Printing and exporting
Getting a drawing out of QElectroTech goes down one of three paths, and they are not the same code with different buttons — they have different options and different defaults.
| You want | Use | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Paper, or a PDF | File → Print, or File → Export to PDF | the same window, with the output format switched |
| PNG, JPEG, BMP, SVG or DXF | File → Export to images | a per-folio dialog with its own size controls |
| The same thing from a script | qelectrotech --export-pdf / --export-png / --export-svg |
see CLI reference |
1. Print and PDF are one window
File → Export to PDF opens the print window with the output format set to PDF. Everything below applies to both.
You get a folio list with check all / uncheck all, a live preview, and these options:
| Option | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Fit in page | on | scale each folio to the paper. Turn it off to print at true size, which may span several sheets |
| Use full page | off | ignore the printer's unprintable margin and use the whole sheet. Only do this if the printer really can |
| Draw border | on | the frame with row and column headers |
| Draw title block | on | the title block |
| Keep conductor colours | on | print wires in their colours rather than black |
| Draw terminals | off | the small terminal marks on elements |
| Draw terminal names | off | their labels |
| Component information | off | PDF only — see below |
There is deliberately no grid option here: the editor grid is never printed.
Picking folios by date
Above the folio list is a date filter — Toutes les dates, À partir de la date du, À la date du. It does not filter the printout; it ticks and unticks the folio list for you, using each folio's title-block date:
| Choice | Ticks |
|---|---|
| All dates | every folio |
| From the date | folios dated on or after the date you pick |
| On the date | folios dated exactly that date |
That makes "print everything revised since the 3rd" one click rather than forty. You can still tick and untick by hand afterwards.
Settings are remembered under print/default/…, separately from the image
export's — changing one does not change the other.
Two things a QElectroTech PDF does that people do not expect
- Cross-references become clickable. Cross-references and folio reports are turned into internal hyperlinks, so clicking a reference in the PDF jumps to the folio it points at. This happens automatically, on both the GUI and the command-line path — nothing to switch on.
- Component information can be attached as pop-up annotations. Tick Component information (only shown when the output is a PDF) and each element's information fields are attached to it as a PDF annotation a reader can open. Folio reports and slave elements are skipped.
2. Exporting images
File → Export to images is a different dialog: one row per folio, each with its own file name, width × height, a keep ratio toggle, a reset size button, a preview, and a copy to clipboard button. Plus select all / deselect all.
Formats:
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| PNG | lossless raster, the usual choice |
| JPEG | lossy; poor for line drawings |
| Bitmap | uncompressed raster |
| SVG | vector — scales without loss, and can have a transparent background |
| DXF | vector for CAD exchange — see DXF import & export |
The shared rendering options
These apply to image export, and their out-of-the-box values are:
| Option | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Exported area | border | the folio with its border and title block. The alternative is elements only — the drawing cropped to its content |
| Draw grid | off | |
| Draw border | on | |
| Draw title block | on | |
| Draw terminals | off | |
| Draw terminal names | off | |
| Transparent background | off | SVG only |
| Coloured conductors | on | off renders wires in black |
Remembered under export/default/…. The destination folder defaults to your
documents folder, and falls back to it if the saved folder no longer exists.
Guides are not an option.
draw_guidesexists as a stored property and is written to your settings, but no dialog offers it and the print path forces it off. Guides never reach an export.
3. Which path to use
| Situation | Path |
|---|---|
| Sending a schematic to someone | PDF — it keeps the clickable cross-references |
| Putting a folio in a document or an email | PNG at a chosen size |
| Handing a drawing to another CAD tool | SVG or DXF |
| A folio for the web, over a coloured background | SVG with a transparent background |
| The same export every week | the command line — see CLI reference |
4. Things worth knowing
- The editor grid is never in the output. Grid and guides are off by default for image export and are not offered at all when printing.
- "Fit in page" is on by default, so a printed folio is scaled to the paper. If you need true scale, turn it off and expect more sheets.
- Elements-only area crops to the drawing, which is usually what you want for a figure in a document and never what you want for a drawing someone has to read on its own.
- Print settings and image-export settings are separate. Setting up one does not set up the other.
- SVG transparency only applies to SVG. Ticking it for a PNG does nothing.
See also
- CLI reference — the same exports from a script, plus the CSV ones (parts list, wiring list, nets)
- DXF import & export — two unrelated features sharing a format
- Building a nomenclature query — parts lists and summaries, which are built as tables rather than exported as pictures
- Conductors — the colour options the exports honour
- User manual — the walkthrough
Getting Started
🌐 Languages — English · Français · Deutsch
Guides
Conductors — wire properties, what feeds which export, and cables
Wire & cable catalogue — cable types, IEC 60757 core colours, assigning a core to a conductor
Printing and exporting — paper, PDF, images, and what each path does differently
Linking elements — master, slave, terminal
PLC modules — I/O tables and linking a wire to a specific point
Using the element editor — drawing tools, saving, checks
Preferences reference — what each settings page does
Keyboard-only control — mouseless QET, and the one real gap
Mouse modifiers — what Shift, Ctrl and Alt change while you drag
Managing collections — folders, writability, building your own shortlist
Templates — reusable multi-element blocks, and why clicking one does nothing
Search & Replace — bulk property changes
Building a nomenclature query — the BOM/summary table builder
Linking wires across pages — folio reports
Variables & formulas — %f, %{label}, sequences
Auto-numbering — schemes, sequences, freezing
Terminal strips — strips, levels, bridges
Title block templates — the .titleblock format
Importing EPLAN parts (.edz) — EPLAN Data Portal
DXF import & export — two unrelated features, one format
The project database — the in-memory SQLite cache
Development
Automating QET — CLI, XML formats, external tools
CLI Reference — command line usage
JavaScript Scripting — --run, geometry editing, undo
Vision — proposal, under discussion
