Before you start
Add the PDF to Media first. You can upload a PDF of up to 5 MB, or copy one from a link or your Google Drive. See Media library.
To make a design, you need permission to make designs. If you do not have it, ask a workspace admin. You can use your own PDFs. If you may work with everyone's files, you can use any PDF in Media.
Make a design from a PDF
From Designs:
- Open Designs.
- On Templates or My designs, select Import a PDF.
- Find the PDF. Type part of its name to search.
- Select the PDF, then select Make a design.
From Media:
- Open Media and select the PDF.
- Select Make it a design.
Berchtold reads each page of the PDF and rebuilds it. This takes about a minute. You can close the window. Berchtold tells you in the app when the design is ready.
When it is done, the design opens in the design editor. It is your own design. It has the label PDF.
If you make a design from the same PDF again, Berchtold opens the design it made before. Add a new version of the PDF to Media to make a new design.
What comes in
Berchtold rebuilds each part so you can change it:
| In the PDF | In Berchtold |
|---|---|
| Each page | An artboard at the page's size, in the same order |
| Text | Text you can edit, with its words, size, color, spacing and alignment. Lines of one paragraph become one text box. |
| Rectangles and lines | Rectangles and lines with their fill and outline |
| Other shapes and icons | Shapes with the same outline, fill and line |
| Pictures | Pictures placed and cropped as in the PDF. Each one is also saved to your media library. |
The layers stay in the same order as in the PDF. A Letter page comes in at its print size. A PDF of a social post comes in at its size in pixels.
Some parts cannot be rebuilt exactly. A shape with a pattern comes in with the pattern's main color. A fade (a soft mask) is left off. Berchtold flags these as Closest shapes. A shape Berchtold cannot draw comes in as a picture of just that shape. Its layer's name ends in "(picture)".
Hidden text does not come in, for example the searchable text behind a scanned page. Links and comments do not come in. A filled-in form comes in as it prints.
What is flagged, and why
Fonts. A PDF holds only the parts of a font it needs, and its license covers that PDF only. So Berchtold uses your workspace's fonts. A font that is in your brand kit or built in is kept. Every workspace has 27 built-in fonts, such as Montserrat, Poppins, Lora and Pacifico. Any other font is replaced by the closest of Inter, Playfair Display or Archivo Black. The text is flagged so you can check it.
A replacement font can be wider. A line can grow into the free space next to it. When there is no room, Berchtold makes the words a little smaller to fit.
Closest shapes and pictures. Berchtold flags each shape that came in as the closest shape or as a picture, so you can check it.
These flags are warnings. They do not stop an export. The editor shows how many things to check. Select Review to open Check before use. Before you export lists the same flags.
Berchtold also notes text that runs past the page's edge in the PDF. Its words can be cut off there, so check them.
Check the flags
For each flagged font:
- Select Show the text to see the text in the replacement font.
- Select Mark as checked when the text looks right.
To keep the PDF's font, a workspace admin adds the font file to the brand kit in Designs → Brand kit. Then choose the font for the text in the editor. The flag goes away.
For a closest shape or a picture, select Show to find it, then Mark as checked when it looks right. You can also change it or delete it. The flag goes away.
A PDF made from an MLS listing
A PDF made from an MLS listing cannot be made a design. An example is a flyer exported from a listing design. Make the design from the listing in Designs instead. Its photos and details then come from the listing.
After the import
You can change the design like any other design. Turn text into fields, such as the address, the price or the agent's name. A workspace admin can make the design a workspace template.
A copy of the design keeps its flags.
Through Claude, ChatGPT or Muse
Ask your assistant to make a design from a PDF in Media. It finds the PDF in your media library, makes the design and gives you the link and the flags. It marks a flag as checked only when you tell it that part looks right.