Known Issues with Ideate BIMLink for Revit

Below is a list of known issues within Ideate BIMLink. Please also refer to Unsupported Revit Properties for related information.

Bidirectional Parameters
The user is not given an Import Issue for columns overwritten or changed by bidirectional parameters in columns to the right.  This would occur if custom family file contains a parameter that uses a formula which is driven by another parameter value within the family.  Ideate BIMLink will not report the change to that formula-driven parameter when it is listed to the right of the (parent) parameter.  Another example of bidirectional parameters is Elevation and Offset: changing one impacts the other.

Conditional Formatting
Any conditional formatting will be lost when the source data is overwritten.

Export and Import Size Limitation
There is currently an 8 Mb hard-coded size limit for the export and import file (this is the size of the ‘data chunk’, NOT the size of the source or destination Excel file). In worksheet size, this amounts to about 2,500,000 cells. BIMLink will display a warning if you are bumping into the limit. See more here for tips on how to resolve this.

Editable Coordinates
Generic Model elements and Masses can be re-located IF they are not hosted in such a way that would prevent such movement.  The coordinates can only be edited from a their respective category links and cannot be edited from a Multi-Category link.

Excel Tables and Duplicate Parameters
If the Excel data is converted into a Table AND if there are duplicate parameter names, Excel will rename the Column header with an incremental number suffix.  This renaming will cause the Import from Excel to fail.  

Changing Family Names
Type-based links allow both the Family Name and Type Name to be edited. If multiple new family names are entered for the same family types, the last family name change wins. Ideate BIMLink does not permit the creation of new families nor does it permit the consolidation of multiple families into a single name.  Related Topic: Utilize Type Swapping in Revit Model Elements with Ideate BIMLink

Changing Type Names
Revit does not permit the duplication of type names.  Renaming a type name to match another type name within Ideate BIMLink will cause Revit to create a new unique type name by appending a number to the duplicate type name.  Related Topic: Utilize Type Swapping in Revit Model Elements with Ideate BIMLink

Excel Formulas and Macros
Known Excel formulas and Macros that cause an error when trying to import a link:

SHEET() (blank value) — replace with SHEET(“Sheet 1”) or SHEET(“Page 2”)

Formulas with a combination of “underscore” and parentheses:

=X_Y — works as expected
=X_Y(A1*A2) — BIMLink is unable to import or export data from a worksheet containing this formula

Families with no Types
Ideate BIMLink cannot export a type for a family that has no types defined. A family that has no type defined will display within an Instance link (if an instance has been placed), but will not display within a Type link.

Family Parameters — Formula Editing

Filtering Issues

Filtering by Family and Type — From Schedule Link
When creating a link ‘From Schedule’ that is set to filter on the ‘Family and Type’ property, BIMLink displays the ID (string) of the family & type, causing no valid filter results. The workaround is to manually edit the value to the correct Family:Type.

Filtering by Levels
The ‘above’ and ‘below’ filters are not conventionally handled due to differences between ‘Level’ and ‘Level:Elevation’.  For tips on how to filter by level, refer to Ideate BIMLink Messages.

Linked File Limitations
Support for Linked File data has been added with the October 2014 release of Ideate BIMLink.  While coordinate data can be reported across linked files, coordinate data is reported in the context of the project the element is found in, therefore coordinate data will only be useful if the projects are using Shared Coordinates.

Additionally phase information from the linked file is ignored, meaning that all elements, regardless of the phase or phase filter setting, are included in the export. Elements that are found within the parent file will abide by the phase filter settings.  The Ideate BIMLink filter tab can be used to explicitly filter on "Phase Created" as a workaround to this limitation.

Missing Sheet and View information for Schedules and Legends
In Ideate BIMLink the View category includes information about Schedules and Legends.  This differs from the Revit View List which excludes these Views.  Views can include properties about both the Sheets and Views, as is shown within the Sample Link called "Views".

Missing Sheet and View information for Revit Schedules and Legends

Ideate BIMLink, and Revit, cannot report values for the Sheet properties for Legend and Schedules, because both Legends and Schedules are permitted to exist on more than one sheet.

Multistory Stairs

In Revit 2018, multistory stairs created between levels of the same height are treated (by Revit) as a single element, with a single element ID. Ideate BIMLink will report this type of multistory stair the same way, as a single element. Because of some fancy programming inside Revit, i.e. a Revit stair schedule will display the correct number of stairs, but BIMLink will only be able to export the element on first of the connected levels.

REvit multistory stair schedule

Multistory stairs created between levels of different heights are not affected and will display in BIMLink as expected.

Multi-tagged Elements

Multi-leaders were introduced in Revit 2022. When a tag has multiple leaders, BIMLink will report the element with the highest element Id as belonging to the multi-leader tag.

Parameter Limitations

Due to Revit API limitations, project parameters cannot be renamed and therefore will display as read-only. Note that global parameters do not have this limitation. Additionally, the “Associated Data Categories” will also be read-only if the parameter is un-shared OR if the parameter is defined with the ‘Can vary by group instance’ option. Both of these conditions are API limitations, meaning we cannot workaround them.

Parameter editing limitations in Revit

Phase Data for To: Room
The Revit API does not provide information about the Room Name for elements that use To:  Room and From: Room properties (such as doors) when the phase of the element (door) is not the same as the phase of the Room.  For example, if the Room was created in the existing phase, and the Door is new, then Ideate BIMLink cannot return the name of the room.

Room: Name for Spaces
Ideate BIMLink has the ability to report on the related Room Name and Room Number as it relates to a Space when it is reading across a linked file to a project that has a spatially aligned Room element.  These properties belong to the Space category and are called "Room Name" and "Room Number".  If a link is created from a Space-based schedule that utilizes the "Room: Number" and "Room: Name" properties, Ideate BIMLink will report these (different) properties as being blank.  The workaround is to remove these properties and add the "Room Name" and "Room Number" (no colon).  These properties are only available when a linked file is being used. For more information refer to Linked Revit Files and Spatial Data with Ideate BIMLink.

NOTE:  If there is no room in the same document of the same phase, Revit is reporting a room from a linked file, or "Unoccupied" if there is no room in a linked file.  We are reporting room data from previous phases.

Sheet Set — Print Order
The Print Order property, which applies to Sheet/View Sets for Revit 2023+ is not yet available for editing within Ideate BIMLink. Ideate Automation customers can use the sort function within an Ideate BIMLink Link Definition to drive the PDF print order. If the Revit Sheet/View Set is set to use “Manual Order”, Ideate BIMLink will add to the end of the set. Otherwise, the existing sort method will control where additions appear in the set.

Sorting Issues
The level of precision with certain properties can result in unexpected sorting results.  As an example, the Wall Orientation, or other angle properties, may appear to be at 0 degrees, but in fact there's a small difference within the Excel cell that may not be perceptible until it's reviewed by selecting the cell within the Excel environment (0.000000000001).  This small difference may return unexpected sorting results.  In this case you may need to use the ROUNDUP function within Excel to alter the values and then re-SORT.

Text and Parameter Value Formatting

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