Among the advantages of the PDF format it is worth highlighting:

high level of document security, the ability to configure additional protection against editing;
small volume of files, which is very convenient for storage;
versatility that we mentioned above.

DWG is a format used to store two-dimensional and three-dimensional design data. By default, it is used by programs such as AutoCAD, nanoCAD, IntelliCAD.

Important! There are paid and free applications for opening DWG files. The latter allow you to view documents and, in some cases, perform editing. Paid software opens up the widest possible possibilities: converting a document according to any parameters that interest the user.