About Saving and Exporting Data
Supported file formats and some tips for best results
You can save or export Inventor parts and drawings in several formats. In Inventor, you can also save or export assemblies, presentations, and parameters in various formats, depending on the data.
Routed Systems
For Cable and Harness files, you can save the harness part only in the context of its parent harness assembly. If there are no changes to the harness part, it is not listed in the dialog box. You can save the parent harness assembly on its own.
For Tube and Pipe files, you can save the Tube and Pipe route part and run assembly only in the context of the primary runs assembly. When you make edits that change the route part or run assembly and click Yes to save dependants, the primary runs assembly also changes to Yes. If you change the status of the route part or the run assembly, save the primary and all other modified run assemblies or route parts under the primary runs assembly as a unit.
Tips for saving a drawing to PDF
You can set options, and export the sheets in a drawing to a PDF file.
You can specify the pixel resolution for vector and raster graphics of the PDF files that you create. The higher the resolution, the greater the precision but the larger the file size.
- Vector resolution: 1200 DPI
- Custom vector resolution: 40000 DPI
- Gradient resolution: 200 DPI
- Custom gradient resolution: 200 DPI
- Color and grayscale resolution: 200 DPI
- Custom color and grayscale resolution: 200 DPI
- Black and white resolution: 400 DPI
- Custom black and white resolution: 400 DPI
When you create PDF files intended for plotting, select a resolution to match the output of your plotter or printer. High resolutions (over 2400 DPI) are for viewing. For example, for drawings that contain a lot of detail, such as a topographical map of a large region, use a higher setting for greater detail in the PDF file. Use extreme resolutions (over 40,000 DPI) only when necessary. As you increase the resolution setting, raster image quality increases, the speed of printing decreases, and memory requirements increase.