Export PDF

PDF - Export

The mnemonic PDF stands for Adobe’s Page Document Format. It is a vector format, as compared to a bitmap graphic format. This is the preferred interchange format for macOS. Any well designed macOS application will fully support this file format.

The Pagination and Master Layer selections will enable if your drawing has more than one page or more than one layer. These only apply when printing "Full Drawing" as selected by the top middle popup menu.

This panel is accessed from the File menu, the Export selection. Use the top left popup menu found on the Export Panel to select "PDF" for the file format.

The Content popup menu provides a selection to specify the elements of the drawing that are included in the export. The choices are self explanatory.

The Background popup menu further defines what is included in the export. It is often desirable to define the backdrop of the drawing differently for an export, compared to the screen display. For example a reference grid might be used for the screen display but would not be included with the export. This setting determines if the exported graphic will be transparent or have a solid (white or colored) background.

Mirror options will flip the output in a mirror fashion. This is needed when the printed output is used as a "reverse" application, for example when printing then applying to something like a t-shirt. Use both checkboxes to print a full reverse mirror image.

When printing Full Drawing contents, and if the drawing has more than one layer or more than one page the Pagination popup menu provides three choices for page definition. Single Page will print the whole drawing on one monolithic pdf page. Multiple Pages will print in the common manner with individual pdf pages for each page of the drawing.

Pages As Layers will print each layer as a pdf page. Pages As Layers for multiple page drawings will print all layers as multiple pages (for example a 2 layer drawing with 3 pages would result in 6 pages of pdf). The current visible layers are printed, visible layers are defined on the Layers Inspector.

If a Master Layer is specified, with Pages As Layers then the Master Layer is printed to each page. It is printed at a background position behind each individual layer on the corresponding pdf page.

More information on the PDF file format is provided on the help page Ungroup PDF . This page explains how to use EazyDraw to import and edit pdf files from other applications.

There are two ways to create a PDF, this export panel and the main Print operation. When you choose to print a drawing, there is an option to Save as PDF . This is slightly different, Save as PDF will faithfully capture the intended printed content. The main difference between these two approaches is how individual pages are handled. This Export operation supports the Pages As Layers option and always prints all pages in their natural order (as defined on Page Layout). The Save As PDf operation has more control over page order and will allow printing of specific pages, but it does not support printing of layers as pages. Both methods support Mirror printing (use the EazyDraw parameter selection on the Print dialog to access this option.

Page Size is managed on the Page Setup palette. The number of pages and the counting order (across then down, or down then across) is managed on the Page Layout palette. Both of these palettes are accessed from the File main menu.