Answers to the most common questions about archiPDF. For pre-purchase questions, see the FAQ on the product page.
Can I open password-protected PDFs?
Yes: archiPDF prompts for the password when you open an encrypted file. The password is used only to decrypt the file locally; it's not stored or transmitted.
What happens when I place a PDF page into a Layout?
The selected page(s) land on the active Archicad Layout, Plan, Section, or Worksheet as image objects. You can scale, reposition, and crop them like any other image. Placing a range places each page as a separate image.
Can I place a PDF into multiple Layouts at once?
No: Place drops pages onto the currently active view only. To place the same pages on several Layouts, repeat the Place action with each Layout active.
Does archiPDF work with scanned (image-only) PDFs?
You can view, navigate, place, and copy image regions from scanned PDFs. Text search depends on OCR: pure scanned PDFs without OCR won't return search results until they're OCR'd externally.
How big can the PDF be?
There's no hard limit, but very large PDFs (200+ MB, hundreds of pages) consume more memory and can slow the palette. For heavy spec books, load what you need and close when done.
Can I copy a table or formatted text cleanly?
Text copy preserves the raw text. Complex formatting (tables, multi-column layouts) may paste as a single run of text, for those, copy as an image region instead and paste into Archicad as an image.
Why is the placed PDF image blurry?
archiPDF renders pages at screen resolution for the placement. For print-quality output, place the PDF page at or above the resolution you need, or export the Layout and rely on Archicad's PDF output to handle final rasterization.
Can I open multiple PDFs at once?
One PDF per palette: open a different PDF and the current one closes. For side-by-side comparison, use Archicad's native floating palettes or open a second Archicad window.
Does the PDF stay linked, or is the placed page a snapshot?
Placed pages are snapshots (images). Updating the source PDF doesn't update placed images: re-place them to get the new version.