From AutoCAD to Microsoft Word

[Anonymous]

I'm struggling going from AutoCAD to MS Word.

Requirement - must be vector data with lineweights preserved, not a snipping tool or screenshot, etc. And the standard .WMF filetype does not export lineweights.

I tried the simple COPY/PASTE I see all over YT videos, but I get a blank box in MS Word. When I try and crop it (guessing all directions), I still get nothing. I've even played with hardware acceleration, no luck.

I've tried creating a PDF first, using the PDF engine from Acrobat, no success. I forgot the results - so many attempts using so many variables.

I've also tried using Acroplot PDF engine, no good either. Really struggling here.

Any other suggestions. Again, a screen capture is unacceptable. I need clarity for the MS Word doc. Thank you.

I'm using:

Windows 10

AutoCAD 2020

Acrobat 9 Pro Extended

Acroplot 2020

Microsoft Office 2016

[alex101000]

Try using an alternative virtual PDF printer (for example PDFCreator) that converts AutoCAD files to raster rather than vector format. The thickness of the lines will vary. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the reply. I can't use raster, screenshots, snipping tool, etc.

The data is too detailed and when zooming in on a raster image, it looks horrible.

[alex101000]

What size sheet do you use in Word? Can you show an example image?

[leeminardi]

If you want a clean vector image in Word or Power Point of a line drawing you created in AutoCAD AND it doesn't contain text I found the best way is to use the process I outline in post #20 of this thread.

[pendean]

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/exporting-clean-images-from-a-dwg-to-a-word-document/m-...

[TheCADnoob]

The workflow that @leeminardi  and @pendean  mentioned works pretty good here (first time ive tried it thanks for the new work flow). That said the geometry i get isnt lines and line weights. in other words it is not necessarily a line weight but a rectangle at similar width to the line weight. You can see when you edit the points in word that its not a single line.

Ive used an export to DXF then conversion to SVG in the past. Once you have an svg just use the import picture tool in word and then it will prompt you to convert it to a Microsoft shape once you ungroup it.  This actually imports line weight though colors some time lost and the lightweights are not exact conversions when doing a quick check. They look to be relatively equivalent though words seems to cap the line weight at around 4pt (around 2mm line weight). You can see in the image below though thats is actually a single line with weighting applied. 

Id be tempted to go with the copy paste method if you can get away with it. It looks quick and easy. If you have to alter the geometry once its in word i would go with the DXF>SVG method. If there are solid hatches the SVG method looks much better also. 

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

I've found a solution using another app (free) called Inkscape.

Create PDF in AutoCAD
Open Inkscape

Open PDF, select sheet and precision slider (to your liking)
Select all, group

select all, copy

Open MS Word

Paste Special, select Picture (enhanced metafile)

DONE! 🙂

It appears the enhanced metafile maintains lineweights. Can anyone confirm this?

[lovecraft]

Thanks for discovering this free app, rpickeral.  Kudos to you!....Far and away the best solution.  The results speak for themselves!  The image in Word looks every bit as good as a "straight from AutoCAD" plot.  And, thank you to the developers of Inkscape.  I'm blown away by how well this works.

LC 😄

[TheCADnoob]

Awesome. I use inkscape frequently (works pretty good for converting raster to cad as well) and love the tool (and the price is right). Inkscape is what i used to get the svg for the screenshots above. 

Usually i export dxf and bring the dxf into inkscape and then convert it to svg. From there i import the svg into MS office apps. I havent tried PDF to inkscape. Ill have to give that a try next go round. Thanks for sharing!