PDF Import

Basics

PDF import reads a chart PDF you bought and turns it into a real Stitchmate pattern: every stitch, every color and the backstitch, with the designer credited. Track it in the Progress Tracker on any device, or open it in the editor.

It’s in early access and free. You need a free account, because the PDF is read on our servers.

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Importing a PDF

• Home screen: choose Create, then PDF pattern, or drop the PDF anywhere on the page.
• Desktop app: File → Import PDF Pattern… in the menu bar, from the editor too. In a browser, go back to the home screen and use Create.
• Progress Tracker: the Import a PDF pattern row. Back takes you to the pattern you were tracking.

Reading usually takes a few seconds. Charts with dozens of pages take longer, and you can cancel at any time.

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Checking the reading

The side panel opens with a verdict and the checks behind it:

• Looks right. Every color’s stitch count matches the count printed in your PDF’s key.
• Check N things. A few colors need a look. They sit at the top of the color list, each with a note saying why.
• Read cleanly. Your PDF prints no stitch counts to check against. Compare a corner with your PDF before you start.
• Something’s off. Part of the chart didn’t read. You can still use it, but please Send it to us so we can fix the reader.

Click a color in the list, or a stitch on the chart, to see that color on its own. Click it again, or Show all, to see them all. On a phone, tap a color to see it alone and change its thread.

The selected color sits above the list with Change thread… beside it and a Highlight on chart switch under it. Turn the switch off to keep the color selected but see the whole chart. The color's menu has Show on the chart and Stop showing on the chart too.

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Comparing with your PDF

On a computer, what we read sits on the left and your PDF on the right. On a phone, switch between them at the top.

• Your PDF scrolls through every page, the key included, and opens on the first chart page. Type a page number in the page box to jump there.
• View in the top bar changes how the chart is drawn: Realistic, Flat Colors, Symbols + Colors or B&W Symbols. B&W Symbols looks most like a printed chart.
• The same panel turns the Rulers and Scrollbars on and off. The rulers count rows and columns the way your PDF numbers them.

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Fixing a thread

If a color’s thread is wrong, double-click it, or select it and choose Change thread… at the top of the list. The panel becomes a thread picker:

• The threads closest to the color your PDF prints come first. Know the code? Type it in the search box.
• The brand menu has every brand in the thread library, for keys that mix brands.
• Color Library opens the full library if you’d rather browse.
• Highlight on chart, the same switch as under the selected color, shows the color on its own. Turn it off to see the new thread in the whole picture.

Each thread you click is tried on the chart straight away, and the checks run again. Use it keeps it (the button reads Use a thread until you pick one), and Cancel puts things back. A color you changed shows Changed, and Use the key’s … in the color’s menu brings back the thread the key prints.

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Saving

Check the pattern’s Name and Designer (the designer is credited on everything you print or export), then:

• Start tracking opens the new pattern in the Progress Tracker.
• Open in editor opens it in the editor.

The pattern is for your own stitching. Exports say “for personal use only”, and if your PDF forbids printing or copying, Stitchmate won’t export the chart either.

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Limits

• Charts drawn with symbols read best. Scanned charts, charts saved as pictures and password-locked PDFs can’t be read yet.
• A PDF can be up to 50 MB and 300 pages.
• If a PDF won’t import or looks wrong, use Send it to us on the import screen. It tells us which file failed and what the reader saw, so we can teach it that kind of chart.