AECOprint

What it does

AECOprint prints a set of sheets in one go. You pick the sheets (all sheets, a saved sheet set, or a sheet list schedule), put them in order, and AECOprint writes one PDF per sheet — or one combined PDF — named by your own naming rule. It can also write a DWG, DGN and/or DWF for each sheet under the same name, or send the sheets to a paper printer.

• PDFs go through Revit's built-in PDF export, not a PDF printer driver. Paper size and orientation come from each sheet's titleblock automatically.
• You choose vector or raster output, and sheets with transparent floors or toposolids can be switched to raster on their own.
• PDFs can be made easy to navigate: clicking a sheet number on a section, elevation or callout head jumps to that sheet, and a combined set gets a bookmark and a page label for every sheet. These work in any PDF reader, including Bluebeam, Acrobat and web browsers.
• Settings are remembered per project, can be saved as shareable preset files, and can be published as a company-wide default.
• With no model open, AECOprint runs in batch mode and prints several project files one after another.

Before you start

Before exporting, AECOprint turns off Temporary Hide/Isolate, Worksharing Display, Reveal Hidden Elements and Reveal Constraints on the sheets and their views (the same thing Revit's own export dialogs offer), so those modes never appear in the output.

Quick start

1. With a project open, click AECOprint on the Utils panel.
2. Choose a Sheet set and select the sheets to print — click, Shift-click a range, Ctrl-click to add, or use the tick box in the column heading for all of them. Use ▲ Up / ▼ Down to change the order.
3. Check the File naming box — the e.g. line underneath previews the first file name. Click … to build a rule visually.
4. Set the Output folder (leave it empty for a new dated folder on your Desktop) and tick any DWG/DGN/DWF exports you need.
5. Check Processing (Vector or Raster) and Content options.
6. Click Print. When it finishes the output folder opens and a summary is shown.

Choosing sheets

Sheet set

The last set you used (other than <All Sheets>) is remembered for the project.

The sheet table

• Columns: tick box, # (print order — only ticked sheets are numbered), Number, Name, Rev. Right-click the table to show or hide Rev date and Rev description.
• Filter: matches sheet number or name, not case sensitive. Words separated by spaces match any — GA Setout keeps the GA sheets and the setout sheets.
• Click a column heading for a tick list of that column's values; pick values and click Apply — for example, every sheet on one revision date. All / None tick or clear the list.
• Reverse order flips the list.
• Selecting rows is how you choose sheets. Click, Shift-click a range or Ctrl-click to add one, and the tick boxes follow the highlight; ticking a box on its own highlights that row too, so the two always agree. Selecting a different row therefore replaces the set — Ctrl-click (or its tick box) to add to it.
• The tick box in the column heading selects every sheet the table is showing, or clears them. It shows a half-tick while only some are in.
• Use ▲ Up / ▼ Down to move the selected rows. The order in the table is the print order and the order of pages in a combined PDF.

The line above the buttons shows "X of Y sheet(s) selected". Sheets marked (not printable) (for example empty sheets) are skipped. Print stays disabled until at least one sheet is ticked.

Output formats and options

A PDF is always produced for each ticked sheet (unless you are printing to paper). DWG, DGN and DWF are extras written alongside, using the same file name.

File naming and Combine (top strip)

Output folder

Processing

Content

Printer (paper)

Printing to paper changes Revit's print settings only temporarily — they are rolled back afterwards, so the model's own print setup is left as it was.

Sheet links, bookmarks and page labels

With Add sheet hyperlinks, bookmarks & page labels to PDFs ticked, AECOprint adds these after the PDFs are exported. They are standard PDF features, so they work in Bluebeam, Adobe Acrobat and Reader, Foxit, PDF-XChange, web browsers and tablets. No Bluebeam licence or batch step is needed.

What gets linked: a sheet number printed on a sheet becomes a link when it belongs to another sheet in the same print run. This covers section, elevation and callout heads, view references, sheet list schedules and notes such as "REFER A501". Links point to sheets, not to a particular detail on them.

• Sheet numbers with letters and digits (A101, DA-03) are linked wherever they appear.
• Numbers only (101) could also be a room number or a level, so they are linked only on sheets whose views actually reference that sheet, or on a sheet with a sheet list schedule.
• Sheets exported in Raster have no text to find, so they get no links. Bookmarks and page labels still work.
• Printing the PDF again through a PDF printer driver, or flattening it, removes the links. Send the files AECOprint wrote.

File naming rules

A naming rule is plain text with tokens in curly brackets. Anything outside brackets is kept as typed. You can type a rule straight into the File naming box, or build it with ….

Tokens

Tokens are not case sensitive. Characters Windows doesn't allow in file names (\ / : * ? " < > |) are removed, double spaces are collapsed and trailing full stops are dropped.

Combined PDF names cover the whole set, so sheet tokens don't apply. Use {proj_number}, {proj_name}, {current_date} and {issue_date}.

Setup Naming Rules (the builder)

Laid out like Revit's own PDF naming-rule dialog:

• Parameter Type: filters the list — All, Sheets (blue), Project (grey) or Built-in (orange). Available Fields: has a search box above the list.
• 🡒 adds the selected field below the selected row (or double-click the field). 🡐 removes the selected row.
• Name Parameters (In Order) — one row per field, with editable Prefix, Suffix and Separator (the separator goes after that field and is ignored on the last row; new rows start with -). Sample Value shows a real value from the model.
• 🡑 / 🡓 reorder the selected row.
• Preview of value: shows the resulting file name using a real sheet.
• Saved naming rule: (per-sheet rules only) lists rules you've saved, plus Revit: name entries for every PDF export setup saved in the model. Load fills the grid from the chosen one; Save stores the current rule under a name you type, reusable in any project.
• OK writes the rule back into the main window; Cancel leaves it unchanged.

Example

gives the rule {number}[{rev_number}]-{name}, so sheet A-101 at revision B named Site Plan becomes A-101[B]-Site Plan.pdf.

Presets and company defaults

Where the settings come from

The note beside the buttons at the bottom of the window says which settings were loaded:

Project settings are saved automatically after any run that produced output. Settings are used as a whole — once a project has printed, it keeps its own settings until you load different ones.

Buttons

• Save — saves all current settings (including the naming rule) to a .json file you can share with colleagues.
• Load — loads settings from such a file into the window.
• Load Master — loads your company's defaults (or the AECOtools defaults if your company hasn't published any) and clears this project's remembered settings.
• … (after Load Master) — Save Current Settings as New Company Default. After a warning, click Publish to replace the default print settings for every AECOtools user on your licensed domain. Other people's per-project settings are not changed; new projects and users start from it.

Batch printing (no model open)

Click AECOprint with no model open, or click Batch… in the main window (the open model is then listed and ticked, and the settings you just set come along). The AECOprint — Batch window opens.

What happens

• Each file is opened in the background with all worksets open. Workshared files are opened detached, so central is never touched. Each file is closed without saving.
• Revit popups are suppressed while the batch runs.
• Background PDF export is always off in batch mode. Printing to paper works in batch mode too.
• A progress window shows the current model; Cancel stops the run and skips the remaining files.
• When done, the output folder opens and a per-model report is shown (sheet count, failures, up to five notes per model).

Results

• Where files go: the Output folder, or Desktop\AECOtools Print\yyMMdd_HHmmss when it's empty (batch: …_Batch\model name). The folder opens in File Explorer after any run that wrote files.
• Same names: within a run, duplicate names get (2), (3)…. Leaving the folder empty gives every run a fresh folder, so earlier output is never touched.
• Success window: a green tick with "Exported N sheet(s) in X s." and Output: folder, plus a note if any sheets were auto-rastered and how many sheet hyperlinks were added. Click Close.
• Background export: the message says the sheets were queued; PDFs keep appearing in the folder as Revit finishes them (watch Revit's background processes indicator).
• Failures or cancel: a Revit message lists what failed (up to 10 notes). Sheets that exported are still in the folder.
• Paper: "Sent N sheet(s) to printer".

Where things live

Troubleshooting