Machine Manuals

nmurray · Jul 17, 2019

What software do you guys use to make equipment manuals?

I want something I can import the pdf of electrical / mechanical drawings all into a single pdf along with our typical manual.

I'm just having a hard time finding something that works and works well.

the_msp · Jul 17, 2019

Adobe acrobat pro

James Mcquade · Jul 17, 2019

for the manual - I use word.
for the parts manuals, I give the customer the brand name catalog - no joke, that was a requirement until I delivered 4 ft of books per machine. now he lets us copy the parts pages and we have a parts manual.
for the drawings, we use autocad.

james

bill4807 · Jul 17, 2019

I use Word, powerpoint and excel.
You can import PDFs into word. Just print to PDF your excel and cad items.

EICS · Jul 17, 2019

bill4807 said:
I use Word, powerpoint and excel.
You can import PDFs into word. Just print to PDF your excel and cad items.

I did not know this. How ?

bill4807 · Jul 17, 2019

EICS said:
I did not know this. How ?

Open your CAD drawing, print to PDF, and when it prompts you to save the file choose (.JPG)
It is then saved as essentially a picture.
Insert a picture into word.
Same goes with excel. But i normally just copy the cells i want to use and paste in word, then resize as needed.

wimpiesplc · Jul 17, 2019

EICS said:
I did not know this. How ?

hmm.. there are a few solutions available for quite a while, like cutepdf and pdfcreator.
orrr.. did you mean you didn't know you could import them in word?

pff things are getting easier and easier. I know I have been busy converting HPGL output from AutoCAD to something readable for word perfect (wpg?)

later on for word... cad2emf? it was a bit of hacking to get a pretty manual together. I hate those scanned pictures.

I admire though the old manuals with hand drawn pics

EICS · Jul 17, 2019

bill4807 said:
Open your CAD drawing, print to PDF, and when it prompts you to save the file choose (.JPG)
It is then saved as essentially a picture.
Insert a picture into word.
Same goes with excel. But i normally just copy the cells i want to use and paste in word, then resize as needed.

Thanks, i thought you may have found a way to actually "import" a pdf doc directly into word

Vlad Romanov · Jul 18, 2019

I use Google Docs/Spreadsheets for documentation. The drawings are converted to a pdf and bundled as separate files.

parky · Jul 18, 2019

It depends on what the customer wants the documentation in as most now want it in electronic form as well a printed copies, I don't think it really matters as nearly everything can be printed to PDF for printed documents, however some customers like particular formats but docs can often be converted to different formats, drawings can be exported to DXF so most drawing packages can import them and some customers like documents they can edit for example drawings so any modifications can be updated. And before people start peppering this post with "Oh we don't like the customer to modify they don't know what they are doing", many customers of mine have quite competent engineers if they B**** it up then that's their fault They can then come back to me to put it right.

Timbert · Jul 18, 2019

bill4807 said:
Open your CAD drawing, print to PDF, and when it prompts you to save the file choose (.JPG)
It is then saved as essentially a picture.

The caveat with this is if the resolution isn't high enough, it's worthless. It looks good enough in page view but you find that you zoom in only to see that the image is blurry.

To be honest we generally just use Word for the manual and provide the schematics and drawings separately.

Tom Jenkins · Jul 18, 2019

EICS said:
Thanks, i thought you may have found a way to actually "import" a pdf doc directly into word

Actually, if you have a new enough version of MSWord you can.

Go to File -> Open -> Browse. When you select the correct directory both PDF and Word files will show up. Make sure the drop-down box to the right of the file name entry is on "All Word Files" or "All Files". Click on the PDF of choice, and Word will attempt to import the file, including graphics.

Results vary from almost perfect to pure ****, depending on the characteristics of the PDF. I do this all the time using MSWord 2016.

Try it with your version - the worst that happens is you have a **** file!

Tom Jenkins · Jul 18, 2019

Timbert said:
The caveat with this is if the resolution isn't high enough, it's worthless. It looks good enough in page view but you find that you zoom in only to see that the image is blurry.

To be honest we generally just use Word for the manual and provide the schematics and drawings separately.

If you print using Adobe PDF you can print your drawings as "B" size pdfs (11"x17"). Then you can open your manual in Adobe, got to the "Document" tab, and insert the drawings into the PDF file anywhere you want. That gives better resolution than a JPEG. If you printed the PDF as a B it will stay a B in the manual. Or, you can print the PDF as 8-1/2x11 (A) and have all the same page size when you insert.

EICS · Jul 18, 2019

Tom Jenkins said:
Actually, if you have a new enough version of MSWord you can.

Go to File -> Open -> Browse. When you select the correct directory both PDF and Word files will show up. Make sure the drop-down box to the right of the file name entry is on "All Word Files" or "All Files". Click on the PDF of choice, and Word will attempt to import the file, including graphics.

Results vary from almost perfect to pure ****, depending on the characteristics of the PDF. I do this all the time using MSWord 2016.

Try it with your version - the worst that happens is you have a **** file!

Thanks Tom.

bill4807 · Jul 18, 2019

EICS said:
I did not know this. How ?

Timbert said:
The caveat with this is if the resolution isn't high enough, it's worthless. It looks good enough in page view but you find that you zoom in only to see that the image is blurry.

To be honest we generally just use Word for the manual and provide the schematics and drawings separately.

I do the same. Schematics and drawing separate.

Machine Manuals

nmurray

Member

the_msp

Lifetime Supporting Member

James Mcquade

Member

bill4807

Member

EICS

Member

bill4807

Member

wimpiesplc

Member

EICS

Member

Vlad Romanov

Member

parky

Member

Timbert

Member

Tom Jenkins

Lifetime Supporting Member

Tom Jenkins

Lifetime Supporting Member

EICS

Member

bill4807

Member

Similar Topics