How to Print Chief Architect (and Home Designer) Plans at Full Size
Open a new layout in Chief Architect with US units and the program has already made one decision for you: the default template is named ArchD 24×36 Layout Template.layout (KB-02862). The sheet is the right size from the start. When a set still comes off the plotter at the wrong scale or with odd line weights, check three settings: the layout’s own drawing scale, the scale each view was sent at, and the Line Weight Scale in the plan and the layout.
What follows is Chief Architect’s documented way to get a true 1/4″ = 1′-0″ sheet onto 24×36 paper. It’s taken from the company’s knowledge base, which currently describes Chief Architect X17 and Home Designer 2026 / Home Designer Pro 2025 and earlier. Menu names can differ in older versions.
Two scales, and only one of them is yours to change
Chief Architect separates the plan file from the layout file, and each has its own Drawing Scale in File > Print > Drawing Sheet Setup.
| Where | Drawing Scale to use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Plan file (floor plan, elevation, section, CAD detail) | The scale you usually send that view type at. The default is 1/4 in = 1 ft. | The setting is per view type, so a plan view and a detail view can differ (KB-00725). |
| Layout file | 1 in = 1 in (metric: 1 mm = 1 mm) | Views are already scaled when you send them to the layout. A second scale here would shrink or enlarge them again (KB-00725, KB-00651). |
The second row is the easy one to get wrong. If the layout is changed to 1/4 in = 1 ft because that’s the plan’s scale, views that were already scaled when they were sent get scaled again. Chief’s KB is blunt: if you print from a layout, “the Drawing Scale should remain at a 1:1 scale, and should not be changed.”
Setting up the layout sheet
From KB-00725:
- Open the layout file and choose File > Print > Drawing Sheet Setup.
- Pick the Drawing Sheet Size and Orientation. For a standard plan set that means 24×36, landscape.
- Set Drawing Scale to 1 in = 1 in if it isn’t already.
- Click OK, then File > Save.
If you change a layout’s sheet size, Chief notes you also have to adjust the border and title block on Page 0 (KB-00978). KB-02862 shows how: group-select them on Page 0 and drag an edit handle to fit the new sheet, with Drawing Scale still at 1 in = 1 in (its example goes from the ArchD template down to ANSI B 11×17; the method is the same either way). It also suggests File > Print > Center Sheet to line everything up afterward.
When a view won’t fit
If Chief says a view “is too large to fit on the layout page” at the scale you picked, you have three options: a smaller scale, a bigger sheet, or less content in the view box. In Chief Architect Premier and Interiors you can select the view and use Rescale Layout View. In Home Designer Pro you have to delete the view and send it to the layout again at the smaller scale (KB-00978). Bear in mind that rescaling is not cosmetic. A floor plan rescaled to 3/16″ = 1′-0″ is a 3/16″ drawing, and the scale note in your title block has to say so.
Line weights: the part that changes when scale changes
Chief describes line weight as a whole number that stands for a fraction of a unit. With the default Line Weight Scale of 1 = 1/100 mm, a line weight of 25 works out to 25/100 mm, or 0.25 mm (KB-00923). Three things from that article affect a full-size print:
- The plan and the layout must use the same Line Weight Scale. If they don’t, Chief warns you when you send a view (message #272032247), and your printed line weights will be wrong. Compare the “A line weight of” value under Advanced Line Weight Options in both files’ Drawing Sheet Setup and fix whichever one is off.
- Sending at a different scale changes the weights. Chief’s example: a line weight of 20 in a view drawn at 1 mm = 50 mm prints at 40 if you send it at 1 mm = 25 mm, and at 10 if you send it at 1 mm = 100 mm. Dashed line styles stretch and shrink the same way. Chief says that “under most circumstances” you should check Use Layout Line Scaling in the Send to Layout dialog. For exact weights, send a Vector View using Plot Lines.
- Leave “Use 1 for all line weights” unchecked. That option exists for compatibility with Home Designer files. It ties the weights to a 1/4 in = 1 ft drawing and a 1 = 1/300 in scale. The troubleshooting KB goes further: the Home Designer compatibility option “should always be unchecked,” and the Line Weight value should be 1 = 1/100.0 mm “in most circumstances” (KB-00085).
Turn on View > Line Weights or File > Print > Print Preview to see an on-screen version of the printed weights before you make the PDF.
Making the PDF: Print or Export, same destination
Chief has had a built-in PDF writer since X6, so you don’t need a third-party driver (KB-00483). Two menu routes lead to it (KB-00768):
- File > Print > Print, or
- File > Export > Export PDF.
Either way, set Destination Name to Chief Architect Save As PDF, choose your options, click Save as PDF under the preview, then name the file and save it. If you’re printing a plan view straight from the plan file rather than from a layout, make sure the To Scale radio button is selected under Drawing Scale in the Print View dialog, and that it shows the scale you set (KB-00651).
Two more settings from the troubleshooting article are worth a look before you export. Default Drawing Margins are 3/16″. Chief notes that oversized margins “can result in missing information or even a blank page.” It also recommends picking a sheet from the Size list rather than dragging the drawing sheet’s edit handles, which “can cause unexpected results” (KB-00085).
Home Designer: what’s different
- Layouts: Home Designer 2026 and Home Designer Pro (2025 and earlier) can make layout files. A Home Designer layout holds up to 5 pages. The layout’s Drawing Scale stays at 1 in = 1 in, and the Line Weight Scale stays at 1 = 1/100 mm (Home Designer KB-00527).
- No layout? You can print a plan view to scale directly. Set the scale in Drawing Sheet Setup, check it with Print Preview, then select To Scale in the Print View dialog (Home Designer KB-00116). Chief recommends a layout instead if your version has one.
- PDF: Built in from Home Designer 2015. File > Export > Export PDF appears in Home Designer 2020 and newer; earlier versions use File > Print > Print. In both cases, choose Save As PDF as the destination (Home Designer KB-00484).
Checking scale before you send it anywhere
Run two checks on the finished PDF, not the screen.
1. Page size. A 24×36 layout should give you a 24 x 36 in PDF page. Chief’s articles don’t promise the exported page will exactly match the drawing sheet, so verify it yourself. Drop the file into our free tool that reads each PDF page’s dimensions. Any sheet that reports 11×17 or something odd like 23.5 x 35.5 needs fixing in Drawing Sheet Setup before you order.
2. A known dimension. Home Designer’s KB puts the arithmetic simply: at 1/4 inch per foot, measure the printed drawing in inches and multiply by 4 to get feet (KB-00116). So find a dimensioned wall, say 12′-0″. On a true 1/4″ sheet it measures exactly 3 inches. At 1/8″ it’s 1-1/2 inches. If the PDF viewer’s measure tool or a ruler on a test print gives 2-7/8″, something scaled the sheet. Usually it’s a layout Drawing Scale that isn’t 1 in = 1 in.
For the rest of the pre-upload routine, including sheet order, mixed sizes and color pages, see our plan set PDF prep guide.
Getting the 24×36 sheets printed
Print My Plans prints the PDF you upload, at the size you choose, to scale. We don’t design plans, and we don’t edit your drawings, so the file you send is the sheet you get. Chief’s default ArchD template matches our 24×36 ARCH D plan printing. We also print 18×24, 30×42, 36×46 and 36×48. If a layout uses 11×17 for detail sheets, re-export those pages at one of those sizes, because 11×17 isn’t on our list. If your set mixes sizes, add each size as its own line item.
Black and white is $1.95 a sheet and color is $3.75, with no minimum (current pricing). Order by 3 PM ET, ships same day, arrives as soon as the next day. Code WELCOME20 takes 20% off your first order.
Chief Architect and Home Designer are trademarks of Chief Architect, Inc. Print My Plans is not affiliated with Chief Architect, Inc. Steps reflect Chief Architect’s knowledge base as checked on Oct 18, 2026.
