How to batch export Revit sheets to PDF and DWG, with an ISO 19650 transmittal

The problem

Every issue needs the same things: the right sheets, file names that follow the project’s naming convention (often ISO 19650, with suitability and revision in the name), the formats the recipient asked for, and a transmittal recording the issue. Done by hand, that is an export, a rename, a second export, and a spreadsheet, repeated at every issue.

The native ways, and their limits

• +Revit’s PDF export (File → Export → PDF): select sheets or a saved set, export to one combined file or one file per sheet, with a naming rule built from parameters. Good for PDFs on their own.
• +Revit’s DWG export: a separate dialog with its own settings and its own naming. A PDF and DWG issue means two runs, and two sets of names to keep in step.
• +Printing to a PDF driver: works with any driver, but the file names usually come from the driver, not from your sheets.
• +None of these produces a transmittal or keeps a record of what was issued when. That part usually ends up in Excel, typed by hand.

With Mr Plotter: one run, every format, a transmittal at the end

Every export is logged in the history: when it ran, how many sheets, which formats and which folder it went to. The next time someone asks what was issued on a date, the answer is already there.

1. 01Open Mr Plotter from the Bim3Lab tab. Every sheet in the model is listed with its paper size, suitability and revision.
2. 02Select the sheets for the issue.
3. 03Build the file name from clickable tokens taken from sheet parameters, or pick a saved naming preset. The exact output name previews live for every sheet before anything is exported.
4. 04Tick the output profiles to run: PDF (native, PDF24-compressed, or any printer driver), DWG with layer, unit and coordinate options, DWF, or image. Each profile holds its format, DPI and colour settings.
5. 05Export.
6. 06Generate the ISO 19650 transmittal register, grouped by any sheet parameter you choose, carrying your company name, project name and logo. Suitability is carried through to the transmittal and to the file name.

Tips that keep an issue clean

• +Agree the file-naming convention with the client at the start and save it as a preset. Naming presets are saved per user and reload across projects.
• +Keep suitability and revision as sheet parameters, kept up to date. Then the file name and the transmittal both read them, and the two can never disagree.
• +Check the live name preview before every issue. A wrong name is much easier to catch there than in a recipient’s folder.

Mr Plotter, on video

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Questions