Help - Exporting Multiple Map Documents to PDF using Python

[anayoung]

Hello,

I am new to coding. I am trying to write a script that will allow me to export multiple map documents to PDF using Python. I found some code to do just that at the following ESRI help link 44242 - Export map documents to PDF using Python . However when I try to run it I get the below Runtime Error message. The only thing I changed from the original code was the workspace pathway. Thank you very much, Ana

>>> import arcpy, os

...

... arcpy.env.workspace = ws = "C:\Users\00177153\Desktop\ArcPy"

...

... mxd_list = arcpy.ListFiles("*.mxd")

...

... for mxd in mxd_files:

...    

...     current_mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(os.path.join(ws, mxd))

...     pdf_name = mxd[:-4] + ".pdf"

...     arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(current_mxd, pdf_name)

... 

... del mxd_files

...

Runtime Error

Traceback (most recent call last):

     File "<string>", line 7, in <module>

NameError: name 'mxd_files' is not defined

[WesMiller]

Try changing "mxd_files" to "mxd_list"

[anayoung]

I tried that but reieved the following error message:

Runtime error

Traceback (most recent call last):

     File "<string>", line 7, in <module>

TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not iterable

[IanMurray]

That would mean that there are no map documents in the filepath you gave.

Also:

arcpy.env.workspace = ws = "C:\Users\00177153\Desktop\ArcPy"

Should just be:

arcpy.env.workspace = "C:\Users\00177153\Desktop\ArcPy"

However, if there are no mxds in that directory, then you will have no items in your list to export, hence the error.

[WesMiller]

Ian Murray​he is using ws on line 9 for readability he should do

arcpy.env.workspace = r"C:\Users\00177153\Desktop\ArcPy"

ws = r"C:\Users\00177153\Desktop\ArcPy"

[IanMurray]

yea missed that

[WesMiller]

Me too i didn't see it till i reconfigured the code

[WesMiller · Accepted solution]

I tested this code, try this

import arcpy, os


arcpy.env.workspace = ws = r"C:\Users\00177153\Desktop\ArcPy"


mxd_list = arcpy.ListFiles("*.mxd")


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

[anayoung]

With much appreciation for you - I got it!

See below code that worked (i.e. inserted 'r' and changed mxd_files to mxd_list).

The original code on the ESRI help link should be adjusted. When I tried 'print pdf_name' I got an empty 'test1.pdf'.

>>> import arcpy, os

...

... arcpy.env.workspace = ws = r"C:\Users\00177153\Desktop\ArcPy"

...

... mxd_list = arcpy.ListFiles("*.mxd")

...

... 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)

...

... del mxd_list

My next challenge will be to export the PDFs to another location than the MXDs. I will put in another question for that. Thank you very much.

[WesMiller]

See the adjusted code below

>>> import arcpy, os

...

... arcpy.env.workspace = ws = r"C:\Users\00177153\Desktop\ArcPy"

... pdfws = r"some\other\path

... mxd_list = arcpy.ListFiles("*.mxd")

...

... for mxd in mxd_list:

...   

...     current_mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(os.path.join(ws, mxd))

...     pdf_name = os.path.join(pdfws,mxd[:-4]) + ".pdf"

...     arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(current_mxd, pdf_name)

...

... del mxd_list