Starting with version 2018, AutoCAD for Mac can create PDFs with searchable text. PDFMaker only works with certain versions of the AutoCAD DWG format: Compatible web browsers and PDFMaker applications.

See: Creating PDFs with PDFMaker (Windows) - AutoCAD section at the bottom DWG files can also be converted to PDF by PDFMaker even if AutoCAD itself is not installed. It is also possible to right-click a DWG file in Windows and choose the 'Convert to Adobe PDF' option.There is a toolbar button in AutoCAD for PDFMaker. Using PDFMaker to create the PDF instead of plotting to PDF from AutoCAD, will result in searchable text in the PDF even, for text which uses an SHX font.This application can generate a placeholder font in the PDF for all the SHX text in an AutoCAD drawing.To move away from having text in PDF comments, there is a software included with Adobe Acrobat called PDFMaker.In the text search box in Adobe Reader, click the gear settings menu and choose 'Include Comments.' Usually, the default search/find commands do not include PDF comments in searches, so be sure to change that setting. SHX Fonts If using SHX fonts, the latest versions of AutoCAD and DWG TrueView (2016 and newer) can be used to plot with the AutoCAD PDF drivers (example: DWG to PDF.pc3).Īll SHX fonts will be converted into PDF comments, which can then be searched in Adobe Reader and other PDF-viewing programs. Click OK to confirm changes to the PC3 Plotter Configuration file.Click OK to dismiss the Plotter Configuration Editor.Click OK to dismiss the DWG to PDF Properties dialog box.Click the 'Capture All' option under Font Handling.In the Custom Properties section, click Custom Properties.In the plot window, select DWG To PDF.pc3 for the printer.It may be necessary to select the 'Capture All' option in the DWG To PDF.pc3 properties: On the command line in AutoCAD, enter DVIEW and then select all in your drawing.By selecting the text and changing the Z value in the Properties palette to zero.TrueType Fonts Changing text objects so that they have no Z coordinate by: There is no AutoCAD option or feature to make SHX searchable in a PDF in AutoCAD 2015 and earlier. If SHX fonts are used, set the PDFSHX variable to 1 (for AutoCAD 2017 and later EPDFSHX for AutoCAD 2016).Make sure that the Z coordinate value of the text object is zero.For TrueType fonts, do not alter the text from the original font, such as changing width (must be 1.0) or other style options.Use TrueType fonts for text intended to be searchable (mtext, dimensions).Solution:To have searchable text in a PDF from AutoCAD:

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