Getting a CAD floor plan into Visio traditionally has been a difficult experience. Up until we created this process as outlined below, the only way to get a high quality result was to import a properly formatted and correct version DWG file. Just getting a properly formatted DWG can prove to be a challenge and in a lot of cases a copy of AutoCAD would be needed just to edit the DWG before insert into Visio. That is assuming you can get the DWG from the architect in the first place. These days PDF, not DWG seems to be the preferred distribution method for CAD files.
On the other hand, Visio has always had an insert PDF function that would allow the user to easily import a PDF that was generated from the CAD file into the background with the dual caveats that the import would be not be to scale and that the nice clean vectors in the PDF would be converted to somewhat jagged bitmaps during the conversion process. This created a CAD background that was not to scale, looked bad on-screen, and looked even worse when it was printed to paper or PDF.
What we wanted to develop was a process that would allow the user to completely bypass the DWG part and allow the user to easily import a PDF file created from CAD directly into Visio while maintaining the drawing scale and the high quality vectors of the original DWG file. We also wanted a high quality output when printed or saved as a PDF.
This function uses a third-party conversion tool. Our conversion vendor charges by a per page converted pricing structure and we will have to do the same. However, we plan on giving all of our customers who are on the current version of SI 50 pages for free and then introduce a pricing model where you will be able to purchase conversions in blocks of 50 pages.
Note: The converter will not convert bitmapped drawings or scanned files.
A set of instructions will display. Click the "Do not show me again" once you've memorized them. There will be a quiz.
You will still need to check the box next to the page even if there is only one page. If there are multiple pages, select the page(s) you want to insert by clicking the check box in the Pages section of the form. You can also use the [Select All]/[Deselect All] buttons:
This will bring up a new form that lists all the layers on that page.
To determine which layers are which, open the original PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader and click the Layers button along the left side. Then click the "eyeball" icons next to each layer to turn them off. Toggle layers on and off until you get the desired results.
The PDF will be inserted into your Visio file. Example shown below:
Once the file is in Visio you may need to adjust and crop the image as needed. In this example I want to move it over to the left a bit, edit out the previous title block and lock it down once I have finished the edits so that I can lay additional Visio shapes on top without it moving around.
Note: If you chose to "Lock PDF Background Layer" in step 15 above, you will need to unlock the layer before you can edit it.
In the example above I used a PDF file that was printed (plotted) at 1/8” to 1’ scale at a 42X30 inch page size. In some cases actual scale may not be important or you may need to print the 42X30 page on a single page of smaller paper.
If you don't know what page size you have in Visio, right-click the "Title Page Background" page tab and select Page Setup.
Then click the Page Size tab:
When inserting the PDF Background, you can choose the "Use custom page size (W*H)" radio button and fill in the dimensions of your page size. Also leave the "Size to fit page" option checked.
As previously mentioned using the native Visio import PDF functionality would result in a somewhat low resolution bit mapped file on screen and a lower resolution file when saved as a PDF. As you can see from the images below both the onscreen and printed versions are borderline unacceptable. See the use cases below to get an idea of the fidelity of the different processes
We can now easily compare and contrast what the exact same PDF file looks like when inserted into Visio using the D-Tools PDF Cloud Converter tool and what that file looks like when printed using the Visio Save as PDF command.
Below is a side by side comparison of original PDF and the same PDF run through our cloud converter, inserted into Visio and then saved as a PDF using the native Visio Save as PDF command.