Revit batch print plugin: export PDF and DWG for every sheet, across every model, without limits

Native PDF, since Revit 2022. Under File › Export › PDF you select views or sheets, or a saved set, and choose whether they go into one PDF or separate files with the combine option. For separate files there are naming rules built from parameters, such as sheet number and sheet name, with the separator of your choice. Options are saved as an export setup.

Background PDF, since Revit 2025. The Export in Background option lets you keep working while the PDF is generated. It's off by default, and progress shows on the status bar.

Native DWG. Under File › Export › CAD Formats › DWG you choose an export setup, with layers, lineweights and whether to use shared coordinates or the internal origin, and the sheet set. Each file name is a prefix plus an automatic name. One option exports the views on sheets as external references, or keeps everything in a single file.

Before 2022, the only route to PDF was printing to a PDF printer installed in Windows.

For one sheet or one model, native export is enough. For a real submittal, the limits show up:

• One model at a time. You open each model, export and close it. Five models means five rounds.
• PDF and DWG are two processes. You pick everything twice: sheets, setup and folder.
• DWG naming is rigid. A prefix plus an automatic name. If the client wants its own code, say project, discipline, number and revision, you rename by hand.
• No check before exporting. If a sheet's revision isn't current, it goes out anyway.
• Folders and transmittals by hand. Splitting by discipline or revision and building the list of issued sheets is still manual work.
• It ties up the machine. Apart from background PDF, Revit is blocked while it exports.

The step before has the same problem: building the sheets. We cover it in automated plan production in Civil 3D and Revit.

Commercial tools handle the general case well. The trouble starts when the firm's process depends on a per-user license, on features that move to a paid tier, or on a naming format the tool doesn't support.

A plugin built for full submittals does in one run what takes an afternoon today:

1. Model list. You pick the project's RVT files. The plugin opens each one in the background, detached from the central model so it's never touched, and closes it without saving when done.
2. Sheets by rule. Every sheet in a discipline, the ones on a given revision, a saved set, or those matching a number filter.
3. Pre-export check. It flags sheets whose revision isn't current, missing title block parameters, or two files that would end up with the same name. How to bring revisions and title blocks up to date on every sheet is in Revit revisions on multiple sheets.
4. PDF and DWG in the same pass, each with its own export setup.
5. The firm's or client's naming, built from any parameter: project code, discipline, number, revision and date.
6. Organized folders by discipline, format or revision.
7. Submittal log: an Excel file with every exported sheet, its revision, its file and anything that failed, without stopping the rest of the batch.

Because it runs unattended, you can start it at the end of the day and find the submittal ready the next morning.

The Revit API has an export method for each format. This snippet exports each sheet to PDF and DWG with a name the firm defines:

// Export each sheet to PDF and DWG with the firm's file name
var pdf = new PDFExportOptions { Combine = true };
var dwg = DWGExportOptions.GetPredefinedOptions(doc, "Firm-DWG");

foreach (ViewSheet sheet in sheets)
{
    string rev = sheet.get_Parameter(BuiltInParameter.SHEET_CURRENT_REVISION).AsString();
    string name = $"{projectCode}-{sheet.SheetNumber}-R{rev}";

    pdf.FileName = name;
    doc.Export(pdfFolder, new List<ElementId> { sheet.Id }, pdf);
    doc.Export(dwgFolder, name, new List<ElementId> { sheet.Id }, dwg);
}

What each part does:

• PDFExportOptions and DWGExportOptions are the same options as the export dialogs; GetPredefinedOptions loads a DWG export setup saved in the model.
• Exporting sheet by sheet lets you use any file name, without relying on the native rule.
• The rest of the plugin is what makes it reliable: opening and closing models, checking before export, logging errors and carrying on with the batch.

If you want the Autodesk APIs from the ground up, start with Revit and Civil 3D add-in development.

Whether a plugin is "unlimited" doesn't depend on a sales promise; it depends on who owns it. When the firm has the source code:

• No cap on sheets or models. The limit is Revit's export time, not a license.
• No per-user licenses. It goes on every machine in the office.
• No surprise changes. If a vendor moves features to a paid plan, your submittal process isn't affected.
• It fits your rules. Naming, folders and pre-export checks are your firm's, not generic ones.

What you do need to plan for is maintenance: each new Revit release may require recompiling the plugin. That's why updates should be included from the start.