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choose better software

What Is Bluebeam Revu?

If you're experiencing challenges when sharing architecture designs and ideas across platforms, and with many team members and stakeholders across the world, turn to Bluebeam, a suite of on-the-go construction markup software that seamlessly keeps your team on the same page when design elements are modified or updated. With its 2D/3D capabilities and support for many formats, your team projects will stay on budget and on time.

Who Uses Bluebeam Revu?

Bluebeam serves architecture, engineering, construction, and owner (AECO) professionals across industry segments from individual users to large-scale enterprises.

Bluebeam Revu Software - Revu makes your project’s drawings and plans work smarter by using them to share metadata, markups, hyperlinks, bookmarks, images, stamps, signatures, attachments and 3D data-streamlining critical time-consuming processes and simplifying communication.
Bluebeam Revu Software - Studio Projects give you a single centralized location to store documents—even entire projects—in the cloud. And Studio Sessions let project teams worldwide review, mark up, modify and update the same files at the same time.

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Reviews of Bluebeam Revu

Average score

Overall
4.7
Ease of Use
4.3
Customer Service
4.3
Features
4.6
Value for Money
4.5

Reviews by company size (employees)

  • <50
  • 51-200
  • 201-1,000
  • >1,001
Lap
Lap
project Manager in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Real Estate, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Blue beam review

4.0 3 years ago

Comments: It is my preferred PDF editor and I constantly use it to make edits

Pros:

It is very user friendly and very intuitive. The dashboards are set up similar to acad and I can draw pretty well. The editing features are also top notch.

Cons:

It is a bit pricey for a PDF editor. You can get adobe versions much cheaper and while it maybe less functional, the adobe programs do work ok.

Amy
Project Coordinator in US
Construction, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Bluebeam Revu

4.0 last year

Comments: I was a little hesitant at first when my company switched from Adobe to Bluebeam, but now that I have gotten use to the program I would never want to go back to Adobe.

Pros:

It's easy to mark up PDF files. In the construction industry, we make markups on blueprints and submittals. It's also easy for material take-offs with the measuring tools.

Cons:

I still haven't been satisfied with all the toolbars and their locations. I have a tool bar on the top, side and bottom and I haven't figured out how to make it so I can just show the tools that I use the most.

Ahmed
Principal Mechanical Engineer in US
Oil & Energy, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Ease of use

3.0 last year

Pros:

Bluebeam has lots of useful editing tools.

Cons:

Bluebeam sessions are not easy to access.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Civil Engineering, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Bluebeam for Document And Comments Management

5.0 3 months ago

Pros:

Bluebeam Revu’s robust PDF editing tools, precise measurement capabilities, and customizable markup features make it excellent for detailed document review and collaboration.

Cons:

The software cannot handle large size PDFs and shutdowns for no good reason.

Niamat
Site Engineer in Saudi Arabia
Civil Engineering, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Bluebeam Revu is one of the best software currently in the market

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: i am using Bluebeam Revu since one year, i found it very helpful in all aspects

Pros:

Bluebeam Revu is one of the best software currently in the market, i found it very helpful to manage many kind of documents. i personally use it mostly for managing PDF files. its a great toll to merge many files in a single click. with its great tools of editing we prepare many kinds of presentation for our client and consultant meeting that bear fruitful results most of the time. for any documents to change any kind of text and pictures it is very handy, managing large files and to find every single topic in a simple search is the key to this software, in short i would recommend this software for all users refer to the other same kind of software in the current market.

Cons:

i like all the features of this software that why we are using this software in our organization. what i like the most in it is that its very easy to edit any kind of page with the desired results. with all its text styles its more fun to use, managing huge files in a single click make it more efficient. any word or topic to find is very easy

Gloria
Human Resources Manager in US
Construction, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Bluebeam Revu raving results

5.0 last year

Pros:

Once I learned how to use it there was no going back to Adobe. Blue Beam has management tools that improve review speed and accuracy.

Cons:

Thelearning curve if you really want to use the product the correct way.

Ben
technical coordinator in UK
Construction, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Blue beam review

5.0 11 months ago

Comments: very good for certain things without having to open up cad

Pros:

take off made easy and not having to print anything off

Cons:

the task bars seem very confusing and time-consuming to setup

Farah
Architect in US
Architecture & Planning, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

I Recommend Bluebeam

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: It is an excellent tool for reviewing drawings and organizing reports in a clear manner.

Pros:

Marking up drawings and also being able to create a shared document for multiple users to mark up make this a strong tool that allows AEC professionals to go digital and avoid printing.

Cons:

Tools that allow me to draw straight lines on documents would help.

Joshua
Joshua
Project Manager in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Architecture & Planning, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Untrustworthy Developer - Dropped the ball

3.0 5 years ago

Pros:

Brings a lot of features and functionality missing from Acrobat. To my knowledge, no other PDF software is geared towards the A+E market. I wish there was another one out there so that these guys didn't have a monopoly on the market. It has given them a sense of invincibility that has led to stagnation and a lack of genuine support for their customers.

Cons:

I've been using Revu for about 8 years, 5 of those on Windows. The last 3 are at my most recent job, and when I found out that Bluebeam had created a Revu for Mac, I was quick to push our company to adopt. I even gave a lunchtime presentation to show everyone some of the really powerful features I had come to know and love from the windows side. Playing with the trial version of 1.0, though, I quickly realized that a ton of features were absent from the windows version. I went ahead and gave the presentation anyway, though and with some convincing, we bought seats for everyone. It became clear within the first week of using the software, though, that it was incredibly slow. So slow as to be unusable. It took several seconds to render every page... considering that we regularly deal with 100+ page architectural sets, this made the program worthless in a lot of cases. What's more we really felt the lack of some features from the windows side, many of which were so basic that it's laughable that Bluebeam decided not to invest in them. You can't crop pdfs for instance. Anyway, when bluebeam for mac 2.0 came out, we bought in thinking that we'd be getting all of the features that we were missing along with performance improvements. Turns out they decided to revamp the UI with almost 0 feature inclusions. The performance of page rendering was significantly improved, which was helpful, although page thumbnails now no longer load.

Nick
Operations in US
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

BlueBeam Review

4.0 3 months ago

Pros:

Additional functionality beyond your normal PDF document viewing.

Cons:

The software could be more user-friendly.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
International Trade & Development, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

The magic behind Bluebeam Revu. Simplifies work.

5.0 last year

Comments: Never disappointing features. Always available help desk support. Bluebeam Revu is cool.

Pros:

I would like to pass my special gratitude to the customer support team for Bluebeam Revu. A collection of very resourceful team which understands the software so well. They really assisted me in launching and integration of this software. My emails were replied on time and in the most respectful manner. They made the app easy to use for me and that's why I have recommended it to several friends who appreciates it's work too. Keep up the good work.

Cons:

With such assistance from the customer support team, I find nothing hard. All the challenges are well addressed.

Sam
Project Manager in US
Construction, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Blue Beam

5.0 last year

Comments: Employees on the job can now easily scale plans right off their tablet instead of the paper plans

Pros:

Super easy to download a pdf for markup , reading , scrolling or even zoom. This program is very helpful for construction plans.

Cons:

It was pretty complicated to learn all of the tools and commands. I feel I only use a portion of this and a missing out on some cool features.

Cindy
Bill of Materials TechnicianII in US
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Bluebeam Revu for Print Management

5.0 last year

Comments: I really like Bluebeam. I hope I like it as much when I am not able to save a print through SolidWorks and will need to press a few more buttons to view it.

Pros:

Bluebeam is super easy, user friendly. As our part designs change, therefore requiring print changes, we have the capability to use the tools offered in Bluebeam to markup changes, highlight, and add text explaining revisions so everyone is on the same page as to what/why a change occurred and if it effects fit, form or function.

Cons:

No dislikes, really. We recently upgraded our SolidWorks® and am finding that Bluebeam will not be connecting/compatible with SolidWorks® any longer. That is not horrible as we can save prints other ways and still read them in Bluebeam Revu.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Civil Engineering, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Bluebeam for design teams

5.0 last year

Pros:

Incredibly simple markup tool. Variety of easy to use built in tools.

Cons:

Occasionally suffers from strange bugs that seem to propagate throughout multiple updates and versions.

Ashwitha
QA Analyst in Canada
Government Relations, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Action tool for a Document editor

5.0 11 months ago

Pros:

You will be notified via emails when you have access to project and the file.

Cons:

When the system fails ,I was not able to figure out , and had to reach out to the Bluebeam team for clarity.

Tyler
Owner in US
Construction, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source
Source: SoftwareAdvice

Way more than just a .PDF program...

5.0 2 years ago

Pros:

I love all of the takeoff features bluebeam has. Being tailor made for construction and having all of the same features as the competitors as well makes it a no Brainer for me.

Cons:

Integration was easy. Learning the program is slightly different than competitors but there is a good help section and online communities.

Hank
Estimator in US
Construction, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Bluebeam usages

5.0 last year

Comments: Bluebeam was a software that is user friendly and effective. The functions that I used help make my workday easier.

Pros:

Bluebeam is a great software necessity, It helped me get organized and was easy to operate

Cons:

Bluebeam's take off functions were basic but efficient. It allowed me to get through the jobs easily.

Levi
IT supply in Qatar
Computer Software, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Bluebeam Revu

5.0 last year

Comments: This software is founded in 2002 and very friendly user you can ajust and easy to convert files from excel to pdf,word to pdf,power point to pdf

Pros:

this software is easy to use and you can easy to covert files from excel to pdf ,word to pdf,power point to pdfvery smooth convertion

Cons:

very smooth converting files and it has may tools plug in built in on this software you easily ajust and edit files

Lisbeth
Lisbeth
Project Engineer in Peru
Verified LinkedIn User
Civil Engineering, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: Free Trial
Reviewer Source

An ally for construction

4.0 last year

Comments: Through the free trial I have tested its functionality, its speed is optimal and it is accessible on any device.

Pros:

One advantage is the ability to encrypt documents, providing an additional layer of security. It also integrates with various formats such as CAD, facilitates modifications.

Cons:

It does not have the functionality that would allow you to create, modify or edit any original content. In addition, the individual cost is not small.

Savannah
Helpdesk in US
Education Management, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Functional

4.0 last year

Pros:

Great when using on the go at different sites

Cons:

If you dont know what hour doing it can be challenging

Chris
consultant in US
Computer Networking, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

review

5.0 last year

Pros:

easy to add and implement installs for admins

Cons:

not easy to remove licenses without having workstation available. need to ask support to unregsiter

Hammam
Civil Engineer in Jordan
Construction, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Streamlining Construction Projects with Bluebeam

5.0 2 years ago

Pros:

Bluebeam is an exceptional software solution that offers a wide range of benefits for construction professionals and project managers. One of its most notable features is the ability to perform takeoffs from PDF files, which can be a time-consuming and labor-intensive task when done manually. Bluebeam makes it easy to perform takeoffs from PDF files, allowing users to accurately calculate the quantities of materials required for a project. This can help to reduce errors and ensure that the project is completed on time and within budget.

Cons:

Some users have reported performance issues with Bluebeam, such as slow processing times or crashes. While these issues are not common, they can be frustrating when they do occur.

Declan
Estimator in UK
Construction, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Easy to use

4.0 last year

Comments: very good

Pros:

very cheap and good tools and easy to use

Cons:

no longer supported on Mac meaning it cannot update and features can no longer be added

Amjed
Amjed
Project Coordinator in Jordan
Verified LinkedIn User
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

This application is one of the most important things we found

5.0 2 years ago

Pros:

This app is a lifesaver, it helps us making take-off from PDF plans that cannot be converted to AutoCAD or any DWG software and making estimates for those plans. It is easy to use, cheap and helps you in the right direction. It saves time because in the past we had to redraw those plans in AutoCAD to make take-off.

Cons:

This application saves us many times, so I don't have any problem with this software.

Osamu
Schedule Engineer in US
Oil & Energy, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Edit function is not user-friendly.

4.0 2 years ago

Comments: I'm satisfied with pdf convert function and mersing function, but not so satisfied with editing function.

Pros:

We can easily convert excel and word files to PDF. And also, we can merge several pdf files into one file by this software. This function is very helpful for us.

Cons:

Edit function is not user-friendly. We can edit a text by using this software, but it is not userfriendly. Some practice is required to edit something smoothly.