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PDF Export ​

PlanCAD exports drawings to PDF directly from within the application, with no need for a separate print driver or third-party tool. The PDF export dialog gives you control over paper size, orientation, content selection, cropping, margins, line weight, and an optional title block.

Opening the Export Dialog ​

Go to File > Export PDF..., or use the keyboard shortcut listed next to the menu item. The dialog opens as a modal over the canvas. You can also export PDF from the toolbar if your workflow includes it as a frequent operation.

The dialog is disabled (greyed out) when the drawing contains no entities.

Dialog Options ​

Project Title and Company ​

The Project Title field sets the document title that appears in the PDF title block and in the PDF metadata (the title visible in Acrobat Reader's document properties). It defaults to "PlanCAD Export".

The Company / Author field is optional. When filled in, it appears alongside the title in the title block.

Title Block ​

The Title Block and North checkbox controls whether a cartouche is printed in the corner of the page. When enabled, the title block includes:

  • Project title
  • Company or author name
  • Export date
  • Drawing scale (derived from the paper size and the drawing's coordinate extents)
  • A North arrow

If you are exporting a drawing to hand to a client or submit to a venue, leaving the title block enabled is recommended. If you are exporting for internal use or to embed in another document, disabling it gives a cleaner output with the full page area used for the drawing.

Content ​

Choose which entities to include in the PDF:

OptionBehavior
Visible layersExports all entities on visible layers. Hidden layers are excluded. Entity count shown in parentheses.
SelectionExports only the currently selected entities. Entity count shown in parentheses. Useful for extracting a single zone or stand cluster.
AllExports every entity in the drawing regardless of layer visibility.

Tip: To export a specific zone of your plan, turn off unwanted layers in the Layers panel, then choose "Visible layers". Alternatively, select the entities you want and use "Selection".

Crop ​

The Crop setting controls what region of the drawing is fitted onto the page:

  • Full drawing — the bounding box of all exported entities is fitted to the paper. The exported area automatically adjusts to the content.
  • Current view — the region currently visible in the PlanCAD viewport is used as the crop boundary. Pan and zoom to the area you want before opening the dialog, then choose this option.

Current view mode is useful when you want to export a detail at a specific zoom level, matching exactly what you see on screen.

Paper Format ​

Five standard ISO paper sizes are available:

SizeDimensions
A0841 x 1189 mm
A1594 x 841 mm
A2420 x 594 mm
A3297 x 420 mm
A4210 x 297 mm

The default is A3, which is a practical choice for most floor plans shared digitally or printed on a wide-format desktop printer.

For large venue plans intended for printing on a plotter or for submission to a venue, use A1 or A0. For summary handouts or stand allocation sheets, A4 works well.

Orientation ​

  • Landscape — wider than tall. The default. Most floor plans fit better in landscape.
  • Portrait — taller than wide. Better for elongated venues oriented vertically, or for A4 handouts.

PlanCAD automatically scales the drawing to fill the selected paper size in the chosen orientation, preserving the aspect ratio of the content.

Margin ​

The Margin field sets the whitespace between the edge of the paper and the drawing content, in millimetres. The default is 10 mm.

Increase the margin if the drawing will be printed and bound (leave room for the binding), or if a venue requires a specific border. Decrease it to maximise the print area on small paper sizes.

Line Width ​

The Line width field controls the stroke width of all lines in the exported PDF, in millimetres. The default is 0.2 mm.

This applies uniformly to all entities. There is no per-layer or per-linetype line width override in the PDF export at this time. Typical values:

  • 0.1–0.15 mm — fine detail work, technical drawings with dense annotation.
  • 0.2 mm — the default; suitable for most event floor plans.
  • 0.3–0.5 mm — heavier weight, suitable for printed plans viewed from a distance or on large formats.

Exporting ​

Click Export PDF to generate the file. PlanCAD saves the PDF to your Downloads folder automatically, with a filename derived from the Project Title (special characters are replaced with underscores). For example, a title of "Hall A — Spring 2026" becomes Hall_A___Spring_2026.pdf.

A confirmation bar appears at the bottom of the dialog showing the filename and the save location once the export completes. Clicking Re-export (which replaces the Export button after the first export) repeats the export with the same settings, overwriting the previous file.

Click Close to dismiss the dialog when you are done.

Practical Examples ​

Exporting a Full Venue Plan for a Client ​

  1. Ensure all layers are visible and the drawing is complete.
  2. Open File > Export PDF....
  3. Set Project Title to the event name and Company to your organisation name.
  4. Leave Title Block enabled.
  5. Set Content to Visible layers.
  6. Set Crop to Full drawing.
  7. Choose A1 or A0 and Landscape.
  8. Set Margin to 15 mm and Line width to 0.2 mm.
  9. Click Export PDF.

Exporting a Stand Detail for an Exhibitor ​

  1. In the canvas, select the stand entities you want to detail (use box selection or click with Shift).
  2. Open File > Export PDF....
  3. Set Content to Selection.
  4. Set Crop to Full drawing (the bounding box of the selection will be used).
  5. Choose A4 and Landscape.
  6. Click Export PDF.

Exporting What Is Currently on Screen ​

  1. Pan and zoom the canvas to frame the area you want.
  2. Open File > Export PDF....
  3. Set Crop to Current view.
  4. Choose the paper size that matches the framing.
  5. Click Export PDF.

Limitations ​

  • PDF export is vector-only. Embedded raster images (inserted via the Image tool) are included in the PDF as embedded bitmaps at their original resolution.
  • There is no per-layer color or lineweight override in the PDF output. The color of each entity in the PDF matches its on-screen color (layer color or per-entity override).
  • The PDF is always single-page. Multi-page tiled exports (for very large drawings printed across multiple sheets) are not available in the current version.
  • The title block North arrow always points upward on the page. If your floor plan has a non-standard orientation, note this on the drawing using a text annotation.