Contents
How Fusion 360 stores drawings
In Fusion 360, drawings are separate documents — .f2d files — that live in your cloud project next to the 3D designs they document. Each drawing holds the 2D sheets: views, dimensions, tolerances, notes, and title blocks. They're what a machine shop quotes from, what inspection measures against, and what clients sign off on.
That separation is why drawings are easy to miss in an export workflow: exporting a design's STEP file does nothing for its drawing, and vice versa. A complete project release needs both.
The manual method
Natively, PDF export happens inside each drawing:
- Open the drawing (.f2d) in Fusion 360
- Choose Output → Output PDF
- Pick options and a save location, export
- Close the drawing and open the next one
Perfectly fine for two or three drawings. For a project with dozens, it's the same repetitive time sink as bulk exporting designs — except drawings often need re-exporting every revision, because a dimension change anywhere means updated PDFs everywhere.
Bulk exporting drawings with ExportKit Pro
ExportKit Pro treats PDF drawings as a first-class export format alongside STEP, F3D and the rest:
- Select your project folder in the ExportKit Pro dialog inside Fusion.
- Check PDF as an export format — alone, or together with CAD formats like STEP and F3D.
- Scan to preview what will be exported. The scan counts your drawing files and flags anything problematic before the run starts.
- Start Export. Every drawing in the folder and its subfolders is exported to PDF automatically.
Drawings are processed in a separate pass after all CAD format exports complete. That design choice matters: a problem with one drawing can never interrupt or corrupt your design exports — the passes are independent, and failures are reported per file in the export log.
Release workflow: checking STEP + PDF together gives you the full manufacturing package — 3D geometry for CAM plus 2D drawings for the shop floor — for an entire project in a single run.
How the output is organized
Exported PDFs mirror your Fusion hub/project/folder structure on disk, landing next to the other exports from the same run:
Output folder/
Hub Name/
Project Name/
Bracket Assembly/
Bracket.step
Bracket.f3d
Bracket Drawing.pdf
No renaming, no sorting PDFs out of a flat dump — the folder tree you see in Fusion is the folder tree you get on disk.
Tips for drawing-heavy projects
- Re-export after every revision round. Because the run is automated, regenerating all PDFs after design changes costs a coffee break, not an afternoon — so your released drawings never lag your models.
- Use the scan to catch surprises. The pre-export scan shows exactly how many drawing files will be processed — a quick sanity check that nothing was missed or misplaced before you send a release.
- Combine with incremental CAD exports. If you're also maintaining local backups, incremental mode keeps the CAD side fast while the PDF pass regenerates documentation.
Free license note: exporting existing drawings to PDF works on all Fusion 360 license tiers. Creating and editing drawings has limitations on the free personal-use tier — check your drawing access before planning a documentation workflow around it.
Every drawing in your project, exported in one pass
ExportKit Pro bulk exports Fusion 360 drawings to PDF — alongside STEP, F3D and more — with your folder structure preserved. Free 30-export trial, no registration required.
Download Free Trial Buy Individual — $79One-time purchase · License key by email · 1 year of updates
Frequently asked questions
Can Fusion 360 export all drawings to PDF at once?
Not natively — PDF export happens one drawing at a time from inside each open drawing. An add-in like ExportKit Pro batch-processes every drawing file (.f2d) in a project folder in one automated pass.
What file type are Fusion 360 drawings?
Drawings are .f2d files stored in your cloud project alongside the 3D designs (.f3d) they document. PDF export converts the 2D sheets into shareable documents.
Why are drawings exported in a separate pass?
So a drawing problem can never interrupt design exports. ExportKit Pro exports all CAD formats first, then processes drawings to PDF — failures in either pass are logged per file without stopping the run.
Does PDF drawing export work on the free license?
Exporting existing drawings to PDF works on all Fusion 360 license tiers, including free personal use.
Related guides
- How to Bulk Export Fusion 360 Files to STEP, F3D and PDF — the complete guide to every method.
- Fusion 360 Export Formats Explained — what each format is for, including PDF.
- How to Back Up Fusion 360 Files Locally — keep designs and drawings safe on your own drive.
- Free Fusion 360 Bulk Export Scripts vs an Add-In — most free scripts skip drawings entirely.