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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
  • 15750 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.

      Souvik Sadhu
      Community Manager
      Souvik SadhuCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      April 2, 2025

       


      Hi @City Lumber Co.,

       

      Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the trouble.

       

      I had a word with the team, and this is what I found out:

      Supported AutoCAD versions are 2018 and 2019 and are listed here - https://adobe.ly/3YeUH3D

       

      Next, you need to have supported AutoCAD version installed to convert DWG files to PDF. Supported only on Windows, as mentioned in the article below: https://adobe.ly/4iUGEIZ

       

      Hope this clarifies your question.


      Regards,
      Souvik.

      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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