CAD tip # 10514:

Question CAD
% platform category

PDF published from AutoCAD 2016 has rectangles displayed around texts.

Texts created by SHX fonts are in AutoCAD 2016 published to PDF with auxiliar comments, so that the text contents of a PDF file can be indexed. AutoCAD-based SHX fonts cannot be directly represented in PDF files as text fonts and so any drawing text is no more stored as a "text" in the resulting PDF (but just vectors). In some PDF viewers, these auxiliar comments (contain the same text as the drawing text vectors) may show frames, rectangles, additional windows and other potentially annoying and unwanted elements.

Now it is possible to switch off (disable) these helper texts (serving just for searching texts in PDF) - since Service Pack 1 you can use for this the new variable EPDFSHX. Set this variable to 0.

AutoCAD 2024 has a new optional value for this variable - 2 - hidden texts (no rectangles) but still searchable in the PDF.

NOTE: in higher AutoCAD versions, Autodesk plans to rename this system variable to begin with the letters "PDF" - PDFSHX.

ACAD2016LT2016ADT2016Civil2016Plant2016

* CAD

29.9.2015 8479×

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applies to: AutoCAD 2016 · AutoCAD LT 2016 · AutoCAD Architecture 2016 · Civil 3D 2016 · AutoCAD Plant 3D 2016 ·

See also:
Tip 11128:	How to convert lines forming a text to a text entity.
Tip 10182:	How to create a PDF file from DWG without AutoCAD?
Tip 7806:	Selectable text in PDF files from AutoCAD.
Tip 7549:	DEPENDS - displaying file dependencies in a DWG drawing.
Tip 7204:	Sharp spikes plotted in certain letters.

Selected tip: Views with hidden lines are plotted with wrong linewidths (widths are ignored).

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