Leaving Revu 20 without losing anything
The order I'd do it in. Most of it takes an afternoon. The part that takes longer is running one real bid through the new program before you trust it, and that part you shouldn't skip.
Download Excalibur View freeBefore you touch anything
- Look at your serial number. One that starts with 1 is perpetual and keeps running after 31 December, minus Studio and API access. One that starts with 96 or 98 is Open or Enterprise, and Bluebeam deactivates those. What each one loses.
- Don't plan on moving a license to a new computer. Since 31 July 2026 Bluebeam no longer reassigns Revu 20 licenses to different machines, and self-service seat releases are gone. If a Revu machine is due for replacement, do the export below on the old one first.
- Count who needs a seat. Anyone who only opens drawings and never shares markups through the office server can use the free version and doesn't take a seat.
- Find out who runs Studio Sessions with outside parties. If your architects and engineers mark up with you in Studio, nothing I make replaces that, and you may be better off staying. When to stay with Bluebeam.
From Bluebeam's End of Life notice, checked 24 September 2026.
Export while Revu still opens
This is the part with a deadline.
- Export your profile as a .bpx from Revu's Manage Profiles window. It carries your tools and your column names and formulas. A
.btxtool set carries the tools and their values but not the column names. - Copy any tool sets you keep separately. They're
.btxfiles, and each one is worth keeping. - Download anything that lives in Studio Projects to your own drive or server while Revu 20 can still reach it.
- Leave your marked-up PDFs where they are. Revu markups are standard PDF annotations. There's nothing to convert.
Try it beside Revu
On one estimator's computer, with Revu still installed.
- Install the free version. It's the whole desktop program for one person, with no account and no expiry.
- Load your chest from File → Load Tool Chest… and check a handful of weights against what you expect. What comes across from Revu.
- Open a set you've already bid in Revu. The markups are there and the captions should read the same.
- Take off the same scope again and put the totals next to Revu's. If they don't agree, find out why before going any further.
- Save it and open it back in Revu. Your markups should all be there.
Set up the office
Only if two or more of you work off the same sets.
- Pick a Windows computer that stays on. Run the Office server on it once. It installs itself as a Windows service and opens the firewall to your office network only.
- Open Excalibur View on any seat. The first person sets up the server and gets a join code for everyone else.
- Share the tool chest from Studio with Share one, and every seat picks it up by itself.
- Use the 30-day trial. It covers any number of people, and nothing is deleted when it ends.
- Add the license under Studio → Office → License once you've bought seats. It's $250 a seat, paid once. Pricing.
- Add the server's data folder to your backups. The drawings, markups and database are all in that one folder.
What won't come across
Revu's toolbar arrangement, since Excalibur View lays out its own. Studio Sessions, which have no equivalent here. A quantity multiplier you set in Excalibur View isn't read by Revu, so Revu counts that markup once. There's no iPad app, and no 3D PDF or JavaScript in PDFs.
If you'd rather I did it
I'll install the server, bring your files and tool chests over, and check that the columns and unit weights match before anybody bids off them. Setup and migration start at $1,500 per office, quoted before any work starts. Setup and training.
Start with the free version
Install it beside Revu this week, while both still open.