PDF export from LayOut not the same size as the document in LayOut

Hi there,
I’m a relative LayOut novice. I am trying to export PDF’s of some plans and, despite having double-checked every page size or document setup setting I can think of in LayOut, every time I export a PDF, it is the wrong size and has cut off my plan. My document is set up using the “Tabloid - Landscape” template in LayOut and yet every time I export, the PDF opens in Acrobat and it is 8.5x11 and has cut off my drawing and annotations. I have tried sending my SketchUp model directly to LayOut from SketchUp, chosen the tabloid template, ensured that the page shown in LayOut is, in fact, 17x11" using the dimensioning tool, and exported a PDF. I have also tried opening LayOut and creating a blank document using the “tabloid - landscape” template and then inserting my SketchUp model. Once again, I confirmed the dimensions of the page showing in LayOut to be 17x11" and exported. The result was the same cut off 8.5x11". I have even opened a new blank document in LayOut, chosen the “tabloid - landscape” template and simply drawn a few lines and curves on the page with the Layout drawing tools. When I try exporting that, it too exports as an 8.5x11" sheet with part of the drawing cut off. Does anyone have any idea what’s going on here or how to fix it?

Can you share the LO file and the resulting PDF file you are getting?

If you can’t share the files publicly for whatever reason, send me a PM with the files.

Here’s an LO drawing I did by opening a blank document in the “Tabloid - Landscape” template and the resulting PDF export. As you can see, the PDF is not 11x17 and it has cut off much of the drawing. The drawn lines themselves seem to be at the correct scale, but on a smaller sheet than what I created in LO.LO test.layout (19.7 KB) LO test.pdf (2.6 KB)

How are you creating the PDF export?

I’m just using File → Export in LayOut

Weird. When I do it with your file I get the right paper size in Adobe Reader.

Are you using a Mac or PC?

PC here.

Your profile indicates you are using 19.2. Is that correct? If it is, try updating to 19.3.

When you open my PDF is it correctly sized?

No. It shows on letter size.

Out of curiosity, what do you get if you set the paper size to 12x18?

Does your printer handle 11x17 paper?

I thought about doing that, but saw on SketchUp’s website that they’re getting slammed with support request tickets and I thought perhaps folks were having issues with the newest update. In any case, I’ll give it a try. It can’t be any more frustrating than this. I appreciate your help.

See the edit at the end of my post.I wonder if there’s something related to print drivers. I would kind of expect that with File>Print but not File>Export.

My printer does handle 11x17 paper and I have tried fiddling with the page setup settings in the Acrobat print dialogue to make sure that tabloid is selected as the paper size. The print preview adjusts accordingly to show 11x17 paper, but the image remains cut off. I could imagine this being a printer-related issue if I had been trying to generate the PDF through the print dialogue, but I can’t imagine how the print driver would impact my use fo the direct “export” command.

At least in your sample the drawing does run off the page. I wonder if @trent might have a thought about this.

Well, I just installed the update and ran the same experiment. Unfortunately, the result was the same.LO test 2.layout (11.3 MB) LO test 2.pdf (134.8 KB)

It’s definitely weird. Let’s see if Trent has a chance to look and give us an idea.

I just tried using File → Document Setup in Layout and resized the page to legal (14x8.5) and re-exported it. The PDF still came out as an 8.5x11 page with the image cut off.

Like for Dave, for me everything in your LayOut file looks OK, and when I export it to PDF, the result is as expected. Your PDF file looks like what I would get if instead of exporting to PDF I was using the Acrobat printer to create a PDF, with a Letter page size set in Page setup.
I am not using a Mac so I don’t know if the Mac’s built in PDF handling can be confused with the PDF functions that are in the LayOut application itself.

1 Like

So, in an effort to accomplish something, I decided to experiment with generating a PDF through the print dialogue instead of using the File-> Export method. Low and behold, it works perfectly using File → Print → Save as Adobe PDF. Thank goodness! I’d still love to know if other Mac users are having similar issues with the File → Export command. Thank you all for taking a crack at this.

@dwcreates, I tried two things: (1) opened your LO file and then exported to PDF, next opened PDF and started to print, see first attachment, (2) opened your PDF file, then started to print, see second attachment. I do not know why your PDF Print Dialog Box is indicating “Scale 97%” as original size when mine is showing your desired “Document 17.0in x 11.0in”. But hope this finding might help you identify the problem. (I am on PC Win10, SU19.3, Adobe Acrobat Std DC v2015). Good Luck.