If you are an avid Revit user, you may have noticed some of the improvements in the more recent releases of the software. If you are still using an earlier release of Revit and have been holding off on getting an upgrade, let me tempt you to upgrade now. Bite the bullet and call your reseller to renew your subscription. The improvements to the Project Browser make it easier and more efficient to work in Revit than ever before.
The Project Browser, which now displays a search field at the top of the display, similar to the search field that is available in SOLIDWORKS.
Most architects understand the frustration of trying to locate a specific view in a really, really long list of views, so the new Search tool is a welcome upgrade. The old method of searching was to right-click in the Project Browser to access the Search tool. More enhancements are being discussed, including the ability to tab or arrow through the search results. This would allow users to easily browse through the search results without having to click on each view. Another enhancement being discussed is the ability to bring up a preview of a view when users hover the cursor over the view name in the Project Browser. So, exciting changes are coming to the Project Browser. Frankly, these innovations should be all the incentives that most users need to keep their Revit subscription current. Sometimes new features don’t improve productivity and are little more than eye candy, but Autodesk continues to reinvent Revit’s Project Browser in ways that will help users work smarter.
The Search option is no longer available on the right-click menu since the Search field is now front and center at the top of the Project Browser.
Did you notice that some of the views in the Project Browser have filled-in blue squares, whereas some have unfilled squares? If the icon shows a filled-in blue square, that means the view has been placed (consumed) on a sheet. This feature was added in the 2023 release and I consider it a fabulous step in the right direction. Many users have suggested taking this a step even further and allowing users to customize the color scheme, so they can identify different types of views and sheets using a colored square.
You can control whether or not you see the unfilled and filled squares by toggling the Show View Placement on Sheet Status Icons on or off. This image shows the old interface with the Search available on the right-click menu.
When the sheet status icons are disabled, the Project Browser’s appearance looks as it did before the 2023 release.
The real power comes in if you take advantage of the Browser Organization tool.
This tool allows you to organize the Project Browser by Discipline, Phase, Type or any property you choose. So, if your firm uses a numbering schema for sheets, like E-XXXX for elevations, D-XXX for details, S-XXX for sections, and so on, you can organize the browser to use your firm’s numbering schema. Additionally, you can use a different organization method for views, sheets and schedules. Therefore, if you wanted to organize sheets by Plot or No Plot, you could.
You can filter out views, schedules and sheets so that they don’t appear in the browser at all. If you have some team members who are focused only on detail views or schedules, their project browser can list only detail views, schedules and the associated sheets. If your team is focused only on structural or site work, use Discipline to filter out the views, sheets and schedules that don’t apply.
Once you have narrowed down what will be displayed in the Project Browser, you can figure out how you want the views to be grouped and sorted.
In my case, I want to sort my browser as follows:
- View Type: Construction Document, Submittal, Presentation, Working
- Discipline: Architectural, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Structural, Sitework
- Family and Type: Floor Plan, Elevations, and so on
- Category Number: This is using the National BIM Standard
Most power users and CAD managers take things a step further and link the parameters they use to organize the Project Browser and assign them to view templates. By creating view templates, users can assign the view types quickly without having to go into the Properties panel for each view. The really serious players take things even further and by creating a project template, where all the views are predefined and organized in the Project Browser and users just need to create the model in the correct view and go from there.
Looking at it from a top-down approach:
I start by creating a project template with all the empty views I believe will be needed in most projects.
I can use the Insert from File tool available on the Insert ribbon to copy schedules, drafting views and legends, as well as sheets to my template.
Next, I need to create the parameters I will use to organize my views, schedules and sheets.
I go to Project Parameters on the Manage ribbon.
Select New.
Type Category Number in the Name field.
Enable Instance.
Select Text as Type of Parameter.
Select Identity Data for Group parameter under.
Enable Schedules, Sheets and Views in the Categories pane.
Click OK.
Repeat this process to add the View Type parameter.
To make it really easy to control the organization of the views, you can use View Templates.
On the View ribbon, go to View→Manage View Templates.
Highlight View Templates and scroll down to the bottom of the display. You will see the parameters you added to help you organize your views, schedules and sheets. You can then fill in the values to be applied to that template.
Duplicate View Templates to assign the different View Types and Category Numbers.
When you assign a view template to the selected views, the custom view parameters will automatically fill in.
Once you have the View Templates defined properly, you can use the Search field to help you assign the correct View Template to the Views.
For example, type Elec in the search field, hold down the CTL key and select all the Electrical floor plans and then assign the Electrical Plan view template.
Once you have assigned view templates to the empty views, you are ready to organize your Project Browser.
My Project Browser is now organized using the new schema. This makes it easy for me to see the workflow.
I can also use the Filter option to show only the views, sheets and schedules pertaining to my Discipline, so I have fewer views to sort through.
By using the Project Browser Organization tools, I can focus just on the views, sheets and schedules I am working on.
Notice the browser organization schema that is applied is indicated in parentheses next to the Views, Schedules and Sheets.
Compare this to the long list of items when the browser organization schema uses the default setting (all).
Once I have my template set up, I can distribute it to my team. As they work, they will be filling in the views, which is just a matter of dragging and dropping them onto the correct sheet. The schedules are currently empty, but as the model develops, each schedule will automatically load with the correct data.
Elise Moss has been working in Revit since Release 2, before it was purchased by Autodesk. She is certified as an Autodesk Revit Professional and has three books currently available on Revit—Revit Basics, Revit Certification and Revit for Electrical Workers. These can be purchased online. If you are an educator, contact SDC Publications at sdcpublications.com for a free copy of any of her textbooks. Elise is currently traveling through the United States on horseback. You can read more about her at the following link: https://www.engineersrule.com/riding-to-the-top-of-the-cad-world-a-profile-of-elise-moss/.