📄 Export All Open Inventor Drawings to PDF – Instantly!

3 minute read

🛑 Problem: Wasting Time Exporting PDFs Manually

If you’re an Inventor user, you’ve probably faced this problem:

You have multiple drawings open and you need to share or archive them quickly—but exporting them to PDF one by one is a slow, repetitive nightmare.

  • Open drawing
  • Go to Export
  • Choose PDF
  • Confirm settings
  • Repeat… 10… 20… 30 times?

⚠️ Multiply this by the number of projects you handle each week, and you’re looking at hours of lost productivity just on mindless clicking.

Manual PDF export is:

  • 💢 Error-prone
  • 🐌 Time-consuming
  • 😩 Painful when dealing with 10+ sheets

That’s why I have created a simple solution using Inventor’s built-in VBA capabilities.

🎥 Demo: See It in Action

👇 Here’s what the macro does with just one click:


It scans all open drawing documents, skips the ones that are not saved, and automatically:

  • Creates a PDFs folder next to the source drawing
  • Exports each drawing to high-quality PDF
  • Retains your drawing name
  • Handles multiple sheets per drawing

📦 Code Download: Get the .bas File

We’ve packaged the code into a .bas file that you can directly import into Inventor’s VBA editor.

🔽 Download ExportAllDrawingsToPDF.bas/

⚙️ How It Works

🔍 Step-by-step Explanation

This macro does the following:

  1. Gets the PDF Translator Add-In
    The macro checks if the Translator exists and exits with a warning if not.

  2. Loops through all open Inventor documents
    It filters for only DrawingDocument types.

  3. Skips unsaved drawings
    Because you can’t export unsaved documents (they don’t have file paths).

  4. Creates a PDFs subfolder
    Right next to the original .idw or .dwg file.

  5. Generates a PDF for each drawing
    With settings:
    • All sheets included
    • High resolution (400 DPI)
    • Preserves line weights and colors

  6. Saves the PDF using the TranslatorAddIn

  7. Shows a final message box
    Tells you if any drawings were skipped or confirms full success.

✅ Compatibility

This macro is built to be backward-compatible with:

  • Autodesk Inventor 2014 to 2024

Tested on:

  • Inventor 2022
  • Inventor 2024

🧠 Technical Notes

  • Written in VBA and stored as a .bas file
  • Works with all local drawing documents
  • Skips drawings that are not saved
  • Requires no third-party libraries—just native Inventor functionality

🚀 How to Use the Macro

Step 1: Import the .bas File

  1. Open Inventor
  2. Press Alt + F11 to open the VBA Editor
  3. Go to File > Import File
  4. Select the Inventor_ExportAllDrawingsToPDF_by_TheCadCoder.bas file
  5. You’ll now see a new module named ExportAllDrawingsToPDF

Step 2: Run the Macro

  1. In Inventor, make sure you have your drawings open
  2. Press Alt + F11
  3. Click anywhere inside the ExportAllDrawingsToPDF subroutine
  4. Press F5 to run it

Your PDFs will be generated and saved!

📁 Sample Output Folder Structure

If your file is located at:

“D:\Projects\AssemblyA\Drawing1.idw”

After running the macro, you’ll get:

“D:\Projects\AssemblyA\PDFs\Drawing1.pdf”

Each drawing gets its own PDF in its respective folder.

🤔 FAQs

❓ What happens if a drawing is not saved?

The macro skips it and tells you how many were skipped.

❓ Will this export all sheets in a multi-sheet drawing?

Yes! It uses the kPrintAllSheets option to export all drawing sheets into one PDF file.

❓ Can I change the PDF resolution?

Yes. Find this line:

oOptions.Value("Vector_Resolution") = 400

You can change 400 to any other DPI value (e.g., 300, 600).

❓ Can I bundle this with my team?

Absolutely! You can export and distribute the .bas file or include it in your company’s automation pack.

📌 Final Thoughts

This macro is a lifesaver if you regularly work with Inventor drawings and need clean PDF exports.

It helps you:

Reduce errors

Speed up documentation

Impress clients with consistency

Focus on actual design—not admin work

🧠 Remember: even though this is “just a macro,” it can save hours every week.

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