{"id":461,"date":"2026-08-03T14:02:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T13:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki2\/?p=461"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:20:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:20:35","slug":"importing-dxf-and-dwg-files-into-illustrator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/software\/adobe\/461\/importing-dxf-and-dwg-files-into-illustrator\/","title":{"rendered":"Importing DXF and DWG files into Illustrator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DXF files are often referred to as &#8220;unitless&#8221; and there are frequent problems when importing them into other software. Adobe Illustrator, as software primarily used for design, likes to work in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Point_(typography)\">Points<\/a> (defined as 1\/72 of an inch) and subsequently often tries to import DXF files as if drawn in points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This will cause problems with the size of your design &#8211; parts will come out approximately 1\/3 of their intended size.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"293\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/import-dxf-illustrator-293x300.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/import-dxf-illustrator-293x300.png 293w, https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/import-dxf-illustrator.png 419w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 293px) 100vw, 293px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Selecting the Correct Scale<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The DXF\/DWG Options page appears when you open a DXF file in Illustrator.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select <strong>Original Size<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set the scale units dropdown box to millimeters (or whatever unit your original file was drawn in)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set the <strong>Scale<\/strong> text box to <strong>1<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set the <strong>Unit(s)<\/strong> text box to <strong>1<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click <strong>OK<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Grouping Objects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lines and other objects are usually not grouped or joined together when you import them. This can cause your drawing to become broken apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before moving objects around you may wish to group them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Select objects using the Selection tool (shortcut key V) and then group them together (Ctrl+G). These grouped objects and lines will now move together as one, preventing accidental misalignment <a href=\"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/laser-cutting\/setting-up-the-lasers\/474\/nesting-material\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"474\">during the nesting process<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DXF files are often referred to as &#8220;unitless&#8221; and there are frequent problems when importing them into other software. Adobe Illustrator, as software primarily used for design, likes to work in Points (defined as 1\/72 of an inch) and subsequently often tries to import DXF files as if drawn in points. This will cause problems [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[110,161,160,111,159,163,162,164],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adobe","tag-adobe","tag-dwg","tag-dxf","tag-illustrator","tag-import","tag-original-size","tag-scale","tag-scaling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}