Civil 3D Labels and Tables Are Too Small or Large in Viewports or Plots

Applies to:
Civil 3D 2019 and newer

Issue:
When plotting layout tabs in Civil 3D, the labels or tables are suddenly too large or too small and the plot is not correct.

Causes:
This is a known issue with Civil 3D and has to do with how Civil 3D labels are processed when plotting and what the plot settings are set to.  This is related to the Units Civil 3D is working in and what you are plotting to.

Solution:
If you are in working in a Civil 3D Imperial drawing (using either in International Feet or US Survey Feet), and you are plotting to a non-Imperial paper size, it will change the Units in the plot dialog to match:
Imperial Drawing plotting to Imperial Paper Size:

Imperial Drawing plotting to Metric Paper Size:

This Units mismatch causes the labels to plot incorrectly.
If you are not sure, in the Layout Ribbon tab, you can see what the Units should be from here, you will see either Imperial24 or Metric50:

You will need to set the scale Units to Inches to get the labels to plot the correct size:
Imperial Units, plotted to Metric A0, left Scale units setting at mm:

The inverse is the same, when plotting a Metric layout to an Imperial Paper size, you must change the Scale units back to mm, otherwise the labels become very small:

About the Author

Sr. Technical Support Specialist<br><br>An AutoCAD Certified Professional, Ryan is responsible for taking client cases and assisting with issues with the software - everything from regular glitches to software deployments and whatever else goes wrong. He's proficient in AutoCAD (including customization), VBA, LISP, and Civil 3D.

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