Scope Boxes

Scope boxes are essential components of multi-disciplinary view coordination, and they should be highlighted within the <Ideate Audit> Filter. You can keep an eye on the scope boxes in your projects with Ideate Explorer by selecting and zooming to a scope box by the name and easily transferring them from one project to another.  

To copy all scope boxes between project files: 

1. Set Display to "Entire Project"
2. Set Filter to <Ideate Audit>
3. Select all scope boxes to be copied
4. From the Modify tab in Revit, select “Copy to Clipboard”
5. Open the new file
6. Use Paste to transfer to all the scope boxes into the new project

Plan Regions

A plan region is used to apply a different view range to part of a floor plan view so a model element that might typically be invisible due to the cut-plane height can be indicated on the plan. Unlike scope boxes, plan regions are view-specific, and they are easy to lose within the Revit project. Use Ideate Explorer to delete unwanted plan regions or to copy them from one view to another.

Grids, levels, and reference planes are considered datum elements within the Revit database, meaning that they can be used by other elements to drive geometry. They need to be carefully reviewed using Ideate Explorer as your project progresses.

Grids

Grid lines can duplicate via Copy/Monitor or other methods placing two identical grid lines in the same file and in the same location. When this happens, the grid number can’t be used, and it may cause other unintended results. 

Fortunately, you can use Ideate Explorer to quickly review the list of grids. If you find a potential problem, simply double-click on the grid instance to open a view where it can be viewed. Once selected, it can be moved or deleted using Revit methods.

Levels

Model managers need to keep control of levels, because when deleted, level lines can take certain hosted elements with them without warning. Use Ideate Explorer to look for newly created level lines and carefully move elements that have been placed on incorrect level (before the level can be safely deleted).

To move elements from one level to another using Ideate Explorer:

1. Set the Display to "Entire Project"
2. Set the Sort By to "Level"
3. Set the filter to <Model>
4. Select the elements to move
5. Look at the Properties palette for the Level property
6. If Level is an editable property for all elements, switch the level to the proper name. This is easiest with non-hosted elements, such as furniture, casework, and equipment
7. If the Level is not available, you may need to de-select some of the elements and do them in batches. For example, if the selection contains walls and casework, you can move the wall using the Base Level property and then move the casework via the Level property.

NOTE: In-place families won’t have a Level.

Reference Planes

Unnamed reference planes make selection difficult and are a visual distraction. Use Ideate Explorer to quickly delete all unnamed reference planes.

DWGs and other CAD imports and links can hide in Revit projects and impact file size, performance, and printed output. 

With Ideate Explorer, it’s easy to find and delete these imports. Simply follow these steps:

1. Start Ideate Explorer
    
2. Change the filter to <Ideate Audit>
    
3. Expand the list underneath CAD Imports or CAD Links
    
4. Check the box by an individual CAD Import or CAD Link and right-click to select “Show Elements.” Ideate Explorer will attempt to find a view where the CAD file is visible
    
5. Select the CAD file to be deleted and use Ideate Delete to remove it from the project

Note: <View-Specific> is an indication that the CAD Import or CAD Link was brought in while the "Current View Only" checkbox was selected, which causes Revit to treat the element as an annotative, or view-specific, element and not a model element. 

With a history of developing Revit addins that goes back to 2009, Ideate Software has a proven record of addressing real issues experienced by real Revit users. In addition to working tirelessly to ensure our products work as promised, we work hard to ensure they are easy to access, install, learn, and use. One way we do help interested parties find and try them is by making them all available at the Autodesk App Store.  

Ideate Software on the Autodesk App Store

Autodesk App Store is an online marketplace provided by Autodesk where users of its products can, among other things, find and download third-party addins. As an Autodesk Authorized Developer, we make all our products available on the site, including our five Autodesk Revit addins, presented as a trial bundle. We also make available our desktop solution for automating Revit tasks, Ideate Automation, as well as our Cloud Connector to the Autodesk BIM360/ACC environment. You can access the Ideate Automation trial on the Autodesk App store page.

Keeping with our promise to make it easy for people to use our products, as we have expanded our presence around the world, we have also increased the number of languages in which we deliver our information. That includes the way in which we present our information on the Autodesk App Store. As of today, on the App Store, you can find information about Ideate Software products in English, German, Spanish, French, Chinese (simplified), Japanese, and Korean

To check out our products on the App store, we recommend that you go to the Ideate Software Bundle – Trial page. From there, you will get:

1. Brief descriptions of all our Autodesk Revit addins. (Note: This page does not include information about Ideate Automation, which is our scripting solutions that runs time-consuming Revit tasks in the background. Find information on Ideate Automation):
    
   • Ideate BIMLink – Use it to push volumes of information from a Revit file into Microsoft Excel for easy editing, and then pull the updated information back into Revit with speed, ease, and accuracy.
   • Ideate Explorer – Get lightning-fast data discovery and manipulation features through its easy and intuitive way to search, filter, quantify and select elements in a Revit model. 
   • Ideate Sticky – Elegantly link and easily update non-BIM data into a Revit project from Excel to Revit, Word to Revit, or PDF to Revit. 
   • Ideate StyleManager –Addresses the challenges of unorganized and duplicate Revit styles that can cause publishing errors, end-user confusion, and even performance issues.  
   • IdeateApps – Streamlines common Revit tasks through set of applications that increase the productivity and efficiency of the entire project team. The IdeateApps collection includes Ideate Renumber, Ideate QuickSelect, Ideate SmartDelete, Ideate XRay, Ideate SpellCheck, Ideate Annotate, Ideate SheetManager, Ideate Clone, Ideate Align, and Ideate ViewCreator.
      
2. A Description of the Trials
   • No cost
   • 30 days 
   • Includes access to each of the five products. Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, IdeateApps, Ideate StyleManager, and Ideate Sticky 
   • All are full functioning, except:
     • Ideate BIMLink has a 25-row limit to the data export
     • Ideate StyleManager is limited to testing these three styles: Line Patterns, Materials, and Material Appearance Asset styles
        
3. Access to the Getting Started Guides for each of the five products included in the bundle. Click the link to “Read Help Document” to get to these guides.
    
4. Links to Videos
   
   As of the date of the publishing of this document, we had links to these videos on the site:
    
   • Clients Discuss Ideate Software Solutions for Revit
     
     
      
   • What’s New in Ideate Software – May 2023 Release
   • Ideate Explorer Overview
   • Introduction to Ideate Sticky
   • Why Ideate StyleManager for Revit
   • Introduction to IdeateApps
   • Ideate BIMLink – Overview on Data Management
      
5. Customer 5-Star Reviews
   
   Titles include:
    
   • “Autodesk, Take Note”
   • “Can’t Revit Without It”
   • “Productivity Tools that Deliver on the Promise”
   • “Essential for Every Revit User”

Stay Connected

Want to learn more about our top Revit plugins? Visit our website. 

You can also check us out and follow us on X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

If you have any questions, reach out to us. We are here to help you understand and use our Revit plugin solutions. 

Browse our website to learn more about how Ideate Software tools help Revit users save time, increase model accuracy, improve deliverables, and elevate design. You can give them a try by downloading trial versions or purchasing the bundle for access to our addins for Revit, which includes Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky, Ideate StyleManager, and IdeateApps for six months. You can also get a free trial of Ideate Automation to experience how it can help you automate BIM tasks. 

Recently a customer asked if we provide a tool that can report on whether schedules and legends are placed/not placed on sheets. In case you’ve wondered that too, here’s our response: 

Yes! 

It can easily be done with one of the built in Ideate Explorer filters.  

Instructions

Simply go to the Filter menu and choose “Views Unused,” which uses a property we created called Sheet Count that applies to schedules, legends, and any other unused views. We excluded dependent views because those that are unused may still be important. 

With that one click, you will have the information you need. 

Read the Help file for more information.

We made this process extremely easy in the latest release of Ideate Explorer with Ideate Filters.

However, we’ve had this functionality for quite some time with Ideate Query, which is part of Ideate Explorer.

Want to know if you can perform a specific function with Ideate Software tools? Contact our Support team. We are here to help.