Using the Overtur for Revit Plugin? See Send Process: Understanding Your Options within the Prepare Step for guidance on choosing the submission method that best fits your project, including when Skip Sheets may be the right call.
What the Data Tells Us
On average, schedule processing completes in under a minute. The sheets step is where time varies, and that depends entirely on your Revit model and system environment.
As a rough reference, standard floor plans typically process at around 30 to 45 seconds per sheet. A 30 sheet submission at that rate is about 20 minutes, which is completely normal. Complex or elevation-heavy views will take longer.
If your times feel higher than that math suggests, the table below covers the most common reasons why.
Common Performance Factors
| Factor | What to Check |
|---|---|
| View-Related Factors | |
| Depth Clipping | Views with no depth clipping force Revit to compute everything at infinite depth. Ensure Far Clipping is set on elevations, sections, and callouts. |
| Depth Cueing | If Show Depth is enabled on a view it adds rendering overhead. Disable it on any views being exported. |
| Detail Level | Medium or Fine detail level requires significantly more computation than Low. Low is recommended for coordination sheets. |
| Heavy or Saturated Views | Views with 3D rendering, live elevations, or dense annotation slow export considerably and compound other issues like depth clipping. |
| Shadows | Shadows add rendering overhead. Turn them off on sheets being exported. |
| Raster Images | Embedded raster images increase file size and processing time for each view they appear in. |
| Dense Hatch Patterns | Dense filled regions add geometric complexity to each exported view. |
| Model Health | |
| Unresolved Warnings | Revit re-evaluates warnings on every regeneration. A model carrying a large number of active warnings compounds processing time on every export pass. |
| Complex CAD Links | CAD links in the host model or embedded in families can significantly slow export. Try turning off CAD link categories in Visibility/Graphics to test whether they are contributing. |
| System Environment | |
| Available RAM | Revit is memory intensive. Chrome, other Autodesk products, and background applications compete for available RAM during processing. Close what you do not need before a large export. A quick Task Manager check before starting takes ten seconds and can save considerably more. |
| Cloud Sync Services | OneDrive, Dropbox, or SharePoint actively syncing the Revit file or export folder during processing is a common culprit. Autodesk recommends against storing Revit files in cloud-synced folders. At minimum, pause sync before a large export. |
| Export Folder Location | Exporting to a network drive or mapped folder over VPN is significantly slower than exporting to a local folder first and moving the file after. A local SSD is the fastest option. |
| VPN and Internet Connection | VPN can affect both the plugin login process and send performance. A slow or unstable internet connection will similarly affect any step that requires data transfer. If performance feels inconsistent, connection quality is worth checking first. |
| Multiple Revit Instances | Running two Revit models simultaneously splits available RAM and CPU. Close any files you do not need before a large export. |
| PDF Viewers Open During Export | Having Bluebeam or Adobe open and processing a file while Revit is exporting creates a conflict. Finish the export first. |
| Antivirus Real-Time Scanning | Some antivirus software scans each file as it is created. Exporting 30 sheets means 30 real-time scans running alongside Revit. Adding your export folder to AV exclusions is worth asking IT about. |
| Restart Habits | Files accumulate cached data over a session. A daily Revit restart helps maintain consistent performance. A full system shutdown once a week clears deeper cache. For very large files or back-to-back exports, a restart at a natural break point can meaningfully improve times. |
| Export Settings | |
| DPI Resolution | Exporting at 600 DPI generates significantly more data than 300 DPI. For coordination purposes, 300 DPI is more than sufficient and exports considerably faster. |
A Note on Timing
If your timeline does not allow for model or system optimization before a submission, Skip Sheets is always a legitimate option. See Send Process: Understanding Your Options within the Prepare Step for guidance on when that makes sense.
Autodesk Resources
For deeper guidance on Revit model performance and PDF export, Autodesk maintains the following support articles:
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