Revit software enables some revision capabilities. Ideate BIMLinkand Ideate Sticky take over where Revit leaves off.
Do you need revisions that aren’t in Revision Clouds to appear in the Titleblock?
If yes, in Revit you must update the “Revision on Sheet” option within each sheet view.
Do you need a schedule of all revisions on each sheet?
If yes, chances are that you have created a workaround, because Revit only lists the latest revision.
While the methods above can get the job done, they take a lot of time and they increase the chance of errors.
Watch our short video to see how you can use Ideate BIMLink to aggregate revision information in Microsoft Excel to edit the options in bulk and Ideate Sticky to bring the formatted Excel schedule back into Revit to place onto sheets.
You’ll see how the work that has taken you hours if not days can be reduced to just minutes by completing two simple steps.
For implementation services or to learn more about how Ideate BIMLink and Ideate Sticky can help your business, please contact [email protected]
With five Revit plugins and an additional desktop application, including one plugin—IdeateApps—that come with 10 tools, we are often asked which of our products people find most useful. The truth is that there isn’t just one. We know that all the tools on our Revit plugins list are useful because we only develop ones that meet needs expressed by Revit users.
We talk with our customers. Whether they have been with us since we first launched Ideate Explorer in 2008, recently partnered with us when we launched Ideate Automation to boost the power of our plugins, or anywhere in between, we talk with customers.
We take the time to understand their needs before selling them a product, and we follow up with them after they have had it for a while to make sure it meets those needs.
At the conclusion of every webinar we deliver, we ask attendees to tell us about any challenges they are having in Revit and if there are any features they’d like to see added to our products.
We track all calls that come into our Support team and note any issues that our products don’t currently address. Our Software Development team reviews all the data to determine if new functionality or even a completely new product is needed.
We work closely with a large group of beta testers who review our updates or new products while they are in the development stage, provide candid feedback, and then verify that everything works as expected before we launch them publicly
We are part of the Autodesk Community, which offers several ways to connect, find answers, share knowledge, build networks, and more, including the Community Forums, which are product discussion boards:
Revit Architecture Forum - Share knowledge, ask questions, and explore popular Revit Architecture topics.
Revit MEP Forum – Post questions and answers about Revit ducts, piping, plumbing, fire protection, electrical, and more.
Revit Structure Forum – Hear from users about how to use this tool to improve collaborations on structural design and engineering tasks.
Revit API Forum – Learn about this collection of programs and libraries that helps in building and integrating software to Revit to extend its functionality.
Revit Ideas Forum - Share ideas for future product features directly with the Revit team and collaborate on existing suggestions with peers
We know Revit. Our Software Developers, Support team, Business Development managers, and Customer Success managers know Revit. We are architects, engineers, designers, and others who worked in industry before joining Ideate Software.
We joined Ideate Software because we know and love BIM and Revit, and we want to help develop, sell, and support products that make them even better.
Reasons our Revit Plugins are Useful
Here’s a quick overview of how our customers benefit from our addons for Revit. Architecture, engineering, and construction companies as well as owner-operators use our Revit addons to streamline activities, improve model health, and enhance model design.
Quickly find and delete incorrect, obsolete, and hidden problem items—even imported or linked DWG’s. Find, refine, and revise elements, including those that aren’t in the Revit project browser. This functionality dramatically decreases the amount of time spent on model management and enhances model performance. Ideate Explorer comes with four additional features that will contribute to you models staying in top working order:
Warnings Manager – Audit and address Revit warnings ranked by importance. Fix problems using tools in Revit while the Warnings Manager dialog box is open.
Navigate – Navigate through view-based elements; find unused sheets and views; find and filter legends, schedules, sheets, or views by category and/or keyword; and customize working environments without altering the project browser.
Query – Search within set parameters for elements like in-place usage, structure usage/area scheme, revisions, unused annotations, and design options.
Filters - A dynamic, customizable, and rule-based method to quickly filter Revit model elements based on your specified parametric conditions.
Don’t work inside of Revit to verify and/or edit data one element at a time. Instead, use Ideate BIMLink to export the data you need to review into Microsoft Excel where you can quickly view and accurately manipulate massive amounts of data in seconds. You can then use Ideate BIMLink to import the verified or updated data back into Revit, and the model will immediately update.
Share accurate and formatted non-BIM data with your Revit teams by live-linking Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and PDF documents to the Revit file with Ideate Sticky. These “stickies” are easy to read, look nice, and can be easily updated within Revit when changes are made to the original files. Whether it’s building codes, consultant data, abbreviation lists, general notes, or any of the many other non-BIM data critical to a project’s success, you can be sure your team always has the current information.
Eliminate problems caused by copying/pasting data from one Revit file to another when styles associated with the original file get copied along with the data. This can clog up the model with incorrect information that can take a long time to remove if working in Revit. You have to remove it, because extraneous data can create model performance problems. With Ideate StyleManager, you can quickly analyze, merge, and delete non-standard Revit styles, and you can use it to see view filters applied to views and to clean object and line styles and patterns, text, fonts, parameters, and more.
Run time-intensive BIM tasks silently in the background on this desktop application while you spend your time on more meaningful work with Ideate Automation. Start it manually or schedule it to run at a convenient time, even overnight. Ideate Automation can increase your productivity, eliminate the need to train staff on repetitive tasks, and ensure task outcomes are highly predictable, free of user errors, and standardized. Use Ideate Automation to:
Export key Revit model health data
Create document issue records
Prepare COBie data drops
Generate quantity take-off data
Generate regular, automated PDF exports
Deliver CSV reports on key Revit family and project metrics
Environmental Systems Design’s Digital Practice Leader Samir Abdelmawla delivered an engaging session called, “Arsenal of Revit Tools for the MEP Team” at the 2023 BILT North America Conference in Dallas, Texas. He featured several Revit add-on tools for the MEP team, and many of those tools were from Ideate Software!
“I am a strong believer of the tools developed by Ideate Software. A number of these tools are helping our engineers on their daily tasks. I am pleased to showcase how powerful they are for many MEP workflows and how easy they are to use,” said Samir.
Here is the information about Ideate Software tools that Samir featured in his presentation:
Starting with Revit 2020, Revit supported inserting PDFs to a model, however it only allows for one page at time. Ideate Sticky can place selected pages and maintain links to the source PDF.
Ideate BIMLink – Edit various MEP data and schedules in Excel and then import the data back to Revit. Editing in Excel offers the speed of copy/paste, fill down/across, concatenate data, and easily search/replace.
Also, with Ideate BIMLink, users can create definitions from a wealth of provided Libraries by category or by schedule: Export the data to Excel, edit, then import it back to Revit. Ideate BIMLink highlights changes for review before making them in the Revit model.
Every year, Autodesk adds new features and functionalities to Revit software, and this year is no exception. This year’s enhancements include interface modernizations and upgrades that will help users:
Design more creatively
Document more efficiently
Manage projects more effectively in BIM
Here are 10 Examples
Dark Theme – Interface enhancements that allow users to work more comfortably and intuitively
“My Insights” Panel – Aggregates usage data and finds workflow trends to help users quantify common commands and keystrokes; offers ideas on how to streamline design tasks
Interdisciplinary Imperial and Metric Template – Replaces discipline-specific templates
Sample Content – Provides a learning resource and a good examples of documentation best practices
Toposolids – Improves the quality of site designs
Enhanced Visualizations – Enables architects and designers to tell a more compelling story
Auto Sync with Twinmotion – Live links Revit and Twinmotion
New Capabilities for Energy Analysis – Simplifies workflows when working in linked architectural models in Revit
Enhanced Electrical Load Analysis Capabilities – Supports the use of demand factors and manage load sets for non-coincident backup equipment loads
Powerful Rebar Documentation Features – Allows detailers to create more complete shop drawings
Ideate Software’s Top Revit Plugins
One reason Ideate Software tools are at the top of Revit Plugins lists is because every year, when Autodesk releases their new version of Revit, we quickly align our software to the new version and deliver meaningful enhancements. Most enhancements are based on user requests, and all are tested rigorously, so users can upgrade to the newest version of Revit with no issues and jump right into the new functionalities to streamline Revit workflows and improve the quality of their Revit models.
Ideate Software Product Descriptions and Recent Enhancements
Below is information about our products and recent enhancements. For video demonstrations, check out our What’s New playlist on YouTube.
ABOUT IDEATE EXPLORER
Where Revit comes with a project browser, Ideate Explorer is a model browser that makes it easy for users to:
Find and delete incorrect, obsolete, and hidden problem items, including DWGs
Find, refine, and revise elements, even those excluded from the project browser
Ideate Explorer includes these valuable features:
A Warnings Manager that allows users to easily review and manage Revit warnings with ease. It:
Allows the user to rank warnings based on importance
Notifies users when high ranking warnings appear in the models
Enables users to fix problems using tools in Revit when the Warnings Manager dialog box is open
A Navigate function that allows users to steer through the view-based elements in a Revit project and customize their browsing experience. It is used to find unused sheets and views and filter legends, schedules, sheets or views by category and/or keyword. It is also used to customize working environments without altering the project browser.
A Query function that can be used to search within set parameters for elements such as unused annotations, design options, in-place usage, structure usage/area scheme, and revisions. These query functions can now be saved and used multiple times via our Dynamic Filters.
May 2023 Enhancements to Ideate Explorer
Ideate Explorer now includes the ability to create and save dynamic filters using expanded Revit properties exposed within Ideate Explorer that are not always available with the out-of-the-box Revit user interface. Users can search elements throughout a Revit model based on their parameter values, including parameter values in related data tables. Because this filtering system is dynamic, when parameter values in a model are updated, the list in Ideate Explorer will update as well.
Verifying or editing massive amounts of data in Revit can be incredibly time consuming. It’s easy with Ideate BIMLink. This powerful Revit plugin allows users to export the data they need to verify/update to Microsoft Excel, use its powerful editing capabilities, and then import verified or updated data back into the model. Whether you need to check to make sure naming conventions comply with customer standards or update a product manufacturer’s name, Ideate BIMLink is the tool.
May 2023 Enhancements to Ideate BIMLink
New features include the ability to:
Create new shared project parameters
Create shared and unshared family parameters
Push parameter standards to multiple models
Batch edit the material assignment and thickness value for compound walls, floors, ceilings, roofs, and slab assemblies
Watch our What’s New video for information on the other enhancements to Ideate BIMLink capabilities:
Support for MEP pipe and duct elevation properties
New support for sheet and view sets
The ability to manage family type properties that may vary across family types
The ability to edit the bounding boxes of views
The ability to create new worksets
ABOUT IDEATE STICKY
The limited text editing functionality in Revit makes it difficult for project managers to organize and format non-BIM data that their project teams need. Ideate Sticky overcomes this issue by combining the familiar flexibility of Adobe PDF documents, Microsoft Word documents, and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets with the convenience of a sticky note. This Revit plugin live-links non-BIM data into a Revit project, and when the source document is updated, the linked “sticky” automatically updates.
Enhancements to Ideate Sticky
Recently, Autodesk updated its Desktop Connector from version 15 to version 16, which changed the location and path where non-Revit files are stored within the Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC). The latest version of Ideate Sticky is compatible with both versions.
The improvements to the Autodesk Desktop Connector solve a long-standing problem with the non-Revit data stored on the ACC not being actively refreshed. The latest version allows you to choose which folders are actively updating, which ensures that files linked via Ideate Sticky and stored on the ACC will be the most current. Ideate Sticky has a new “Show” button on the main dialog that highlights the selected sticky within the active view.
Another enhancement reduces the initial size of the Ideate Sticky dialog on start-up, reducing the time it takes for Ideate Sticky to open.
ABOUT IDEATE STYLEMANAGER
Pasting data from one model to another can create issues when style information associated with that data automatically transfers as well. With Ideate StyleManager, users can easily analyze, merge, or delete non-standard Revit styles more reliably, quickly, and accurately than possible with the built-in Revit style management system.
May 2023 Enhancements to Ideate StyleManager
Ideate StyleManager can now expose both Family parameters and Nested parameters within the Family Editor environment, making it much easier to standardize parameters within Revit content. We’ve also introduced Quick Analysis and In-Depth Analysis options to increase performance.
ABOUT IDEATEAPPS
IdeateApps is a set of tools that enhances the functionality of Revit. With it, Autodesk Revit users can access and manipulate the data in their models with greater ease. Designed to take on common challenges identified by people who use Revit daily, these Autodesk Revit add-ins automate repetitive tasks and streamline workflows, freeing time for more interesting and valuable activities.
Although Revit is the leading BIM software in the world, it simply was not designed to enable users to edit large amounts of data quickly and easily. Because complex Revit models have massive amounts of data, using Revit to verify, manipulate, and update that data can be incredibly time consuming and error prone. It’s not uncommon for architects, engineers, designers, and contractors to spend hundreds of hours on data entry tasks, double handing data, and fixing work done incorrectly. Spending time on these tasks can frustrate the users, who generally prefer to spend their time on more innovative and creative activities. It can also lead to missed deadlines or incorrect deliverables, which can frustrate customers and can damage a business’s reputation.
Ideate BIMLink eliminates the need for time to be spent on manual, repetitive tasks by enabling users to export Revit data to Excel, use the powerful tools in Excel to easily manage, manipulate, and edit the data, and then push the updated data back into the Revit model, saving hours of manual data editing. Excel doesn’t even need to be installed for Ideate BIMLink to read and write Excel files.
Ideate BIMLink supports the following file formats for both import and export for Revit projects:
Excel 2007 - 2013 Workbook (*.xlsx)
Excel 2007 - 2013 Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm)
Excel 97 - 2003 Workbook (*.xls)
Excel is the ideal choice for these workflows because it is the most popular spreadsheet software in the world. More than 750 million people around the world use it, and the vast majority of business use it for data entry, data management, accounting, financial analysis, charting and graphing, and more. Most people already know how to use the software, and those who aren’t familiar with it can gain a basic understanding of its interface and core functions in just a few hours, and most people can fully learn the application and master its more complex capabilities in just 18 – 20 hours.
Using Ideate BIMLink
Like all Ideate Software products, Ideate BIMLink is easy to learn and use. Below are a few examples of how to export/import data from Revit to Excel. You can get step-by-step workflow instructions, information on troubleshooting, and details on customizations from our website in the Ideate BIMLink Help files.
Example One: Excel Naming Conventions: Associate an Excel Spreadsheet with a Link Saved in a Revit Project
The Excel worksheet tab and the link must be named the exact same thing
The Excel column headings must match the corresponding link property name
In most examples, the first column in the Excel sheet has to contain a valid Revit element id assigned by Revit. It will be used to identify an element within the Revit model
NOTE: If any of the above information changes, Ideate BIMLink won’t be able to associate the Excel spreadsheet with the link used to create that spreadsheet. Learn more here: Import Messages when importing Revit to Excel
Tip: The name of the Excel file is arbitrary; it can be changed to identify different spreadsheet tabs created by the same link.
Publish the data specified within the selected link definition to Excel, by clicking “Export…”
Select an Excel spreadsheet file (new or existing) to receive the exported Revit properties.
New File: Ideate BIMLink will create a new Excel file with one new worksheet that will have the same name as the link
Existing File: You can insert a new worksheet or overwrite an existing worksheet. Learn more here: Exporting to an Existing File
Example Three: Editing Revit Property and Cell Units in Microsoft Excel
Default Units - Ideate BIMLink will export numeric property values from Revit to Excel by using the default units defined in Revit.
If the default unit is set to feet and fractional inches, Ideate BIMLink will export the values as decimal values with three places
Numerical values imported from Excel to Revit are interpreted as having the default units defined in Revit
NOTE: The Properties palette in Revit does not use the unit format specified within Project Units; it has its own, hard-wired format
Imperial Units - Fractional Inches - Microsoft Excel doesn’t support imperial format for length values in the same way as Revit with both the feet and inches syntax. Instead, when working with imperial length units:
Feet and fractional inches are displayed as decimal feet
Fraction inches are displayed as decimal inches
Even though the values are exported using numerical values, these number formats are acceptable for importing purposes: 6'1 or 73" or 6'-1"
Formatting Dates – Microsoft Excel will convert certain types of text string data into a Date format when an edit is made. E.g., “3-03-12” will change the cell format from "General" to "Date," and it will change the underlying cell value. This also alters how the information is imported back into Revit via Ideate BIMLink. If you don’t want this to happen, we have two workaround options:
Type this character ' in front of the date to force the cell to retain its "General" text string format and read exactly as written. E.g., Type: '31-05-22 to signify May 31, 2022, and the value will read into Revit as expected
Use the dd/mm/yy, mm/dd/yy syntax and Excel won’t convert it to a text string.
Example Four: Automating Document Issue and Revision Records using Ideate BIMLink and Ideate Sticky
Using Ideate BIMLink along with Ideate Sticky, our application that enables users to place non-BIM data within Revit files, you can easily automate document issue and revision records. This workflow addresses the challenge of dealing with revision information in the Revit model when there is a need to schedule all of the sheets and all the revisions that exist on that sheet. Revit only displays the current revision in a sheet list, and it does not have a built-in solution to schedule every revision on each sheet. Here’s a recording of a webinar in which we ran through the entire process.
Learn About all Ideate Software Solutions for Revit Users
Visit our website to learn more about Ideate BIMLink for Revit as well as our other Revit data management tools. When you’re ready to take the next step, contact us, get 30-day trial versions, or choose the subscription option that best meets your needs.
We talk with our customers. Whether they have been with us since we first launched Ideate Explorer in 2008, recently partnered with us when we launched Ideate Automation to boost the power of our plugins, or anywhere in between, we talk with customers.
We are part of the Autodesk Community, which offers several ways to connect, find answers, share knowledge, build networks, and more, including the Community Forums, which are product discussion boards:
We know Revit. Our Software Developers, Support team, Business Development managers, and Customer Success managers know Revit. We are architects, engineers, designers, and others who worked in industry before joining Ideate Software. 
Quickly find and delete incorrect, obsolete, and hidden problem items—even imported or linked DWG’s. Find, refine, and revise elements, including those that aren’t in the Revit project browser. This functionality dramatically decreases the amount of time spent on model management and enhances model performance. 
Don’t work inside of Revit to verify and/or edit data one element at a time. Instead, use 
Share accurate and formatted non-BIM data with your Revit teams by live-linking Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and PDF documents to the Revit file with 
Eliminate problems caused by copying/pasting data from one Revit file to another when styles associated with the original file get copied along with the data. This can clog up the model with incorrect information that can take a long time to remove if working in Revit. You have to remove it, because extraneous data can create model performance problems. With 
Stop spending so much time on tedious tasks in Revit that, when performed on large complex models, can contribute to mistakes, rework, and frustrations. Automate hundreds of common tasks with the 10 tools that come in the 
Run time-intensive BIM tasks silently in the background on this desktop application while you spend your time on more meaningful work with Ideate Automation. Start it manually or schedule it to run at a convenient time, even overnight. Ideate Automation can increase your productivity, eliminate the need to train staff on repetitive tasks, and ensure task outcomes are highly predictable, free of user errors, and standardized. Use Ideate Automation to: 
Dark Theme – Interface enhancements that allow users to work more comfortably and intuitively
Below is information about our products and recent enhancements. For video demonstrations, check out our 
Publish the data specified within the selected link definition to Excel, by clicking “Export…”