Export to a PDF

[m.granata]

Hi,

I am using Inventor 2014 Professional and am constantly exporting the Inventor drawing files (idw) to pdf for my clients.  Now I have about 50 idw files that are being updated and need to be exported to pdf files.  Additionally, each idw file is exported into two pfd files because each pdf needs to contain different drawing sheets.  It is very time consuming.  This export process is more time consuming than the drawing updates.  I would like to simplify this process 1) by changing the default folder to save all of these 50 pdf's in and eliminate having to navigate through the file folders each time a pdf is created and 2) create different default pdf export settings, ie. a default resolution of 600 rather than the preset 400.  Is there a way to do this with Inventor 2014 Professional?  Is there a way to change any of the default settings when exporting to a pdf file to eliminate making these changes for every pdf?  Is there a better software available for this conversion process?

Any idea is appreciated.

Best Regards,

Mike

[stefaanboel]

You already use task schedular to create these pdf's?

[stefaanboel]

I also rather use CutePDF to create my PDF's. 

Then you'll have a real printer in your printer settings. There you can change for instance the dpi this before starting the print task in the task schedular.

[Paul-Mason]

IF you have adobe XI Pro there are two methods you can use to bulk create PDFs

Fist on is to simply navigate to your projects folder select the files that you want to convert to PDF, RMB and select "Convert To Adobe PDF"

After a few second you'll be taken into a min-browser where you can enter the file name and also select the destination for your file

Once your finished with converting Start Adobe, from file select "Create" then "Combine Files Into Single PDF" as shown

Second method, and by far the quickest , is form with in Adobe it self using the "Batch Create Multiple Files", follow the on screen instruction in Adobe select your IDW files that are to be converted.

[mrattray]

Try doing some searching around here and on the app exchange for an add-in or an iLogic routine that does this. This is a common application.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi m.granata,

I didn't take the time to understand all of your requirements, but I think these links might point you in the right direction:

http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/2011/07/ilogic-to-save-pdf-files-to-new.html

http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/2011/02/ilogic-code-for-parts-lists-title.html

http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/2012/11/ilogic-batch-output-pdfs-from-assembly.html

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[m.granata]

Mason-Paul,

I have Adobe Acrobat X Professional.  It has that same feature as XI Pro.  I honestly haven't thought of trying that method.  It might reduce a few steps for what I'm doing.

Best Regards,

Mike

[m.granata]

Curtis,

Your on the right track for what I'm doing. In a nut shell, each idw contains several sheets of drawings for manufacturing purposes and one drawing sheet (the last sheet in the set) for bid/proposal purposes. The bid/proposal drawing sheet lacks details and annotations needed for manufacturing. This reduces the number of idw files. Therefore, for each idw I am creating a pdf containing the manufacturing drawings sheets and a pdf containing the one bid/proposal drawing sheet. I'm not familiar with iLogic. I have your book, Mastering Inventor 2012. Even though I'm using Inventor 2014, I better start reading the chapter on iLogic.

Best Regards,
Mike

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi m.granata,

Your situation sounds doable.

If you post some clear steps of what you have, and what you want I can likely modify the code for you, to get you going (no promises though).

Something such as:

I have a file called 47-912.idw (always 6 characters) with the Revision Number iProperty set to a number (such as 3), located in:
J:\Engineering\Designs\DWG\
and I want to have one PDF saved out so that the last sheet (always the last sheet) is as such:
J:\Engineering\Designs\PDF\47-912 Rev3_Proposal.pdf

and then I want to have the rest of the sheets saved out so that another PDF is as such:

J:\Engineering\Designs\PDF\47-912 Rev3.pdf

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com