PDF cropping on a layout page setup with a roll paper

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have the following problem. We use a following setup for the plotter:

- We have long strokes of paper predefined to prepare our layouts. A0 height and several lengths for example.

- We arrange our drawings on these papers in layouts from the left edge of paper.

- What's left blank to the right of the drawing is automaticly cropped in the plotter. That makes layouting very simple.

Problem:

- A layout prepared this way has a lot of blank space and the drawing with it's borders located to the left of the blank field.

- While the plotter handles that automaticly, when you use the _EXPORTPDF you get a PDF with all this blank space in it. These PDF's in turn - which we use for external document circulation, archieving etc. - are also often used to print via plotter drivers. As a result all the PDFs have to be cropped using external software (the cropping trick of the plotter only does work with these special paper types within autocad, and not with PDF).

Question:

- Is it possible to have AutoCAD crop pdfs or in some way automaticly adjust paper sizes at the process of exporting?

Greetings fellow drafters,

Bronek

architect, AutoCAD 2014

[pendean]

No, you need to manually control that in PDF creation based on your need, AutoCAD simply follows your instructions for paper sizes to output: try using PLOT instead of the less-control-on-offer "export" to do what you have to do.

[Anonymous]

Hi Pendean THX for your reply!

Does PLOT (and then to PDF) offer the functionality to crop blank margins?

Bronek

[pendean]

Nope

[M_Hensley]

To create a PDF without any blank margins you would have to choose a paper size (or create a custom one) that your plotted items fit on better.

[olivier.eckmann]

Hi,

PDFCrop (http://pdfcrop.sourceforge.net/) make what you want.

Olivier

[pendean]

The OP already used and external app, it's not the topic of this thread which us to get it done while plotting.

[olivier.eckmann]

Hi,

PDFCrop can work on command line, so if you configure your AutoCAD to Autospool and specify a .BAT which launch PDF Crop in command line on %1  (name of the plot generated by autospool) it works fine.

User doesn't know that an external program make the job AutoCAD can't do!

Olivier