It's becoming more and more common these days to email digital versions of drawings.  Some firms are now sending .PDF (Adobe Acrobat) versions of drawings to Lawyers and other non technical clients.  This is good because the recipient (i.e. lawyer) doesn't need to have any CAD software.  Also, all of the line and text weights are retained as in the original hard copy version.  The .PDF format can be viewed using the Acrobat Reader program, which can be downloaded free from the internet by anyone.  We even supply it with our MSCAD, MSX, and inCAD programs, to be able to read our electronic copies of the manuals.  The client can even print the document on his local printer, if required.

So how do we get MSCAD, MSX or inCAD to create a .PDF file?

A simple FREE print driver is available from the web-site address below, that creates a PDF file instead of printing to the printer/plotter in your office.

http://pdf995.com/download.html

On the right side of the screen you will see a box as shown below.

Pick on the Download button for PDF995 Print Driver and save it to your hard drive.

Then pick on the Download button for the Free Converter and save it to your hard drive.

Both of these files are programs that you can run by double clicking on the name via Windows Explorer or My Computer.

Both of the programs need to be installed to work.

Once the files are installed you can print to it just like you would to your local printer/plotter, from any program, including MSCAD, MSX and inCAD.

From inside MSCAD or MSX, run the print command as you normally would, picking the portion of the drawing to print, using either the Window or Extents options.  When the print dialog come up on screen – pick the SETUP button in the top right of the dialog and then change to the PDF995 driver.  Set the rest of the print options as desired or required, including pen widths, colors, drawing scale, etc.  Then pick on the print button.  From inCAD, follow the standard print options available in AutoCAD and pick the appropriate print driver as mentioned above.

You will then be asked to give the PDF file a name and pick a location on the hard drive to save the file (standard Windows dialog).  At this point you may see a couple of screens come up in your Internet Explorer.  These are advertisements and can be closed without causing any problems.

The PDF file is now created and saved in the location you entered with the name you gave it.  You can now open this file using the Acrobat Reader, or email it to your customer for viewing.

Glen W. Cameron, C.E.T.

Technical Support Manager