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T
Tina-HMI
Participant
January 22, 2020
Question

Has anyone had success opening a DWG file in Acrobat?

  • January 22, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 15537 views

I have tried this and it doesn't work. 

 https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/creating-pdfs-autocad-dwg-files-without-autocad/index.html

 

No luck here either.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat/converting-dwg-to-pdf/td-p/8202561#sa_src=web-messaging

 

I do not have the option of opening a DWG file and saving it as a PDF. 

 

Any help is apprieciated.

    2 replies

    D
    Dave Merchant
    Legend
    January 22, 2020

    Acrobat can certainly convert DWG files into 2D PDF sheets without needing AutoCAD installed, but it's a well-hidden feature!

     

    • Either use File > Open and change the file type dropdown to "All Files (*.*)" so you can pick a DWG, or drag and drop the DWG directly onto Acrobat's workspace.
    • You will get a conversion dialog with various options, depending on what's in the DWG (multiple layouts, layers, etc.) but you won't see a preview, so you need to know beforehand what's in the file.
      T
      Tina-HMIAuthor
      Participant
      January 23, 2020

      I previously tried both options and got to the dialog box.  But I don't know whats in the DWG file.  I have tried numerous combinations of the options and still no luck.

      D
      Dave Merchant
      Legend
      January 23, 2020

      What's in the file and what error do you get? Acrobat is usually pretty robust in converting DWG sheets (provided of course there are 2D layouts in the document). It can read the latest header version - you can try with the official ACAD2020 samples.

      Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
      Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
      Legend
      January 22, 2020

      Acrobat opens only PDF (or PDF-based) files.

      DWG is an AutoCad file.

      Solution:

      Install the Adobe PDFMaker plug-in into AutoCad and use it to export a PDF from AutoCad.

       

      |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
      T
      Tina-HMIAuthor
      Participant
      January 22, 2020

      This link lead me to believe I do not need AutoCad to open a DWG, which is what I need to do.

       

      https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/supported-file-formats-acrobat-reader.html

       

       
      Direct file conversion formats (Acrobat) 

      Use File > Create PDF > From File to convert these file formats to Adobe PDF. You can also convert clipboard data, web pages, and scanned documents to PDF. For more information about these conversion methods

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