Monday, April 25, 2011

Searchable Text Using Autodesk PDF Export


Do you export AutoCAD drawings to PDF? Want to search title blocks or notes in that PDF for certain words, or a name? This process is quite a bit easier than you may think. You don't need a fancy add-on or third party app, just the default Autodesk PDF export inside AutoCAD 2011.


There are a few general rules we must follow to get this to work properly.
  1. Make sure the text style you are using (and want to search in the PDF) is set to a True Type Font. Non-TT Fonts are not searchable.
  2. The width factor of the font must be left at default. If the width is changed it is no longer recognized as text when it is exported.
  3. You must also have a PDF viewer that is capable of searching for text, such as Adobe Reader. (Ctrl + F starts the find command)

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