Trying to save drawing as .PDF

[wgchere]

We are going paperless here, and we are running into a glitch.

Our plan is to have the Engineers save their drawings as .PDF files. Try as we might, all we get is a 8.5x11 inch, 100%, portrait orientation image--in other words, a letter-sized cutout of the center of a 22x34 inch drawing!

We tried adjusting the page setup to 22x34 and it still wrote to the 8.5x11 and rewrote the page setup in the process.

I found the API for printing to a .PDF, but that is way beyond me. We are running SW2005, SP1.0.

What am I missing?

 

[PDMAdmin]

How are you creating the PDF's?

 

[wgchere]

Using the "save as" function of SolidWorks. We have the "save as pdf" add-in checked, but it seems locked on 8.5x11.

 

[twinsemi]

We do all of our uotput as pdf here, and use PDF995. It works as a printer driver, so that you get a separate page setup and everthing for it. I also find that it does superior jod of rendering various views compared to the SWX "Save As" method.

It is available by download for no cost. If you send them some $$ (20 or so), you stop seeing the little advertisements that come up each time that you print. It is especially nice because when you save the file, it comes up as saved in Acrobat as a verification that you get what you wanted.

I don't work for them or any software company, and I am sure there are other 3rd party solutions.

Good Luck.

 

[PDMAdmin]

wgchere,

We create PDF's the same way you are doing it, and we have never had that problem. Try doing a repair on your SW install. If that doesn't work, try upgrading your SW service pack. (That may be an older issue that was fixed.)

 

[smcadman]

I use the macro "SaveasPDFwhattoplot" to end that headache. You can either print the whole project, or save each sheet.

http://www.cadimensions.com/macros.htm

Flores
SW06 SP2.0

 

[dgowans]

Another thing to try is to make sure that you have the permissions set up correctly on the Bluebeam PDF printer.

Access the printer through the Control Panel, go to Properties, and on the Security tab make sure that your users have the ability to Manage Printers and Manage Documents. We ran into this problem here and changing the printer setup fixed the problem.

If you want to explore other alternatives, try CutePDF. I've not tried it from within SWX, but it works well with MS Office documents and is free for the basic writer.

Dave Gowans

 

[Stoker]

Have a look at SPR 196748 on the SolidWorks subscription page. This may be your problem.

 

[BandH]

Hi - we had this problem too. This has been solved with Service Pack 2.1.

Band

 

[KPKenny]

I had this same problem. It happened when the drawing paper size didn't match the default paper size for the printer. I make almost all of my drawings in B-size landscape, my default paper size on my printer was 8.5x11 portrait. After saving as a .pdf the page setup was changed to 8.5x11 portrait. I created a new printer in Windows (I call it "B Size") that was pointed to the same physical printer. I set the "B Size" printer defaults to B size paper and landscape. When I print drawings I use the "B Size" printer not the default printer. I made it part of my drawing template and don't have to think about it any more.

 

[TheTick]

A Longshot...

Under File --> Page Setup...
Toggle the "Use system settings" button. Then set all the other parameters in the Page Setup menu to what you want (portrait, scale, paper size, etc.). Then try your PDF save.

Generally, I prefer to create PDF's via printer driver. Better results, more control. You could possibly automate the process w/ API. I recommend <

http://www.customsolids.com>

for API contracting (I'm too busy).

I could be the world's greatest underachiever, if I could just learn to apply myself.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

-SolidWorks API VB programming help