AutoCAD Drawing Exported to PDF Shows Missing or Faint Text and Linework When Printed

What’s is happening.

1. AutoCAD + SHX fonts → vectors with hairline strokes our drawing uses SHX fonts (e.g., romans.shx, txt.shx), AutoCAD’s PDF driver often converts the text to geometry (outlines). Those outlines can have a stroke width of 0 (hairline).
   • Acrobat tends to print “hairline” strokes extremely thin (they scale to one device pixel on high‑resolution printers), which makes text look like faint spiderweb lines.
   • Foxit tends to print “hairline” strokes extremely thin (they scale to one device pixel on high‑resolution printers), which makes text look like faint spiderweb lines.
   • With Bluebeam Revu you will not see this problem because it applies a minimum stroke width when printing hairlines, so the same PDF looks normal from Revu.
2. TrueType text vs. geometry
   If you use TrueType fonts (e.g., Arial, Calibri) and let AutoCAD keep them as real text in the PDF, Acrobat prints them like normal text with proper weight. The problem shows up most when text was converted to paths/geometry.
3. Acrobat’s “thin line” behavior
   Acrobat/Reader has behaviors and preferences that can make very thin vector strokes appear (or print) lighter than you’d expect. Bluebeam’s renderer/print engine is more forgiving with hairlines.

Quick ways to verify the issue.

• Open the PDF in Acrobat. Try to select text with the cursor.
  • If it is selectable, the PDF has real text (fonts embedded).
  • If it isn’t selectable, it’s likely outlines/geometry (hairline strokes).

Current work around (easiest to most robust)

A) Change how you print from Acrobat.

1. In Acrobat Print dialog → Advanced:
   • Turn ON “Print as Image.”
     This rasterizes the page and prevents hairline vector strokes from staying hairline at the device. Text weight typically looks normal after this.
2. (Optional) In Preferences → Page Display, disable “Enhance thin lines” (affects screen more than print, but it’s useful for diagnosing).
3. Make sure “Use Local Fonts” is enabled and “Rely on system fonts” (older option) is off so Acrobat uses embedded fonts.

Pros: Quick, no CAD change.
Cons: Can slow printing / reduce vector crispness on some devices.

Use the current workaround (Until we have the staffing and budget that allow us to apply updates to the Operational Drawings:

These updates should be: To convert all drawings from SHX fonts to TrueType fonts, and the text layer or plot style (CTB/STB) uses a non-zero lineweight (e.g., 0.13–0.18 mm) so text outlines do not appear as hairline strokes in PDFs and “Lineweight = Default/ByLayer 0” for text that will be converted to geometry.

KB Article written By Scott Friend 05-07-2026