PDF to DXF

The PDF someone sent you, as geometry you can edit.

A PDF of a drawing comes in two kinds. Some were exported from CAD and still carry real vectors inside. Many more are a scan wrapped in a PDF, with nothing inside but a picture of a sheet, and those are the ones that defeat every importer people try first.

Bevell handles both. A page exported from CAD has its lines, arcs and circles read straight from the file, so corners meet exactly, crossings cross and each line keeps its colour. A scanned page is rendered at high resolution and traced down the centre of every stroke, so the result is single-line geometry rather than the doubled outlines you get from tracing edges. Either way, lines, arcs and circles come back as real DXF entities.

Because it is a drawing rather than a photograph, the drawing-specific switch applies: lettering can be read as editable CAD text instead of traced. Sorting linework onto layers by stroke weight is built but not switched on yet.

Who this is for

  • Engineers handed a supplier PDF

    Get a profile you can dimension and modify instead of measuring off a printout.

  • Fabricators quoting from drawings

    A DXF the cutter can take, from the PDF the customer actually sent.

  • Architects and surveyors

    Existing-conditions sheets become a base drawing to work over.

  • Anyone with a drawing archive

    Paper that was scanned once, years ago, becomes editable without retracing.

Try it on your own image

Preview unlimited conversions for free, no account needed, and retune until the result is right. You only pay when you download.

Drop a file here or click to browse

Photo: PNG, JPG, WebP, up to 10 MB and 52 megapixels

Drawing: PDF, TIFF, up to 50 MB

Free previews, no sign-up

How to do it

  1. 1

    Upload the PDF

    Up to 50 MB. A drawing set converts one sheet at a time: once it has converted, a Page field picks the sheet.

  2. 2

    Keep Direct trace

    A PDF starts on Direct trace, because it is already a drawing: a CAD export has its lines read from the file and a scan is traced as-is. AI redraw and Logo take a PDF too, for a messy scan or a logo, and redraw the page you picked.

  3. 3

    Decide about the lettering

    Tick Read lettering as text to get the lettering as editable CAD text, or leave it off, as it starts, to trace everything as geometry.

  4. 4

    Calibrate and download

    Drag across a printed dimension, type the value, and export DXF at true scale. The SVG comes from the same conversion.

Which format to take

DXF for CAD, CNC and anything that will be edited or cut. SVG if the drawing is headed for a vector editor or a laser tool that prefers it. One conversion produces both.

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What to check before you rely on it

  • One sheet per conversion. Pick each sheet of a set in turn with the Page field.
  • A CAD export's lines are read exactly, but its lettering is traced unless you switch on reading it as text. A page that is mostly a picture, even with a vector frame round it, is traced as a scan.
  • Text is read only if you switch it on, and never used to set the scale.
  • Very large or very dense sheets can run out of conversion time. Crop to the area you need.
  • The output is geometry and text, not a layered model with blocks or constraints.

Common questions

My PDF is just a scan. Will that work?
That is the case this is built for. There are no vectors to extract, so the sheet is traced as an image, which is the same thing a person does by hand but faster.
What about a PDF exported from CAD?
That is the easiest case. Its lines, arcs and circles are read straight from the file rather than traced, so they come back exactly as drawn, dashed lines stay dashed and each line keeps its colour. The source DXF from whoever sent the PDF still carries layers and blocks a PDF does not, so ask for it if you need those.
How big can the PDF be?
50 MB. Photos are capped lower, at 10 MB, because a scanned sheet is legitimately much larger than a phone picture.
Will the dimensions be read and applied?
Dimension strings can be read as editable CAD text, but they never set the scale. You calibrate from a dimension you can see, which keeps the scale something you verified rather than something guessed from a misread number.

Read next

The PDF someone sent you, as geometry you can edit.

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