Print a Studio 5000 project to PDF
Printing a project normally means opening it in Logix Designer, which needs the right version
installed and activated. Here you upload the .ACD file and download a PDF that reads like a
Logix Designer printout, from any computer.
What the printout contains
- A first page with the controller: name, processor type, firmware revision, the software version the project was saved with, and counts of programs, routines, rungs, tags and modules.
- A contents page and PDF bookmarks for every program and routine, so a 300-page project stays easy to find your way around.
- Ladder routines drawn rung by rung: power rails, contacts, coils, nested branches and instruction boxes with their parameters, the rung number on the left and the rung comment in a box above it. The tag description sits above each operand, as in Logix Designer.
- Structured text with line numbers, function block sheets with blocks, input and output references and wires, and SFC charts with steps, transitions, actions and branches.
- The tag database: controller and program tags with data type, description, member comments and alias targets, followed by user-defined data types, Add-On Instructions with their parameters, the module tree with catalog numbers, and the tasks with their programs.
- A cross reference listing every routine and rung that reads or writes each tag.
Each program starts on a new page; short routines share a page so the printout does not waste paper.
Versions
Projects saved with Logix Designer or RSLogix 5000 versions 16, 19, 20 and 28 to 37 were tested,
including backups named like Project.BAK012.acd. The version 24 projects we have seen keep their
database in an encoded form; for those, save an L5X from the project and upload the L5X, which
gives the same printout.
Letter or A4
Pick the page size before you start. Rungs too wide for the page continue on a further row, so the text stays readable.
Also in the download
The same content as an offline HTML viewer with search, an L5X file, the tags, comments and cross reference as CSV, and an Excel workbook. Upload a second version of the project as well to get a comparison report of everything that changed.
More about what this tool reads and writes: Rockwell PLC Program Viewer (ACD, RSS, L5X to PDF).