Ideate BIMLinkCustomization
  • Deploy Content

    • Deploying Custom Content

    This topic covers how to relocate Ideate BIMLink content to a shared network location and how to deploy the new location to all end-users. When content is shared you can easily benefit from any customization done to that content. Additionally, this method can be used to provide greater focus by eliminating any discipline-specific content that may not apply to your work.

    Content Overview

    Ideate BIMLink ships with a library containing more than 250 sample link definitions that can be used ‘out-of-the-box’ or as a starting point for managing your Revit project, template, and family data. These sample links are stored as small XML files with a .link extension. These files are stored by default at C:\Program Files\Ideate\Ideate Software 20xx\Ideate BIMLink\en-US\Samples.

    The data stored within each of these sample links is displayed within Ideate BIMLink as the library displayed within the Browse method and is also accessed when using the By Category methods as shown below.

    Library Content within Ideate BIMLink

    In addition to the sample link content noted above, the home page content, which is stored at C:\ProgramData\Ideate\Ideate BIMLink can also be customized.

    Both the library and home page content can be relocated to a network location to ensure tighter standards and ease of use within larger companies. If you copy this content to a shared network location, the next step is to set the content pathing so that Ideate BIMLink knows where to look for it.

    Set the Content Pathing

    The file pathing information for both the library and the home page content can be set from within Ideate BIMLink by selecting the cog symbol from the upper-right hand section of the main dialog, as shown. These settings are saved in a text file stored called “Ideate BIMLink.settings” which is stored by default at C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\Ideate\Settings.

    The Library Path option allows for multiple paths, if so desired. This would allow for the original out-of-the-box content to be shown side-by-side with your custom content, for example. After the values have been changed to point to the new shared network locations, the last step is to push this change out as a standard for all users.

    Set the path to a custom library within Ideate BIMLink

    Push Standards 

    The “Ideate BIMLink.settings” file can be pushed via group policy to the local user C:\Users\[local user]\AppData\Local\Ideate\Ideate Software 20xx\Ideate BIMLink location or, if preferred, can be pushed to C:\ProgramData\Ideate\Ideate BIMLink. When the file is located within ProgramData it will be treated as a read-only location. 

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