Extra lines when plotting to PDF and printing from the generated PDF

[emcclary]

AutoCAD LT 2024

The typical workflow for my department is to plot any completed drawings to PDF and then printing from the PDF to confirm everything is in order before publishing.

The PDF will plot perfectly fine. The appearance is sharp and the text is clear and selectable. However, when printing from said PDF, additional lines will appear in the drawings that are not shown in the DWG or PDF. I have purged the drawing of any extraneous content, double checked that there is not an extra layer or transparent line in the locations.

The only time I have been able to print successfully is to plot directly from AutoCAD LT to our printer. I must select "Plot Transparency" for the lines to go away. This option is not available for Batch Plot for either my printer or to plot to PDF.

I have attached a photo of the prints. The correct one is on the top and the incorrect one is on the bottom with arrows pointing at the additional lines.

[paullimapa]

Since the pdf looks correct on the screen and when you print directly to the printer from AutoCAD I’d say it has to do with the app you’re using to send the pdf to your printer. I’d suggest you try using a different program to test this out

[emcclary]

Thanks for the reply

Tried printing from Foxit PDF Reader, Adobe PDF Reader, and Chrome, all with the same results. I've disabled my printer's specific driver and downloaded a generic PCL6 printer driver and got the same results.

In Foxit, I printed with 'Print as image' enabled, which flattens the PDF into a plain image and it prints correctly but the sharpness of the print is lost and text becomes blurry as to be illegible.

[paullimapa]

From your testing it seems like your printer has trouble dealing with vector based pdfs. But interestingly enough when you print the dwg directly to it from AutoCAD using I assume the same Windows driver it prints fine...I wonder if the print driver actually converts everything from vector to raster as well so the extra lines don't appear?

[pendean]

@emcclary Wondering why you did not include your PDF file, since that is where you are facing the challenge: can you do so now?

[hwalker]

@emcclary I created a PDF from your file using the "AutoCAD PDF (High Quality)" printer. I then printed it from Acrobat Pro DC as both an A4 and an A3 print. No lines appeared. Have you checked to see if your printer has the latest drivers.

Also which method are you using to create the PDF?

[emcclary]

PDF Attached

[emcclary]

Batch Plot > Publish to PDF, Preset 'AutoCAD PDF (General Documentation)'

I checked if there is an update to the printer driver and found nothing. I will recheck.

[pendean]

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@emcclary wrote:

PDF Attached

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Thanks. Your 11x17 PDF prints just fine here to two different brands of laser printers in our office, and from two different PDF viewers, no extra lines appear