Using Python to Export all MXD's in a Directory

[JamesHockey]

I was just wondering if anyone knew how I could use Python to open and export all *.mxd documents in a directory (as a pdf). At the moment I can open specific *.mxd documents and export them. If I could have a code however that looks in a directory and could open all the files within it and export all the maps it would save me a lot of time.

[CPoynter]

Try using model builder and one of the iterate functions to list and iterate MXD files in a workspace / directory and export to PDF.

If you have subfolders have a look into the arcpy Walk function to do recursive searches for MXD files.

Regards,

Craig

[JeffMoulds]

ModelBuilder will work, but if you want to do it in Python, like your post says, all you need is something like this that loops through all MXDs in a folder, then exports them to PDF.

import arcpy, os
folderPath = r"C:\Project"
for filename in os.listdir(folderPath):
    fullpath = os.path.join(folderPath, filename)
    if os.path.isfile(fullpath):
        basename, extension = os.path.splitext(fullpath)
        if extension.lower() == ".mxd":
            mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(fullpath)
            arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(mxd, basename + '.pdf')

[SeanConlon]

Jeff,  this works almost perfectly. In testing, it created PDF's out all my MXD's in a folder,  but is it possible to output to a different folder?  I tried messing around with your code but I don't have enough knowledge to get it to work.

thanks

Sean

[CPoynter]

Hi Sean,

Try something like:

import arcpy, os

folderPath = r"C:\Project"

outFolder = r"C:\Project\PDFs" ## create an output folder

for filename in os.listdir(folderPath):

fullpath = os.path.join(folderPath, filename)

if os.path.isfile(fullpath):

basename, extension = os.path.splitext(fullpath)

if extension.lower() == ".mxd":

mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(fullpath)

arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(mxd, outFolder + basename + '.pdf')

You will probably need to create ‘PDFs’ folder before running script.

Regards,

Craig

C. Poynter

Information Technology Officer (Spatial Analysis) | Research Office, Spatial Data Analysis Network (SPAN)

Charles Sturt University

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Phone: +61 2 69332165

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Email: cpoynter@csu.edu.au<mailto:cpoynter@csu.edu.au>

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