How to Cut PDF File in Silhouette Studio // Basic Edition or Designer Edition // 516vlogs

H E L L O
Today's video is how to cut a PDF file in your Silhouette Studio software. This is great if you download any printables from shops (including mine!) and want to cut them out with your Silhouette. I don't like using the trace feature when it comes to cutting printables - I prefer to over lay cut lines because it is super precise.
if you get some key strokes down as second nature you'll be overlaying your cut lines in no time. There is a lot of copy and paste in this video so that makes the cut line process go by very quickly.
This is one of the first Silhouette tutorials I have for you, but go ahead and check out my Cricut/Silohuette playlist below as well.
Hope you enjoy!
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Category
Howto & Style
License
Standard KZbin License
video is not sponsored
denotes affiliate link

[@carolinebizzell5974]

I am brand spanking new to digital cutting. My Portrait is only a few days old. I've been scanning all videos to learn and you are so knowledgeable that I think everything I need to know can come from your vids! Great job and THANK YOU!!!!!

[@MoeHoward516]

Hooray!!! Thanks for watching :)

[@mydamercado]

Thanks alot for your very informative video. I'm a beginner in silhouette and I'm still trying to see how this all works. You covered alot here and explained very well. Thanks again!

[@bit-studios1]

Been looking for an alternative to the tracing feature in silhouette for a long time. I leaped for joy when I came across this video. Now I have more control on placing cut lines on my printable. I cannot thank you enough for making this video. :)

[@barefacedquestions]

I find this digital tracing and cutting so complicated so thank you so much. There're many tutorials on this topic, but no one has such a wide range of videos with detailed explanation like you.

[@diannahsmith5387]

Thanks for the tutorial! I'm new to this and at first I thought this was too much work but as I watched, it's worth the time to do it right the first time and now waste time, ink or paper. Thanks again, this was great for me!

[@ElizabethP505]

Thanks so much for the detailed information. There are many many videos on how to make stickers, but only a handful are really good like this one.Much appreciated

[@loislee6019]

Your video was great and you were also great explaining everything. I learned a lot and can't wait to use on my Silhouette! Now to look at your other videos. You are fantastic!!!

[@MoeHoward516]

yay!! glad they are helping :)

[@carolinebizzell5974]

Ooooh! Miss Smarty Pants! I can learn a lot from you!

[@sharonfoster6430]

Thanks for helping me finally make sense of cutting planner stickers from downloads. Using the trace function has been a nightmare for me. Glad your making vids for Silhouette software now!

[@MoeHoward516]

I have a few more I want to film - just gotta find the time! Thanks so much for watching and I'm so glad it helped. The trace feature can be a help but sometimes instead of fighting with it, it is easier to make a box lol :)

[@aliciagutierrez7160]

Your a beautiful soul. Thanks for this I totally needed it. I now need to find your Etsy shop. Thanks again.

[@karenguest7997]

so once you have all your cut lines do you hit the print button in the upper left then send to silhouette or do you send to silhouette then print it out. TIA This video was the most helpful one I have watched so far. Thank you thank you thank you

[@MoeHoward516]

Once you're done with the cut lines, set the blade depth, etc. Then print the page. Load your Silhouette with the page you've printed - be sure all the registration marks are there - then on the screen click send to silhouette. I often do a test cut to see if my blade settings are right if I'm using new paper. Hope that helped!

[@karenguest7997]

Thank you so much - appreciate your help

[@sptsimone]

THANK YOU!!!

[@jmandr91]

Thank you!!! I seriously thought that I would only be able to print & cut files that I paid for so that I could get a studio file.

[@donihcrafts]

Wonderful information and tutorials! Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much!

[@silvinhabruno]

Hi!! I’m a newbie and I’m lovinf your videos. They are soooo perfect! So far as I’m waiting for my portrait I didn’t buy the business edition. The only I’m having trouble is that I can’t draw the red boxes to create my cut lines exactly like you do. They are always misfitted even though I’ve scaled them. Any ideas why? thank you for you time :)

[@snuffelbuf]

Thank you so much. Best video ever!

[@MoeHoward516]

yay! glad it helped :)

[@snuffelbuf]

❤

[@veramats]

Great tutorial! Thanks!

[@jenniferg8321]

Thanks, This video was very helpful!

[@UFOCrochet]

Do you have a video on how to make cut lines?

[@karlaburnette]

Super helpful!

[@jenniferdurkee4566]

Great video!

[@HeyNayHey]

This is a great tutorial! Thanks for taking the time to teach this. I don't get the 23 thumbs down. What is wrong with the world nowdays?! *le sigh*

[@mehershawoan2361]

Hi I cannot open PDF file. My version is 4.2. I just recently bought Silhouette portrait 2.Can you please help me?

[@ApostolicAbbyGirl]

Hello! Can you do an updated version please? :)

[@tansaabbas2725]

Dear I have basic edition but I dont understand how to upload pdf file on my software please guide me

[@terriewilkinson8503]

Can you use the same principle when using images which are sized for a different planner? For example, I have the ECLP and pdf's for The Big Happy Planner. I want the same content, just different sizes. Thanks!

[@MoeHoward516]

You can change the size, but the problem you will run into is that if you resize something like this you'll often end up with poor resolution. Because this image is designed at a certain size - like the boxes are 1.5 inches wide for example - if you size them bigger that will lower the print quality. You can try but you may be disappointed in the quality when you print. They may look pixelated or blurry. Hope that makes sense!

[@JUANAGARCIA-fj5cx]

Hey Moe, I have the circuit explore. I downloaded a printable planner sticker (.png) from Etsy and I'm having trouble getting the sizing right. Which doesn't allow me to print and cut. Any suggest on how to do it?

[@MoeHoward516]

+JUANA GARCIA Unfortunately if you've downloaded an 8.5 x 11 inch pdf/jpg you won't be able to cut it with your cricut explore unless you print it and measure some areas. So, for example - cut the PDF in half and measure the area with the images/stickers on it...will that fit in the print area? Then you face the problem of removing the background - the cricut's eraser tool will erase everything that is white. So it might cut into the stickers on the sticker sheet. For Printable stickers, I recommend the Silhouette....I know that doesn't help you out a lot, but the Cricut is very limited when it comes to printables...I'm sorry.

[@alishajohnson1835]

Hello, I am a newbie to this and I have a portrait machine. Do I also need the photoshop software to get images to print on cardstock. Thanks for sharing

[@MoeHoward516]

No you should be able to just print on cardstock from the silhouette software....nothing special should be needed.

[@alishajohnson1835]

Thanks, I tried to print and the image was stuck to the cutting mat.

[@annatsili4257]

your video is very clear but I struggle to import my pdf file.Nothing works because when I drag the pdf onto the silhouette mat a message pops up your silhouette does not recognise this file.What do I do wrong?Any help is appreciated.Thank you

[@MoeHoward516]

Do you have Designer Edition of Silhouette Studio? If not you'll have to convert the PDF to a PNG (I use PDF2PNG.com) and then drag the PNG into Silhouette Studio. The file from PDF2PNG will download as a zip file, you'll have to right click, select extract all - or there might be an 'extract all' button when you open the file viewer - and then drag the file into the canvas after it's been extracted. Hope that helped a bit!

[@annatsili4257]

THANK YOU I WILL TRY IT

[@barbheinbaugh531]

Was able to trace what I wanted in design business edition, but when in 'send' it tells me it was cut but nothing happened.

[@jackieturner3033]

Thanks for taking the time to make this video.

[@upstatedoc3287]

I have the Silhouette Design edition but it won't import any pdf files. It says not supported. Is there anyway to fix this? I appreciate your help

[@MoeHoward516]

hmmm...I'm not sure. I don't believe they dropped that feature from updates. If you can, I'd contact silhouette support to see they might be able to help you better. Thanks for watching!

[@tasha8902]

does this have to be done with everyone that we want to cut? or can the shapes be saved

[@MoeHoward516]

Technically yes - If you have a few kits from the same designer, often the layout is the same. So you can trace the elements then use those shapes and that layout to make it easier to cut a second sheet by the same designer. Hope that makes sense!

[@marklouiemendoza8453]

hello! how to get the grid ruler in silhoette software?thanks

[@katherinea.chanho6781]

silhouette studio only read pdf files if its in designer edition?

[@MoeHoward516]

As far as I know, yes. If you have a PDF you’d need to use a pdf to png or jpeg converter so that sil studio can read the file. I believe designer and business edition can read pdfs, business edition can find the out line of a transparent png and then also support SVG files.

[@NinaS___]

Why don't you make just one row of rectangles (cut line boxes) and then copy the whole row of boxes down to the rows below. Also, if you use layers (DE feature), you could have your patterns on one locked layer, and the cut line boxes on a separate layer above. This way you won't have any trouble selecting your cut line boxes at all, since the bottom layer is locked (temporarily, if you should want to edit them later you can easily unlock them again). Such a time saver when you work with print & cut!

[@NinaS___]

Still, I don't really see the benefit of making your own cut-lines on all these, compared to tracing. Turning off high pass filter, scale to 4, and threshold to make it enough yellow, then "trace and detach" will give clean cut lines. But I have had certain situations where making your own cut line boxes have been beneficial myself, so I can see that this sometimes is the best choice.

[@MoeHoward516]

Since this video I do a variation of what you said - everyone prefers to do things differently! I am thinking of doing an updated version since I've been playing with the trace feature. I always found that my own cut lines - especially rectangles and the like - are sharper and cleaner. Sometimes when I trace even a large box that I know will work well the corners get cut inward so they aren't perfect right angles at the corners. Thanks for the suggestions!

[@shanran07]

Could you do a tutorial on how to cut files from planneraddiction.com? She has amazing free printables and each one comes with a silhouette file but every time I've tried to cut her printables using my cameo they're totally off and i don't know what I'm doing wrong!

[@MoeHoward516]

Hello! I do have a video planned for her printables but I just haven't been able to do it yet. What I normally do though is select all the items on the page, then under the Modify tab use the crop option to separate them all from the background. Then I arrange them how I like and cut from there. Hope that helped.

[@nikkirollins3067]

when I use my knife tool and cut, I cant move the section I cut, it just moves the whole image

[@MoeHoward516]

You probably haven't cut through the whole image. If you don't cut all the way through or may your lines match you'll still move the whole image. try moving the PDF image off to the side on the gray area so you can see where you've cut. If you leave any part of the image attached it won't break it up all the way. Hope that made sense!

[@nikkimuirhead2296]

I wasn't LoL I finally figured that out and then it was like an A-ha moment

[@angelabutful1]

Why don't people make a studio file to accompany the pdf files? This seems too time consuming for me!

[@MoeHoward516]

Unfortunately part of the Terms of Use of the Silhouette files is that one can not sell the studio file.

[@amyslazyk7722]

so right off the bat i get a "file" not supported when i try to drag my pdf into my document.

[@MoeHoward516]

Do you have the Designer Edition of Silhouette Studio installed? Make sure your designer key is active. Unfortunately you can't import a PDF into basic edition. I think is skipped over it a bit in the video and had to add that as text on the screen. Hope this helps.

[@Evelyn-si5jj]

Is there an easier way today?

[@MoeHoward516]

Not that I have found. You can find a ton of tutorials on this subject on KZbin though, so maybe watch some more and see if you can find more tips or different tricks. Thanks for watching :)

[@Evelyn-si5jj]

Thank you!

[@pinda0020]

You can't open PDF in the basic edition

[@MoeHoward516]

yes, which is why I included a little bit of info in the form of text over the screen that if you don't have DE you'll need to head to PDF2PNG.com to convert your PDF into something the basic edition can read.

[@pinda0020]

I use dfx files now works for me now with illustrator

[@tomasztoja]

nie dla basic edition :/