How to export Revit to DWG without breaking the drawing

Consultants who still work in AutoCAD need DWG. Done carelessly, the export arrives with 400 layers and hatches that will not plot; done properly it matches your office standard.

Why there is no uploader on this page

RVT is a closed format that no browser can read, so an in-page converter would have to send your file to a server. The procedure below does the job properly in the application that owns the format — and where a browser-side route exists, it is linked underneath.

Converting RVT to DWG, step by step

1Set up the view or sheet exactly as it should be issued — DWG export mirrors visibility/graphics.
2File → Export → CAD Formats → DWG. Open the export setup (the small button beside the selector).
3On the Layers tab, load your standard's export layers file (for example the AIA or BS1192 mapping) so Revit categories land on the right layers.
4Set Units and coordinates: Project internal for standalone sheets, Shared for anything to be overlaid by others.
5Choose Export views on sheets as external references if consultants need the sheet and its views separately.
6Open the result in AutoCAD, run AUDIT and PURGE, and check one known dimension before issuing.

What to watch out for

Export one sheet per DWG for issue sets; exporting the whole project in one go produces unusable files.
Filled regions become hatches, model lines become lines — annotation families can lose their intelligence.
Save the export setup so the next issue is identical.

RVT — Revit model

Autodesk Revit's native BIM model — geometry plus parameters, phasing and relationships.

DWG — AutoCAD Drawing

AutoCAD's native binary drawing format. Closed and version-specific, so it needs AutoCAD or a licensed library to read.

Questions

Why does my exported DWG have hundreds of layers?

No layer mapping file was loaded, so Revit created a layer per category and subcategory. Load your standard's export layers table in the DWG export setup.

Should I export views or sheets?

Sheets for issue, views for coordination. Exporting sheets with views as XRefs keeps the sheet readable while letting the consultant reference the view geometry.