That’s where Cisdem PDFMaster comes in. This all-in-one PDF solution includes specialized measurement tools designed for those who often work with scaled drawings.
In this article, you’ll learn how to use it to measure lines, perimeters, areas and angles in a PDF, as well as exporting the measured PDF with records for further use.
Prerequisite: Setting the Measurement Scale
Before starting to measure a drawing, the crucial first step is to calibrate your PDF measurements. Because a PDF stores its page size, not the drawing scale. If you skip calibration, the measuring tool will measure the pixels/points on the page instead of the actual meters/feet/inches. So you must tell your PDF software what a distance on the drawing represents in real life.
You can refer to the following table to tweak the scale settings:
| Drawing Scale | Measuring Scale |
| 1:2 | 1cm=0.02m |
| 1:10 | 1cm=0.1m |
| 1:20 | 1cm=0.2m |
| 1:50 | 1cm=0.5m |
| 1:100 | 1cm=1m |
| 1:200 | 1cm=2m |
| 1:500 | 1cm=5m |
| 1:1000 | 1cm=10m |
How to Measure Drawings in PDF Precisely
Cisdem PDFMaster has provided 4 powerful measuring tools for users to accurately measure lines, multilines, polygon and rectangle.
Why Choose Cisdem PDFMaster for PDF Measurements?
- Intuitive Design: The user interface is designed simply and all features are built in an organized manner. You can quickly find your desired functions.
- Easy Calibration: You can set the ratio of drawing dimensions to the actual size in seconds. Even you can adjust the number of decimal places for the measured data.
- Robust Measurement Features: Measure distances, perimeters, areas and angles of drawings flawlessly. The measurement results will clearly display on the drawings, and clicking on a certain measurement allows you to view more detailed data.
- AI Smart PDF Editor: It has a wealth of editing tools to work on PDF files, such as editing the text content, adding text boxes to PDF, hyperlinking a PDF, redacting sensitive information, converting files, compare two similar PDFs, etc. Besides, powerful AI features include summarize, rewrite, proofread, translate and deep think the file content.
Step-by-Step Tutorials on Measuring PDF
- Download and install this precise PDF measuring software.
- Launch the program, upload a PDF by clicking “Open Files” button.
- Choose the Annotate feature and hit “Measure” icon.
- In the right panel, click “Display Settings” icon to set the measurement scale.
Measure Distance:
Select the Line tool to measure the distance between two points. Click the mouse at the starting point of the line, move the cursor to the end point and click the mouse again.
Measure Perimeter:
Choose the Multilines tool to calculate the sum of multiple lines or the perimeter of a linear shape. Click to place points along the path you want to measure, e.g., an outline of a polygon. Double click to end the path at the last point.
Measure Polygon Area:
Select the Polygon tool to measure the area of a polygon. Click points to define the corners of the shape. Double click on the first point or the last point to finish drawing.
Measure Rectangle Area:
Choose the Rectangle tool to measure the area of a rectangle. Hover your cursor over the starting point and drag it to create a rectangle directly.
Make the Appearance Settings
All the measurement traces are retained on the PDF drawings, you can change their appearance through the floating menu bar or the right tool pane.
2 Basic Tools to Measure PDF for Free
As mentioned at the beginning, some PDF viewers such as Adobe Acrobat Reader and PDF-XChange also provide the tools to measure drawings in a PDF. They both offer a free version and a paid version. In the free version, you can use some basic measurement functions.
#1. Adobe Acrobat Reader
What you can do:
- Measure the distance, perimeter and area easily.
- Change the scale ratio and precision.
- Make changes to the line color and snap type.
What you can’t do:
- The measurement data will not be displayed on the drawing. You can only view the hidden data in the PDF viewer online.
How to Measure PDF Free in Adobe Acrobat Reader?
- Open this Adobe PDF measuring tool.
- Go to Menu > Open to import your PDF drawing.
- Choose the Measure objects tool from all tools.
- Click “Measuring tool” on the left panel, then a floating measurement toolbar will appear. Here you can measure your drawings easily as you need.
#2. PDF-XChange Editor (for Windows)
What you can do:
- Measure the distance, perimeter and area simply.
- Change the scale ratio and precision.
- Make changes to the line color and snap type.
What you can’t do:
- Only the distance data between two points will be displayed on the PDF page, while the data of perimeter and area will not be shown.
- It is not available for Mac users.
How to Measure PDF in PDF-XChange Editor?
- Start the program of this PDF measuring app.
- Go to File > Open to upload a PDF document.
- Choose the Comment tab, there are 3 options to measure PDF: Distance, Perimeter and Area.
- Click to start and double click to end the measuring process. You can change the appearance of measurement marks by choosing “Properties” from the right-click menu.
FAQs About Measuring PDF
- How do you measure the size of a PDF?
To know the size of a PDF, you can check its file information or properties. For example, in Cisdem PDFMaster, go to the File tab > Information. In the new wizard, choose Advanced tab, here you can view the file and page size.
- How to measure PDF for free?
Well, this article has explained 3 workable ways to measure PDF. Cisdem PDFMaster offers a generous 7-day free trial for all features, including measuring, annotating, editing, signing, etc. Adobe Acrobat Reader and PDF-XChange are totally free to measure a PDF, while they can’t display the measurement records for further use as Cisdem does.
- How do I measure a PDF on my phone?
iOS users can try PDF Expert app to measure your PDF drawings, but note that it requires a pro subscription. Also, there are a few online PDF measuring tools: APITemplate.io for measuring the distance, FoxyUtils for measuring distance and area, and Foxit PDF editor online for measuring the distance/perimeter/area.
- Why are my PDF measurements wrong?
The reason is incorrect or missing calibration. Double-check your scale setting and ensure that you’re measuring between correct points.
- Can I measure a scanned PDF drawing?
Absolutely yes, measuring a scanned PDF is the same as measuring a native PDF.
