I’m trying to import a PDF that was saved from and excel table. When I import the PDF the text is not visible, just the table outline. Any ideas why this might be, or a workaround ? Using Rhino 5
Hi Milezee,
Thanks for the @ mention.
Rhino 6 PDF import is significantly improved in Rhino 6.
I think you should download the Rhino 6 Eval and give it a try.
You can also post your PDF of the Excel spreadsheet here and I will try it for you.
Here is Rhino 5 Importing a PDF of sample Excel spread sheet:
Here is Rhino 6 Importing the same PDF of sample Excel spread sheet:
Sincerely,
Mary Ann Fugier
McNeel Technical Support
hi Mary, thanks for the reply 
.
I’ve been a Rhino for Mac user for a few years now, and more recently the company I do some work for have Rhino 5 Windows so not really had chance to use the V6, I did install the V6 eval version last week so will start to try it out. In V6 can the PDF’s be imported over layout pages too ? And is it possible to just import the excel tables straight in or do they have to be saved as PDF’s ?
Hi Milezee,
Yes - the PDF imports equally as well on the Layout.
This is the Import command that we are using here.
I think PDF works best for formatting of text and borders.
However, if Xcel data is what you are after for numeric input, there are plugins for Grasshopper that will assist with that. Go to Food4Rhino and search on Excel.
Sincerely,
Mary Ann Fugier
Hi Mary, I think this will suit my needs for now
Last question if I may, when will it be possible to put hyper-links to text in layouts and be directed to a web page ? Or does this work already in V6 if the PDF has links embedded ? This would be such a useful function, especially when offering different products (e.g. TV’s, kitchen appliances etc etc) to place into interior furniture packages 
Hi Milezee,
Currently for Rhino 5 or Rhino 6, the Hyperlinks are not included in the PDF print or Export.
I actually made this request last February 2016 as tracker item RH-42809
It really helps to hear that you think it would be helpful too.
Let’s see if we can get one of the developers to look at this.
If it gets added, you will be notified here.
Thanks again, Milezee.
Sincerely,
Mary Ann Fugier
1 Like
While the exporter is entirely new and improved, …
@wim @mary I did have a quick play with exporting layouts to PDF last week in V6, it was a bit of a struggle getting the output settings right, line weights etc, seemed different from V5, maybe a new tutorial on using and output of layouts is required :). One thing for sure is that over the last few years Rhino is significantly better at producing professional quality line drawings from 3d work
Hi Milezee,
I am interested in the specifics of what was not working as far as line weights. You can email a file that will show me the issue to mary@mcneel.com.
ViewCapture and Make2D are also improved. Take a look at this video from Simply Rhino.
Sincerely,
Mary Ann Fugier
@mary tried the V6 import of PDF, I like it, helps a lot, nice that you can even edit the text if needed
Mary, can you point me in the right direction for scaling my annotations from model space to layout space, I can’t seem to find how to scale dimensions/text to how I’d like to see them in layouts ?
@mary Hi Mary, this is working ok in V6, certainly a big step in the right direction for creating great layout pages. Couple of issues I have noticed, 1st is when I import a PDF table the outlines of the table are coming in as individual curves, and they also over shoot or fall short of the table boundary, image attached. There also seems to be some hatching being imported (it follows the lines of the table, hardly noticeable, but its there). And finally the font type seems to change slightly, I use Technic normally, and when I import the PDF it was coming in as TechnicBold, so some minor things, but I’m generally liking the layouts more 
@GregArden Greg, is this something that is in your department, see the screenshot above, and also when importing a pdf which has a table in it, there seems to be a hatch which follows the lines of the table borders ? tia
Has anyone else run into the problem of the PDF looking fine in Rhino, but turning black when Printing or viewing w/ PrintDisplay turned On? It’s been a showstopper for me, and I’ve resorted to converting PDFs to JPEGs w/ Acrobat if I want to place them on a layout, but there must be a better way, right?
As you can see for the image below, it seems to turn fills black when printing, regardless of the PrintColor setting. I tried changing the print color to red just to see what would happen, but the fills still print as black. Setting object to ByDisplay doesn’t seem to change anything.
Importing fills as boundary curves DOES fix the problem, but clearly this method has its own limitaitons… at the top of the list: your fills are lost.
PrintDisplay Off:
PrintDisplay On / printed to JPEG or PDF:
PrintDisplay On w/ Boundary curves (no fills / hatches):
(Rhino 7, latest service release)