Batch exporting MXD to PDF files using ArcGIS Desktop?

Question

Nico Burgerhart made a fantastic script called "Batch export MXD to PDF" back in 2008. http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=14872 Any ideas how to implement it in ArcGIS 10? Something using Python perhaps? Data Driven Pages does not have anything comparable that i could find.

Here's the steps in read me text file which doesn't jive with ArcGIS 10's new menu bar:

Tool: Batch export MXD to PDF
Purpose: Saves all MXDs in the selected directory to PDFs in the selected output folder
Author: Nico Burgerhart ([email protected])
Date: 31 Jan. 2007
INSTALLATION NOTES
------------------
1. Open ArcMap
2. Select Tools > Macro's > Visual Basic Editor
3. Select File > Import file
4. Import BatchExportMXDToPDF.bas
5. Select File > Close and Return to ArcMap
6. Select Tools > Macro's > Macro's
7. Select the BatchExportMXDToPDF mactro
8. Click Run 

Answer 1

Export Map Document to PDF is now included in the arcpy.mapping module

Pith of code sample from Esri KB How To: Export map documents to PDF using Python:

for mxd in mxd_list:

    current_mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(os.path.join(ws, mxd))
    pdf_name = mxd[:-4] + ".pdf"
    arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(current_mxd, pdf_name)

For a more extended Toolbox example see Export MXD to PDF courtesy of @bteranUFA

Answer 2

Looks like this is a VBA module. If you install VBA with ArcGIS 10 you should be able to run it just the same. (VBA is still supported, but will not be in the next release.) Better approach would be to re-write this as an add-on.

Answer 3

Add the script to a toolbox, then setup two paramters by right clicking on the script tool and typing in the display named like below image and picking data type of folder like in below image:

#Export a folder of maps to PDFs at their Map Document set sizes
#Written using ArcGIS 10 and Python 2.6.5
#by: Guest

import arcpy, os

#Read input parameter from user.
path = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)

#Write MXD names in folder to txt log file.
writeLog=open(path+"\FileListLog.txt","w")
for fileName in os.listdir(path):
    fullPath = os.path.join(path, fileName)
    if os.path.isfile(fullPath):
        basename, extension = os.path.splitext(fullPath)
        if extension == ".mxd":
            writeLog.write(fullPath+"\n")
            mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(fullPath)
            print fileName + "\n"
del mxd
print "Done"
writeLog.close()


exportPath =arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1)
MXDread=open(path+"\FileListLog.txt","r")
for line in MXDread:
    #Strip newline from line.
    line=line.rstrip('\n')
    if os.path.isfile(line):
        basename, extension = os.path.splitext(line)
        newName=basename.split('\\')[-1]
        if extension.lower() == ".mxd":
            print "Basename:" +newName
            mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(line)
            newPDF=exportPath+"\\"+newName+".pdf"
            print newPDF
            arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(mxd,newPDF)
            print line + "Export Done"
MXDread.close()
item=path+"\FileListLog.txt"
os.remove(item)
del mxd

Answer 4

Look in this set of GP tools on the ESRI Resource Center, there may be something in there for exporting to PDF in batch.

Answer 5

Building on the contributions of @Guest and @bteranUFA I've put together a python script and toolbox. It exports all MXD from an input folder to an output location.

From here download ArcPlus.tbx and Scripts\ExportFolder2PDF.py and save somewhere useful, then read the usage notes if needed.