PDF Troubleshooting collects practical CAD plotting guidance for this topic within PDF & Publishing. Use these articles for setup, verification, troubleshooting and reliable final output.
Missing text in an AutoCAD PDF can come from missing source fonts, font substitution, PDF font handling, layer or plot settings, or text already absent in Preview. Check the source drawing before changing PDF options.
Missing lines in a PDF can come from non-plot layers, viewport layer freezing, white or faint plot colors, extremely thin output, clipping, or geometry already absent in Plot Preview. Compare one missing line with a nearby line that plots correctly.
If hatches disappear from an AutoCAD PDF, check whether they are already missing in Plot Preview, whether the hatch layer is plottable, whether screening or transparency makes them too faint, and whether dense patterns are being rendered as expected.
Raster images can be missing from a PDF because the image reference is unavailable, its layer is not plotting, the image is clipped or off-sheet, or the PDF workflow is failing after Preview. Check the external reference before adjusting PDF resolution.
If transparency is wrong in the PDF, compare the object’s transparency, Plot Transparency setting and PLOTTRANSPARENCYOVERRIDE. If the PDF is correct but paper differs, the issue is downstream in the viewer or printer.
A blurry AutoCAD PDF may contain low-resolution raster content, rasterized visual styles, text converted to geometry with insufficient quality, or an inappropriate low-quality preset. First determine which objects are blurry and whether they are vector or raster.
Slow CAD PDFs can be caused by very high resolution, large raster images, transparency, complex vector geometry, text converted to geometry or oversized multi-sheet packages. Diagnose what made the PDF heavy before lowering quality everywhere.
If an AutoCAD PDF is not to scale, check the Layout viewport or Model Space plot scale, PDF page size and any Fit or Shrink setting used when printing the PDF. A correct viewport can still be ruined downstream.
If PDF lineweights are too thin, too thick or all the same, compare the selected CTB or STB, Plot Object Lineweights and the object or layer plot-style source before changing drawing scale.