Using Ideate Annotate for Revit

This section covers the basic functions of Ideate Annotate, one of the tools found within the IdeateApps collection of Revit productivity tools.

Ideate Annotate is dedicated to displaying annotative elements so that their unique requirements can be easily validated or modified to support your Revit documentation needs. The list of elements supported by Annotate is defined to include any element that belongs to only one view. For this reason, datum elements, such as grids, levels, section markers, callouts and reference planes are excluded from Annotate. Elevation marks are supported and include some special handling to accommodate this unique annotative element.

For information on the unique workflows supported by Ideate Annotate, please also see: Review Annotation and Browse Annotation

Topics in this Section

Related topic: Annotate Tools: XRay, Delete, Refresh

Overview of Ideate Annotate User Interface

Display

The Display drop-down controls the scope of annotative elements displayed, with options of Entire Project, Placed Views and Sheets, Active View, or Current Selection.

Placed Views and Sheets includes:

Revit annotation displayed on placed views and sheets only

Sort by

The Sort by option drop-down provides the option to sort by either View or Category.

Sort by: View

Sort by View UI Image

When the Browse tab is active, the results are grouped into either Views, Sheets, or ???.

The ??? group contains datum elements like Grids and Levels that may exist on multiple views/sheets as well as Elevation Marks.

When the Review tab is active, the results are grouped into either <On Sheet> or <Not On Sheet>.

<Not On Sheet> elements are either: On a View that is not on a Sheet or on a parent view that includes a dependent view that is on a sheet.

Sort by: Category

Sort by View UI Image

When the Browse tab is active, the results are grouped by Revit Category.

When the Review tab is active, the results are grouped by the Ideate Annotation Issue Type.

Filter

The list of annotation elements can also be further refined via the Filter option drop-down. Shown below are the different filters available depending on the active Tab.

Sort by View UI Image

You can read more about the creation and management of Ideate Filters here. https://ideatesoftware.com/support/help/ideate-explorer/ideate-filters

Our team would love your input on other Filters that would be useful, please email us at [email protected]

Search

The Search tool bar will isolate the selection set to only include elements that have the search term found within one of these fields:

The search supports multiple terms (in any order) and the use of quotes “” to look for terms in a specific order.
Looking for Column 5a? Just type “5a” into the Search bar. If there is a column tagged with that Mark value, you will be able to use Annotate to quickly zoom to a view where the tag can be seen. As you type, the search is narrowing down the results displayed below in the element list.

Element List

The main body of both the Browse and Review tabs display a structured list of annotative elements. The tree structure of the list can be expanded or collapsed using the relevant icons in the tree. There is a right-click menu for additional control of the tree as well as to provide direct access to other tools such as XRay. This menu is context sensitive, depending on which tab is active.

Within the element list you can Select Elements, Zoom to Elements, and Review Common Properties.

Sort by View UI Image

Select Elements

When the Browse tab is active, select elements by picking one or more of the check boxes. Additional elements can be pre-selected independently by clicking on the element name instead of the check box. When the Review tab is active, elements are grouped according to their respective issues. Unlike the Browse tab, there is no sense of pre-selection.

Zoom to Elements

Regardless of the active Tab, double-clicking on a view or sheet name will open that view. Double-clicking on an element name will cause Annotate to try and open a view where the element exists and then zoom to that element.
In some cases the element may be invisible, in which case Ideate XRay can be launched from the Annotate Tools or the Right-Click menu.

Review Common Properties

At the bottom of Ideate Annotate is the information pane. This enables you to preview an elements properties before adding it to the selection set. In our example, a Generic Annotation family is pre-selected, and three instances of a Linear Dimension are selected. What we see in the information pane are the properties of the Generic Annotation family. The information pane can also be hidden or shown via the hover over tooltip.

Highlight is featured in the information pane

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