topic Re: Exported PDF showing in inches? in Documentation

Exported PDF showing in inches?

AnnaGow — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 01:34:21 GMT

Quick query, I run Archicad 26/27 located in Australia.

I work in millimeters within Archicad - i have had a client who has a problem with my PDFs - when i export to PDF and they measure it comes up as inches ( not mm). I've gone through the program they use, and it seems to be something in the export from Archicad to PDF - i have fiddled around for ages and not been able to fix so i thought i would ask!

Many thanks! Anna

Operating system used: Windows

Re: Exported PDF showing in inches?

Barry Kelly — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 02:01:52 GMT

If you draw something that is 254mm long, do they measure 10 inches or 254 inches?

Either way it sounds like they might just need to change the units of measurement in the software they are using.

Barry.

Re: Exported PDF showing in inches?

AnnaGow — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 01:20:47 GMT

Hi Barry, thanks for your reply - o really appreciate your time! To answer your question if it's 254mm long it measures at 10 inches.

When I export my drawing as a PDF I open it in Acrobat and the default in Acrobat measure is inches. I have changed my preference in Acrobat to mm but it seems to need to do this every time I open the document, and to their frustration, so does my client. I would like to change the default of my PDF to be measured in mm and was seeing if there was a way I could embed that in the export process from Archicad?

Many thanks, Anna

Re: Exported PDF showing in inches?

Barry Kelly — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 01:47:44 GMT

My Acrobat was also measuring in inches.

I when into the main Menu > Preferences and set the units to millimeters.

Now it measures in mm.

I close Arcobat and opened another file and it also now measures in mm.

Barry.

Re: Exported PDF showing in inches?

Barry Kelly — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 02:15:43 GMT

Also as you are measuring, you can right mouse click to set the 'scale ratio and precision'.

This should be mm if you set the units to mm, but you can also affect the scale here.

If it says inches here, it will measure in inches.

So maybe set this as well.

Barry.