DXF to PDF in CADFormats

This video tutorial follows the supplied plate drawing through the CADFormats drawing workspace. You will inspect its layers, reduce its size, and export a PDF page using the controls shown in the video.

The drawing workspace exports supported DXF outlines to a PDF page at the drawing’s physical size. It does not preserve a CAD application’s annotations, layouts, or plot styles.

Open and inspect the drawing

Open the drawing Workbench and choose your DXF. To follow the video, load the supplied plate drawing from Examples.

Check the dimensions, recorded units, and reader warnings. The sample begins at 100 × 60 mm. Start with a complete supported drawing; exporting cannot recover content the reader omitted.

Review the layers

The sample has an outline and holes on separate layers. Toggle their visibility while inspecting the drawing, then restore the view.

These switches change the inspection view. They do not delete geometry from the document. Export uses the represented layers and their original visibility, so hiding a layer during inspection is not a way to remove it from the output.

Set the physical size

Choose Resize by a uniform factor in the drawing’s sizing controls if a size change is needed. In the walkthrough, a factor of 0.5 reduces the plate to 50 × 30 mm while preserving its proportions.

Preview the dimensions, then apply the change. Check the current drawing’s measurements before choosing an output format. If your own drawing is already the right size, leave its scale unchanged.

Export and print

Select PDF, export, and download the result. The page follows the drawing’s physical dimensions; the sample produces a 50 × 30 mm page. Save the inspection report if you need the drawing details alongside it.

When printing at those dimensions, choose Actual size rather than a fit-to-page option. Check the PDF and print settings before relying on a measurement from the printed page. Keep the original DXF for future drawing edits.