AutoCAD Export

Publishes an AutoCAD drawing file to PDF, DWF, or DXF format using the MinuteView DWG Processor.

Serialised Task

This task runs through the serialisation queue. Only one instance of this task executes at a time across all concurrent workflows. If multiple workflows reach this task simultaneously, they will queue and execute one at a time.

Purpose

Use this task to automatically convert .dwg files into standardised output formats as part of a workflow. Basic usage requires only a file path and export type. For PDF exports, an optional advanced configuration allows precise control over sheet selection, paper size, plot style, and PDF layout behaviour. The exported file path is available to downstream tasks once the export completes.

Inputs

Field	Type	Required	Description
Local File Full Path	Text	Yes	The absolute path to the .dwg file on the server to be exported.
Export Type	Dropdown	Yes	The output format to generate. Options: PDF, DWF, DXF.
Advanced Plot Settings	Advanced Form	No	Custom plotting configuration controlling sheet size matching, space to plot, PDF file mode, paper size, plot style CTB, lineweights, and blacklisted tabs.

Visibility Rules

Advanced Plot Settings is only shown when Export Type is set to PDF.

Outputs

Name	Description
ExportedFilePath	The full file path of the exported output file.

SHX Font Text in PDFs

This task uses Autodesk DWG TrueView (installed on the server) to generate PDFs. When a drawing contains text that uses .shx fonts (a proprietary AutoCAD font format), TrueView embeds that text as PDF comments by default. This is controlled by the EPDFSHX system variable.

While this can be useful for search indexing, it often produces thousands of comment annotations that clutter the PDF when viewed in a reader. If this is not desirable, you can disable it by changing a registry value on the server where TrueView is installed.

Disabling SHX text comments

1. Open the Windows Registry Editor (regedit) on the server.
2. Navigate to:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\DWG TrueView\R27\dwgviewr-x001:409\Variables

   R27 is the release path for the supported DWG TrueView 2027.
3. Locate the value named EPDFSHX (it may also appear as *EPDFSHX).
4. Double-click it and change the Value data from 1 to 0.
5. Restart the MinuteView Automations service so TrueView picks up the change.

Setting EPDFSHX to 0 tells TrueView to render SHX text as geometry in the PDF rather than embedding it as comment annotations. The text will still be visible in the drawing — it simply will not appear as searchable comments in the PDF output.

TIP

This is a server-level setting that applies to all PDF exports produced by TrueView. It does not need to be configured per-workflow.