How it works & FAQ

Plans arrive at the wrong size. A1 at 1:100 needs to become A3 at 1:200 — and nobody should have to trust that the printout is honest. Plan2Scale resizes a plan PDF for real paper and real scales, and shows you exactly what you’ll get before it exports.

In three steps

Open your plan PDF. Plan2Scale reads the page and looks for a scale label — SCALE: 1:250 @ A4 or similar — in the file's own text. If the plan is a scanned, photographed or print-to-PDF sheet with no selectable text, an in-browser reader reads the labels printed on the image itself (about 16 MB of reader files served by this site in the background, once, cached for later visits). A scale in the file name is offered as a hint too. Either way, it asks you to confirm it. If the label is missing, unreadable, or contradicts a dimension it can measure, it says so plainly instead of guessing.
Choose paper and scale. It suggests the largest standard scale that fits the paper you want (A4 at 1:250 → A3 at exactly 1:200), or you type the exact scale your job needs. At 1:100, 1 cm on paper means 1 m on site; at 1:200 it means 2 m.
Check, then print. Before exporting you see whether it fits on one sheet or tiles across sheets, and how many. The print-ready PDF carries Actual Size (100%) printing instructions and a 100 mm proof line you measure with a real ruler.

FAQ

Does it change my original PDF?

No. It always writes a new file. Your original is never modified: when an export finishes, Plan2Scale re-reads your original and compares it byte-for-byte against the file it opened — if anything differs, the export is discarded and you are told, rather than exported anyway.

What scales can it print at?

Standard ruler scales first — 1:20, 1:25, 1:50, 1:100, 1:125, 1:150, 1:200, 1:250, 1:500, and the rest of the familiar series. Suggestions snap to those. The raw largest-scale-that-fits is still offered, but only as its own clearly-labelled card (“the largest scale that fits”), and only when no standard scale would fit without losing more than about a quarter of the achievable size — never presented as if it were a normal scale. You can also type any exact scale you want.

How do I trust the printout?

Print at Actual Size (100%) — no “fit to page”, no scaling — then measure the printed proof line. If the ruler says 100 mm, the scale is true. If your printer scaled it, the proof line shows it immediately.

What if my plan doesn’t fit on one sheet?

It tiles across sheets and tells you the sheet count before you export.

Can it read any PDF plan?

Most CAD and architectural exports work. It struggles with password-protected files. Scanned, photographed or print-to-PDF plans carry no machine-readable text, so the trial reads their printed scale labels with a built-in in-browser reader — a suggestion you confirm, and legibility sets the limit: if the label can’t be read, the tool says so instead of guessing. Very large files and long tiled sets are capped in the browser (the web trial caps at 25 MB) so your computer stays responsive; the desktop app handles bigger work. The main limits are listed under “Where it struggles” on the Support page.

My plan set has pages at different scales — what happens?

Plan2Scale reads scale candidates across the whole file. If the pages name conflicting scales, it refuses to guess for you: it tells you the file is contradictory and only offers scale-free fit-to-sheet output until you type the scale you trust. For a mixed set, run each scale group separately.

Handwritten scale notes?

The in-browser reader recognizes printed text only. A handwritten note is not machine-readable — type that scale yourself in “Plan scale now.”

My scale is unusual (1:75, or imperial like 1/4″=1′)

Type any exact scale you want as 1:N — unusual denominators are allowed (suggestions just snap to the common series). Imperial scales are typed as their ratio: 1/4″=1′ is 1:48. The 100 mm proof bar printed on every exported sheet is exact at whatever scale you chose.

Is my plan uploaded anywhere?

No. The browser trial processes the file inside your browser — the PDF itself is never uploaded. The desktop app runs entirely offline. How file privacy works.

Why does the tool look so plain?

It’s a measuring tool, not a mood board. Everything on screen is a decision you have to make.