RVT to Excel Converter: Extract Revit Model Data

Every Revit® model is a database. Walls, doors, windows, ducts, pipes: each element has dozens of parameters. Inside Autodesk® software that data is read through Revit schedules, which need a Revit licence.

The RVT to Excel converter in the CAD2DATA Pipeline reads .rvt files directly. No Revit on the machine. Outputs a structured .xlsx workbook with all elements, all parameters, geometry data, bounding boxes, schedule views, and 3D geometry as COLLADA .dae. Source workflows and documentation are in the cad2data repository on GitHub.

What the converter extracts

Per element, depending on the options:

• Elements: every model element with ElementId, UniqueId, Category, Family, Type
• Parameters: all instance and type parameters, including custom/shared parameters
• Geometry: Area (m²), Volume (m³), Length (m), Perimeter
• Bounding boxes: Min/Max XYZ for each element (enable with bbox flag)
• Rooms: ToRoom/FromRoom data (enable with room flag)
• Schedules: each Revit schedule view becomes a separate Excel sheet
• Materials: material assignments per element
• 3D geometry: COLLADA (.dae) export for visualization, element IDs match the XLSX
• Sheet views: PDF export of drawing sheets (with sheets2pdf flag)

CLI reference

# Basic conversion (XLSX + DAE)
RvtExporter.exe "C:\Projects\Building.rvt"

# Full export with all options
RvtExporter.exe "C:\Projects\Building.rvt" complete bbox schedule sheets2pdf

# Just schedules
RvtExporter.exe "C:\Projects\Building.rvt" schedule

# Excel only, no 3D geometry
RvtExporter.exe "C:\Projects\Building.rvt" -no-collada

Full syntax: RvtExporter <input file> [<output file>] [<output file>] [<export mode>] [<category file>] [bbox] [room] [schedule] [sheets2pdf] [-no-xlsx] [-no-collada]

Option	What it does
basic	Export mode with 309 categories
standard	Export mode with 724 categories
complete	Export mode with all 1209 categories
custom	Your own category list from a .txt file
bbox	Add bounding box coordinates (MinX, MinY, MinZ, MaxX, MaxY, MaxZ)
room	Add ToRoom/FromRoom data
schedule	Export all schedule views as separate Excel sheets
sheets2pdf	Export sheet views to PDF files
-no-xlsx	Skip the .xlsx output
-no-collada	Skip the .dae output

Revit® versions supported

2015 through 2026. The converter reads the native .rvt file format directly: no version downgrade, no intermediate format.

Linux installation

# Add DDC repository
echo "deb [trusted=yes] https://pkg.datadrivenconstruction.io stable main" \
    | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ddc.list
sudo apt update

# Install
sudo apt install ddc-rvtconverter

# Convert
ddc-rvtconverter input.rvt output_dir/

Revit data extraction on Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+ / Debian 11+, amd64). Native binary, no Wine or VM.

Integration with AI assistants

The repo includes instruction files in AI_AGENTS_INSTRUCTIONS/. Open the project in Claude™ Code, Cursor™, or GitHub® Copilot and describe the task:

• “Convert all .rvt files in this folder to Excel with bounding boxes”
• “Show me all walls thicker than 200mm”
• “Create a cost estimate from this Revit model”
• “Compare parameter fill rates between two models”

The assistant reads the instructions, calls the converter and parses the output.

FAQ

Does it need Revit® installed?

No. Reads .rvt files directly. Works on clean machines with no Autodesk® software.

What about Revit families (.rfa)?

Yes. RvtExporter.exe accepts both project files (.rvt) and family files (.rfa) as input.

Can I push data back into Revit?

Not with the converter. This is read-only extraction. For bi-directional sync, tools like Ideate BIMLink work, but they require a Revit license.

How fast is the conversion?

Depends on model size. In our benchmark (DDC Community v18.4.1, 10 public Revit sample files) the mean time was 148 seconds per file. Batch workflows can run models in parallel.

Download

Free Community version of the RVT converter (personal and research use; commercial licence on request). All elements, all parameters, bounding boxes, schedules, 3D geometry. No Revit license needed.

Get it on GitHub
Revit to Excel converter: download and details

Need the complete guide with 4 methods, comparison table, and batch processing? Read the full Revit to Excel conversion guide. Also see our guides for DWG to Excel, IFC to Excel, DGN to Excel, and Revit to IFC.

Revit® and AutoCAD® are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. Excel® and Windows® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. GitHub® is a registered trademark of GitHub, Inc. Claude™ is a trademark of Anthropic, PBC. Cursor™ is a trademark of Anysphere, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.