Acrobat Pro DC not printing hatch in AutoCAD 2020

Report · Nov 11, 2019

Hi,

Here are my system specs:

OS: Windows 10 Pro 1903 (64 bit)

Acrobat Pro DC version: 2019.0.21.20049

CAD Software: AutoCAD 2020 (64 bit)

I've been using Adobe Acrobat Pro since pre the Pro DC release, alongside various AutoCAD version installations. In the past I have always preferred using Adobe Acrobat Pro's PDF printer within the various AutoCAD versions, due to just realising how quick and better quality the resulting PDF's were (in terms of colour, file size etc.)

However, ever since I updated to AutoCAD 2020, and to the above listed latest version of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, the Adobe PDF make completely battles with creating PDF's from within AutoCAD 2020. I can't pinpoint when exactly this happened, but all I know is that it is now near impossible to create PDF's using Adobe's PDF maker within AutoCAD.

One repeatable failure to create PDF's from within AutoCAD, is trying to print to PDF when a drawing has a solid hatch with a transparency level applied to it.

The Acrobat PDF maker will take almost 5 - 10min (irrespective of the file size or the amount of solid hatch a drawing contains), and will always yield a PDF file that does not print the hatching, and also has a massive PDF file size.

I've compared the above to using AutoCAD 2020's built-in PDF maker, and the difference is night vs. day. The AutoCAD PDF maker takes less than a minute to create a PDF file, and the quality is pretty decent.

So I have now resorted to completely ignoring the fact that I always preferred using Acrobat's PDF maker from within AutoCAD, for some unclear reason.

Autodesk is of the opinion that the issue lies with Adobe's Acrobat Pro DC software, since they are unable to reproduce the issue with their built-in PDF maker.

I would be keen to hear if anyone has a similar problem on this forum (there are other people who mentioned this on the Autodesk community forum) and what the possible solution for this could be.

Report · Apr 14, 2020

I as well have the same issue. Running Carlson Survey 2019 OEM & Adobe Acrobat Pro DC 2020

Adobe will not print a solid hatch with a transparency.

Report · Aug 04, 2021

I prefer to print from PDFs of my ACAD drawings because that is what everyone I send a drawing to will do. For about 10 years I have had problems with some hatches and transparencies that look fine on the screen, but are fractured randomly on my plotter. I tried various DPI and settings in both Acrobat DC and my plotter.

The solution that worked beautifully and consitently for me was to go into Acrobat: Print/Advanced and check "Print As Image". Nicely, that setting seems to stick whenever I print in DC. File size difference was negligable.

Report · Dec 28, 2022

thank you