Revit Add-ons

Cable Modeling: Cables over Containment

2026-11-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

Overview

Cable Modeling is a Revit add-in from ABM_Engineer, the Autodesk App Store publisher name of electrical BIM developer Abdelrahman Mobarak. It creates cables over existing cable trays, from the host model or a linked model, as Revit conduit elements with the parameters needed to schedule them. Its purpose is accurate cable quantities on large projects. The developer says contractors usually build these cables by hand with sections and 3D views, which is slow on complex designs. The add-in supports Metric and Imperial standards and has a cable bill of quantities (BOQ) tool and Excel import and export.

Note on sources: This summary is based on the Autodesk App Store listing and its FAQ, the ABM_Engineer publisher profile, the developer's LinkedIn posts, his two YouTube demonstrations, and a third-party directory page. I found no independent reviews or hands-on tests. Descriptions of what the tool does come from the developer.

Key Facts

Developer: ABM_Engineer, whose publisher profile and LinkedIn posts point to Abdelrahman Mobarak, a BIM developer and electrical BIM design engineer. The publisher says it develops automated plugins, mainly electrical tools.
Standards: Metric and Imperial units.
Input: Existing cable trays in the host model or a linked model.
Output: Cables modeled as conduits with required parameters, plus cable tagging data and a cable BOQ.

What It Does

Cables as conduits: Revit has no native cable element to run along a tray, so the add-in models each cable as a conduit. Conduits can be scheduled and measured with Revit's normal tools, which gives usable lengths and counts.
Cable layout controls: You set the number of cables, the number of vertical layers, the spacing, the cable diameter, the tray inset, and more. It supports flat and trefoil formations.
Cable sizes and colors: You choose a cable size instead of typing a diameter, and you can set up custom sizes with your own names. Cables can be colored.
Host and linked trays: Cables can be created over cable trays in the host model or in a linked model.
Routing option: A containment selection option detects the shortest routing for a load. The FAQ says the load must be connected to an electrical panel for this to work.
Length summary: After the cables are created, a message gives the total length of the conduits (cables) just made.
Cables BOQ: A button opens a cable bill of quantities. You enter fed-from, fed-to, and cable details for each cable in a table. Double-clicking a cable run opens an isolated 3D view of it. The developer says this streamlines quantity take-offs.
Excel import and export: Cable descriptions can be imported or exported through Excel. The FAQ says conduit sizes can be exported to Excel too.

Known Limitations

The Autodesk listing's FAQ is candid about issues to plan for:

Bending radius: The tool fails if you enter a bending radius smaller than the minimum in the conduit settings for the selected standard.
Tight tray segments: If the selected tray segments are too close together, the bending radius may not match what you entered. Check that there's enough space, or enter a smaller radius and adjust it by hand.
Cable sizes: Change cable sizes only through the add-in's Setting Preparation button, not through Revit's Electrical settings.
Shortest routing: The load must be connected to an electrical panel.
Standards in Excel: When exporting conduit sizes to Excel, the standard column name is read-only, and you can't add a new standard through Excel. Add it in Revit first, then export again.

Fit for a BIM Coordinator

Where it helps: Electrical and low-current work where cable lengths drive quantities, such as contractor take-offs, cost estimates, and tray fill checks. Modeling the cables lets you schedule them and check them against the tray layout.
Model impact: Cables become conduit elements, which can add a lot of elements on large projects. Agree on a workset, category filters, and visibility settings so they don't clutter views or other schedules, and keep them from being counted as real conduit.
Working with linked models: Trays can come from a linked model, which suits federated setups where the electrical designer works in one file and the cables are modeled in another.
Where to be careful: Test the bending radius, spacing, and routing on a small tray run before using it on a whole project. The FAQ lists these as the main known failure points.

Open Questions

Which parameters are written to the conduits, and can you map them to your own shared parameters?
Are the cable BOQ values schedulable in Revit, or only viewable in the add-in? Can the BOQ be exported to Excel as a report?
Do the cables update when trays are moved or edited, or do they have to be recreated?
Can it work from cable routes that aren't on trays, such as conduit runs, trunking, or direct burial between manholes?
How does it handle vertical tray risers, fittings, and tray changes of direction?
Does it support other cable formations beyond flat and trefoil?

Bottom Line

Cable Modeling fills a gap Revit leaves open: it models cables over cable trays, in the host or a linked model, as conduits that can be scheduled for quantities. It has been actively developed for about two years, with versions adding Imperial units, custom cable sizes, a cable BOQ with fed-from and fed-to data, and Excel import and export. The developer's FAQ is open about its limits, such as bending radius and tray spacing. For electrical-focused BIM coordinators, it's worth trialing on a small tray run first. Confirm how the cable conduits fit your standards for worksets, schedules, and visibility before using it on a live project.

Sources

Set Conduits Standards with Excel Importing/Exporting

Five Cables - ToolTip

Five Cables Formation

New Feature

Yellow Cells are an indication that the
elements are owned by another user

New BOQ Window v1.4

Preferences Settings Window

Summary Message of Total created Length

Vertical Trefoil Cable Creation_02

Successful message after creating Conduits/Cables

Trefoil Cable Creation_01

Shortest Path Evaluation

New UI V1.6.0 With Segments is selected

New UI V1.6.0, with no segments selected

Cable Modeling is brought to you by ABM_Engineer. It's priced at $28/month.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2022-2027.

There's more information available on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Free BIMK.XPorter: Multi-Format Export Manager

2026-11-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

Overview

BIMK.XPorter is a free Revit add-in from BIMK-TOOLS that gives BIM users a single workspace for preparing and running exports. Instead of repeating export steps across several Revit dialogs, you pick the sheets and views you need, switch on the output formats, preview the file names, check the destination folder, and watch the export's readiness and progress. The Autodesk App Store listing calls it a "professional multi-format export manager" and says it helps users run export workflows "in a clearer and more controlled way." It's aimed at BIM production teams, coordinators, engineers, modelers, and documentation users, and it's the first application from BIMK-TOOLS, a developer working on further Revit tools.

Note on sources: This summary is based on the Autodesk App Store listing, the BIMK-TOOLS publisher profile, and two LinkedIn posts by the developer, one with a feature walkthrough. I found no independent reviews or hands-on tests.

Key Facts

Developer: BIMK-TOOLS is the publisher on the Autodesk App Store. The add-in is announced on LinkedIn by Khaled ElSagheer, who says he built it as his graduation project for an Application Development diploma, using C#, WPF, and the Autodesk Revit API. The support address on the listing matches his name, but no page I found states outright that BIMK-TOOLS is his own publisher account.
Where it runs: Locally inside Revit, with no cloud services or user account.

How It Works

The developer's walkthrough shows the add-in opening from a BIMK tab on the Revit ribbon into a dedicated batch export workspace. It keeps the main export decisions visible in one place:

Selection matrix: Choose the sheets, views, or 3D views to include in the current export run.
File naming rules: Define how exported files will be named before the batch starts, with a filename preview.
Output channels: Turn on the export formats you need. Each active format can show its own settings.
Output summary and destination: Review what will be exported and where the files will be saved. Files are created only in locations you select or confirm.
Readiness check and export: A bottom bar confirms readiness and provides the final Export command.
Progress and completion: Progress feedback shows during the run, and the add-in confirms when the batch is complete. The output folder holds the generated files, organized for review or delivery.

Supported Formats

The Autodesk listing says only that the add-in offers a "multi-format export workflow" and lets you review the available export formats. The developer's walkthrough gives the specific list: PDF, DWG, DWFx, DGN, IMG (images), XML, NWC (Navisworks), and basic IFC export. His announcement also describes sheet, view, and 3D view selection.

Privacy and Data Handling

The listing states that BIMK.XPorter runs locally inside Revit and needs no cloud service or account. It says the add-in uses the active Revit project only for the export workflows you choose. It links to a privacy policy and an End User Agreement on the publisher's pages. This is the developer's own statement, so if your firm has software approval rules, review those documents first.

Fit for a BIM Coordinator

Where it helps: Issuing sets of sheets and views in several formats for review, such as PDF for review sets, DWG for consultants, and NWC for coordination. The review-before-export design suits teams that want to catch naming and destination mistakes before files are created.
Low risk to try: It's free, has no account or activation, and runs locally, so a trial on a copy of a project costs little.
Where to be careful: It's a version 1.0 tool from a single developer, with independent reviews yet. Check that your DWG, PDF, IFC, and NWC settings and naming conventions map into its options, and that the output matches what your current process produces. IFC export is described as basic.
Scale and automation: The sources describe running exports from the open Revit project. They don't mention batch processing across closed models, scheduling, or cloud models, so it likely doesn't replace tools built for those jobs.

Open Questions

Which settings does each format expose (for example DWG export setups, PDF options, IFC versions and settings, or NWC options)? Can saved Revit export setups be reused?
What can the naming rules use: sheet number and name, parameters, revision, date? Can rules be saved and reused?
Does it combine sheets into one PDF, or only create individual files?
Can it export from several models in one run, or only the open project?
Does it support linked models, cloud models, or workshared files?
Are export results logged or reported beyond the on-screen progress and completion message?

Bottom Line

BIMK.XPorter is a free, local Revit export manager that brings sheet and view selection, multi-format outputs, file naming, destination review, and progress feedback into one workspace. It covers PDF, DWG, DWFx, DGN, images, XML, NWC, and basic IFC, according to the developer. It's a young product from a single developer, with no independent reviews yet, and it doesn't claim scheduling, cloud, or multi-model batch features. For a BIM coordinator it's an easy, no-cost tool to test on a copy of a real project. Compare its output and naming with your current process before using it for deliverables.

Sources

01_Main Selection Matrix - Sheets

02_Main Selection Matrix - Views

03_Main Selection Matrix - 3D Views

04_Filename Preview

05_Documents Output Channels

06_Models Output Channels

07_PDF Settings

08_NWC Settings

BIMK.XPorter is brought to you by BIMK-TOOLS. It's free.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2022-2027.

There's more information available on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Room 2 Model: Finishes from Revit Rooms

2026-11-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

Overview

Room 2 Model (also written Room2Model) is a Revit add-in from PROISAC-BIM-VDC that creates finishes directly from the Rooms already in a project. Instead of drawing each floor finish, wall finish, or ceiling by hand, you select Rooms in a floor plan view and the add-in builds the finish elements from the room shapes and room data. The Autodesk App Store listing describes it as a way to create finishes "in seconds, as easy as selecting and clicking." An optional setting uses the doors in each room to extend the floor finishes so they line up with the doors, which gives a cleaner result.

Note on sources: This summary is based on the Autodesk App Store listing, PROISAC's own store page, PROISAC's publisher profiles, and a third-party directory page. I found no independent reviews or hands-on tests. The Autodesk listing shows one 5-star rating, and the directory page reads like a generated write-up of the listing, so I treated it as a copy of the vendor's description, not as a review. The listings give only brief descriptions, so detail on settings and behavior is limited.

Key Facts

Developer: PROISAC-BIM-VDC (Prometheus Ingenieros SAC), a BIM and VDC company that develops add-ins for Revit, Navisworks, and AutoCAD. It says it was the first Latin American company to publish BIM apps on the Autodesk App Store.
What it creates: Floor finishes, wall finishes, and ceilings from room shapes or room data. PROISAC's store page also mentions skirting (base) pieces.
How you use it: From a floor plan view, select Rooms as references, and the finishes are generated with the same shapes as the rooms.
Door option: Floor finishes can be extended to line up with the room's doors.
Licensing: Time-limited subscription licenses, not a perpetual license. See Pricing and Licensing.

What It Does

Rooms in Revit carry area, boundaries, and data such as names and numbers, but they aren't physical elements. Finishes such as floor coverings and ceilings usually have to be modeled separately, one space at a time. Room 2 Model closes that gap with three outputs:

Floor finishes: Created in a floor plan view from selected Rooms, with the same outline as each room. The door option extends them to the door alignment.
Wall finishes: Created from the room shape or room data.
Ceilings: Created from the room shape or room data.

Because the finishes are built from room data, the add-in's usefulness depends on the quality of the Rooms. Revit places rooms inside bounded spaces, so unbounded, overlapping, or incorrectly sized rooms will affect the result. Rooms that follow your standards should give the best output.

Pricing and Licensing

Channel	Plan	Price
Autodesk App Store	Monthly	$15.00 per month
Third-party directory (rvtplugins.com)	Monthly or yearly	$15.00 per month, or $70.00 per year
PROISAC store	3-month license	$30.00
PROISAC store	6-month license	$45.00
PROISAC store	12-month license	$70.00

Cheapest route: The 12-month license on PROISAC's store ($70 a year) costs far less than paying $15 a month through the Autodesk App Store ($180 a year). A 3-month license is $30, versus $45 for three months at the monthly rate. The store prices were a snapshot when I looked, so confirm them before buying.
No perpetual option found: All the options I saw are time-limited. Plan for renewals if the add-in becomes part of your standard workflow.
Warranty: PROISAC says all its add-ins come with technical support. If there's an installation or operating problem, it has up to 72 business hours from the date of purchase to diagnose and fix it, and refund requests aren't accepted in that period. If the add-in still can't be made fully operational for reasons attributed to the product after that, the customer can ask for a refund to be evaluated.
Trial: I found no mention of a free trial on the pages I checked.

Fit for a BIM Coordinator

Where it helps: Interior fit-out, residential, and other projects where finishes are modeled for quantities, schedules, rendering, or coordination. It saves the repetitive step of outlining each room's finishes by hand.
Standards: Check which floor, wall, and ceiling types the add-in uses, and whether it lets you pick your own types and levels. This matters if your office standards control finish naming, parameters, and worksets.
Keeping finishes in sync: Finishes created from rooms are separate elements. Find out how they behave when a room boundary changes, and whether you can regenerate or update them. The listings don't say.
Where to be careful: Test on a small, clean part of a project first. Check how finishes meet at doors, in irregular rooms, and in rooms that span levels.
Related PROISAC tools: PROISAC also sells Room Intersector (it copies Room data into the parameters of the elements inside, in line with ISO 19650) and many other Revit and Navisworks add-ins. The Revit add-in list on its store shows about 38 products.

Open Questions

How are skirting and wall finishes modeled?
Can you choose the floor, wall, and ceiling types, thicknesses, heights, and levels, or are there fixed defaults?
Do finishes update when rooms change, or do they have to be recreated?
Does the door option handle double doors, openings without doors, and doors in linked models?
Can it work from rooms in linked models, or only the host model?
Can it process many rooms at once across a level or a whole project?
Does it write room data, such as room names or numbers, into the finish elements' parameters?
Is there a free trial, and why do the Autodesk and PROISAC stores price it differently?
Is there a user guide beyond the YouTube demonstration?

Bottom Line

Room 2 Model is a focused productivity add-in that turns Revit Rooms into floor finishes, wall finishes, and ceilings with a few clicks, with an optional door-alignment setting for cleaner floors. It comes from an established Latin American BIM developer. The public information is brief, with no reviews, or detailed documentation, so test it on a small part of a real project before adopting it. Check the finish types it creates, how it handles updates when rooms change, and whether the output meets your office standards.

Sources

Room 2 Model is brought to you by PROISAC-BIM-VDC. For cost, see Pricing and Licensing.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2022-2027.

There's more information available on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Free Ze’Connect: Batch Export, Link Management, and Scheduling

2026-11-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

Overview

Ze’Connect is a Revit add-in from ZestineTech that automates some of the most repetitive coordination chores: exporting models for review, keeping links pointing at the right files, and moving models to the cloud. Its main idea is to stop opening files one by one. Pick a set of Revit models, local or in Autodesk Forma or BIM 360 projects, and Ze’Connect processes them in the background without opening each model in the Revit window. ZestineTech's product page lists five tools in one add-in: Batch NWC Export, Batch DWG/PDF Export, Batch IFC Export, Link Remapper, and Cloud Collaborate. A later update added Scheduled Export, which runs the exports automatically, even when Revit is closed, and Auto Open Revit, which opens a chosen model at a set time. ZestineTech describes it as a flagship product.

Note on sources: This summary is based on ZestineTech's product page and its "how it works" page, the Autodesk App Store listing, ZestineTech's two YouTube tutorials, and a third-party directory entry. Autodesk's documentation provides background on cloud models and supported Revit versions. I found no independent reviews or hands-on tests, so time-saving claims, such as the product page's "half the overhead," come from ZestineTech.

The Problem It Addresses

ZestineTech frames the problem around "the 8 AM problem," the routine that starts every coordination review. It names three pain points:

Repetitive exports: Open a model, pull the 3D view, export the NWC, save, close, and repeat across dozens of models. Hours disappear before coordination even begins.
Broken connections: A server rename or a BIM 360 migration breaks links. Each one has to be inspected, remapped, and reloaded in Revit's Manage Links dialog, one link and one model at a time.
A hidden productivity tax: One missed view or outdated export can compromise a whole coordination review. Small manual tasks become a recurring cost on every project.

The Tools Inside

Batch NWC Export

Exports models to Navisworks (NWC) for coordination review without opening each file. The product page describes three steps:

Select your files: Pick several Revit files from local storage or Forma / BIM 360 cloud projects in a single selection.
Auto-extract 3D views: Ze’Connect pulls all the 3D views from each file in the background, without touching the Revit window.
Configure NWC settings: Choose element properties, room geometry, and coordinate systems once, and apply them to every export.

Batch DWG/PDF Export

Exports sheets and views to DWG and PDF from many Revit files, local or cloud-hosted, without opening each model. The App Store listing says users keep full control over DWG export setups and PDF output, and it describes the tool as suited to issuing drawing sets and deliverables at project scale.

Batch IFC Export

Batch-exports 3D views to IFC for openBIM coordination. You set the IFC schema and export options once and apply them across many files, instead of exporting file by file.

Link Remapper

Fixes broken or outdated Revit links in bulk, for example after a server rename, a file move, or a migration to the cloud. ZestineTech's tutorial shows how it works on the active document:

See every link at once: View all the Revit links in the active document.
Select what needs fixing: Choose the specific links that need remapping.
Point to new paths: Browse to the new file locations in local storage or Forma / BIM 360 cloud projects.
Remap All: Apply the changes and reload all the selected links automatically in one batch.

The product page compares this with the usual routine of opening Manage Links, finding each broken link, browsing to the new path, and reloading, then repeating for every link in the model. ZestineTech says the batch version takes "minutes, not an afternoon." The tutorial describes the tool working on the open document's links, not on closed files.

Cloud Collaborate

Publishes local models to the cloud in batches. You select local files, browse ACC folders inside the add-in, and upload them together, with no round trip to the web interface. The App Store listing describes it as publishing local models to the cloud. I found no description of how it prepares models for cloud worksharing, which Autodesk treats separately from simply uploading a file.

Scheduled Export

Runs the batch exporters automatically at a time you choose, even when Revit is closed. This is the feature behind ZestineTech's "queue it the night before" message:

Multiple formats in one task: Tick any of NWC, IFC, DWG, and PDF. Each format writes to its own subfolder and keeps the same options as the manual batch tools.
Guided wizard: It walks you through picking files, configuring each format, renaming outputs, and setting the schedule.
How a run works: At the due time, a background Revit session launches, opens each model once, exports every chosen format, and closes. The listing recommends it for nightly or weekly deliverables.
Current model option: A "Use current model" source exports the model you're working in.

Auto Open Revit

Opens a chosen Revit model at a scheduled time, even when Revit is closed, so a large model is loaded and ready before you sit down. It works with local models and with cloud models in Autodesk Forma or BIM 360. You can choose how worksets open (all open, all closed, or a specific set) and set a daily, weekly, monthly, interval, or one-time schedule. Windows launches Revit and opens the model for you. The listing suggests it for warming up heavy cloud models first thing in the morning.

Fit for a BIM Coordinator

Where it helps: Preparing federated models for weekly coordination meetings, issuing consistent DWG, PDF, and IFC sets, repairing links after a file server or cloud migration, and having large models open and ready at the start of the day.
Standards and consistency: Because export settings are configured once and applied to every file, exports should be more consistent than hand-run ones. Check that your NWC, IFC, and DWG setups map cleanly into Ze’Connect's options before relying on them for a deliverable.
Where to be careful: Test scheduled runs with a small set of models first. Confirm which views are exported, how files are named and overwritten, what happens when a model is locked or a cloud connection drops, and where failures are reported. The vendor's own animation shows "export failed · file locked · retry 3" as a possibility.
IT and licensing: Scheduled and background runs use Revit sessions, so check that they fit your Revit license terms, machine availability, and cloud sign-in setup. I found no guidance on this.
Fit with other tools: It overlaps with Autodesk's own batch and publishing features and with other batch-export add-ins. It's most distinctive for the combination of local-and-cloud support, link remapping, and scheduling in one free add-in.

Open Questions

Does Scheduled Export need the PC to be on, signed in, or unlocked? How does it use Windows scheduling?
Do background runs need a separate Revit license seat, and how do they affect cloud sign-in?
How are exported files named, organized, and overwritten? Can old exports be kept or cleaned up?
Which NWC options are available beyond element properties, room geometry, and coordinate systems? Does IFC export use saved Revit IFC setups?
Can Link Remapper work on closed files, or only on the active document? What happens to links with different path types or nested links?
Does Cloud Collaborate also initiate cloud worksharing, or only upload files?
Is there a log or report for each batch run, including failures and retries?

Bottom Line

Ze’Connect targets the repetitive prep work behind coordination reviews. It batch-exports NWC, DWG/PDF, and IFC from local and cloud models without opening them, remaps links in bulk, uploads models to ACC, and can schedule exports to run overnight, even with Revit closed. The product is young, with its first release in May 2026 and a big update in September 2026, and the evidence for it comes mostly from ZestineTech. A BIM coordinator with a regular set of federated models should find it worth a trial. Start with a small set of models and compare the exports with your current ones. Test failure handling before putting scheduled runs in charge of a deliverable.

Sources

Ze'Connect is brought to you by ZestineTech. It's free.

Compatible with Revit 2022-2027.

There's more information available on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Free Ze’Diag: Revit Journal Analyzer

2026-11-05T17:37:00.000-08:00

Overview

Ze’Diag is a free diagnostic tool from ZestineTech that explains why Revit crashed or misbehaved. Revit records every action, add-in call, and error in a session in a plain-text journal file. These files run to thousands of lines and are hard to read by hand. With Ze’Diag, you upload a journal and get back a structured, readable report. The report covers whether Revit crashed, the likely root cause, the errors and warnings raised, links that failed to load, where time was lost, and which add-ins may have been involved. It also links to known Autodesk solutions where they apply. The report can be downloaded as a PDF to share with the team. ZestineTech's pitch is to diagnose crashes "in minutes, not hours."

Note on sources and scope: Ze’Diag isn’t installed inside Revit. It’s a web application you open in a browser, and it’s listed on the Autodesk App Store as a "web-based Autodesk Revit journal analyzer." Some directories group it under Revit add-ins and scripts because it’s part of the Revit tool ecosystem. This summary is based on ZestineTech’s product page, the Ze’Diag web app’s own pages, the Autodesk App Store listing, ZestineTech’s LinkedIn posts, a third-party directory entry, and Autodesk’s documentation on journal files. I found no independent reviews or hands-on tests. Performance claims, such as the speed of the analysis and the crash statistics on the product page, come from ZestineTech.

The Problem It Addresses: Reading Revit Journals

Autodesk's documentation explains what journals are and why they matter, and it shows why a tool like Ze’Diag has a place:

Revit writes a journal every session: A new journal file (for example Journal.0001.txt) is created each time Revit starts, and the highest number is the most recent. Journals record activity from startup to shutdown. They're normally stored under the user's local AppData folder, in Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit [version]\Journals, which is hidden by default in Windows.
They hold the answers but are hard to read: Autodesk describes journals as useful for troubleshooting both on the affected machine and remotely. Reading them takes practice, because you have to know what to search for, such as exceptions, fatal errors, add-in entries, and the last successful command before a failure. ZestineTech notes that most BIM users aren't trained to do this.
Other files travel with them: The journals folder can also hold dump files (.dmp) created when the program crashes, plus worker logs and abbreviated journals. Autodesk tells users to send a dump file to Product Support along with the journal.
Crash investigations are manual: Common practice is to open the journal in a text editor, search for keywords, find the last successful command and the first error, and isolate suspect add-ins. Autodesk also offers a Notepad++-based search method for documented issues.

Ze’Diag automates that first-pass reading and presents the result in a consistent report format.

Key Facts

Type: A cloud-based web application, with nothing to install. A directory entry lists the deployment as cloud/SaaS.
Input: A Revit journal file (.txt), uploaded by drag and drop or browsing. The web app has a "Copy Path" button to help you find where your journals are.
Where to get it: ZestineTech's product page (zestinetech.com/zediag), the web app (zediag.zestinetech.com), and the Autodesk App Store.
Large files: A directory entry says content in the middle of a journal larger than 100 MB is truncated. I couldn't confirm this on ZestineTech's own pages.

How It Works

Find your journal: Locate the journal for the session that crashed or misbehaved. The newest file is the most recent session. The web app shows the folder path so you can copy it.
Upload it: Drag the file into the page or browse for it, then choose Analyze Journal. You'll be asked to log in or create an account at this point.
Read the diagnosis: The journal is parsed in seconds into a structured report, which you can review on screen and download as a PDF.

ZestineTech's own examples show the kind of journal events it reads, such as a document sync starting, a transaction beginning, a regeneration, and a geometry warning followed by an unhandled exception. The tool is meant to be used after a crash, a freeze, or odd behavior in Revit, once the journal exists.

What the Report Contains

The web app presents four main capabilities, organized into report tabs that include Session Info, Revit Crash Report, Issues & Errors, Timeline, Add-ins, Workflow, KB Articles, Unsaved Work, and Actions:

Crash Analysis: The likely reasons behind a crash, taken from the session events. The crash report is laid out as a root cause, fatal errors detected, an explanation, an immediate action required, and forensic evidence. If the session ended normally, the report says no crash was detected.
Errors and Warnings: Every problem found, with recommended solutions. Known issues spotted in the journal are linked to official Autodesk solutions through the KB Articles tab.
Session Timeline: What happened in the session, step by step, including synchronization operations, files, and links. It highlights significant delays, defined as more than 5 seconds between consecutive events, so you can see where time was lost.
System Overview: The hardware, Revit build, and add-ins in use at a glance. The Add-ins tab helps point to add-ins that may have been involved.
Missing links: Linked files that were referenced but couldn't be found, with a pointer to resolve them through Manage > Manage Links in Revit.
Unsaved work: A dedicated tab on unsaved work, which suggests it helps judge what may have been lost. I couldn't find a description of how it works.
PDF report: A detailed downloadable report so teams can review issues, collaborate on fixes, and keep project documentation.

Compared with Reading a Journal by Hand

Task	Manual journal reading	Ze’Diag
Find the crash and its cause	Search a text editor for exceptions and fatal errors, then work backward from the last good command	Root cause, fatal errors, explanation, and evidence in a structured report
Spot add-in involvement	Check which add-ins loaded and ran before the failure, and test by disabling them	An Add-ins view that points to add-ins that may have been involved
Find documented fixes	Search Autodesk's knowledge base, or use a Notepad++ search file	KB Articles linked to issues detected in the journal
See where time was lost	Compare timestamps by eye	Timeline that flags delays of more than 5 seconds
Find missing links	Search for failed link loads	A list of missing linked files, with the Manage Links path to fix them
Share findings	Paste excerpts or send the raw file	A downloadable PDF report
Handle dump files (.dmp)	Send to Autodesk Product Support with the journal	Not mentioned; the tool reads journal files

Privacy and Handling Journals

What the vendor says: The web app states that your journal is "analyzed briefly and never stored." It also says it uses cookies and privacy-respecting analytics to understand usage, with a Privacy Policy link and an option to decline.
Why it matters: Revit journals can contain file paths, user names, machine names, and network share names. Revit community guidance advises treating them as sensitive and redacting details before sharing them. If your firm has data-handling rules, check them before uploading journals from client projects, and review ZestineTech's Privacy Policy.
Account required: Analysis needs a login or a new account, so some user information is shared with ZestineTech. I didn't find details on what is collected.

Fit for a BIM Coordinator

Where it helps: Triaging crashes quickly across a team, checking whether the same add-in or link keeps appearing, and giving help-desk staff and BIM managers a consistent report. It also fits add-in vetting, since the report shows which add-ins were loaded during a failed session.
Before escalating to Autodesk: It's a quick first pass before you send journals and dump files to Autodesk Product Support. It doesn't replace the support process, because support will still want the original files.
Where to be careful: The analysis explains likely causes, so treat it as a lead to verify, not a final verdict. Test the suggested cause, for example by disabling an add-in or unloading a link, before changing standards or blaming a tool.
Pairing with other tools: It complements model-health tools. Those check the model's contents, while Ze’Diag looks at what happened in a session.

Open Questions

How accurate is the root-cause analysis, and what does it do when a journal is ambiguous? There's no independent testing.
How are large journals handled? A directory entry mentions truncation above 100 MB, but ZestineTech's own pages don't confirm it.
What does the Unsaved Work tab show, and how reliable is it?
What data does the account sign-up collect, and what do the Privacy Policy and End User Agreement say about uploaded journals?

Bottom Line

Ze’Diag is a free, browser-based tool that turns a Revit journal file into a readable diagnostic report. The report covers the likely cause of a crash, the errors and warnings raised, the add-ins involved, missing links, a session timeline, and linked Autodesk fixes, and it can be downloaded as a PDF. It isn't a Revit add-in you install, but it fits naturally into a BIM coordinator's troubleshooting routine. It speeds up first-pass triage and makes crash reports easier to share. Its main limits are the lack of independent testing, the need to create an account, and a privacy question, because journals can contain file paths and user names. A sensible first step is to run it on a few recent journals from your own sessions, compare the results with what you already know about those crashes, and review ZestineTech's privacy terms before using it on client-project journals.

Sources

Ze’Diag is brought to you by ZestineTech. It's free.

There's more information available on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace »

Questions? Contact the developer »

BIMIT by Integrated Projects (IPX): Scan-to-BIM as a Service

2026-11-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

Overview

BIMIT is Integrated Projects' (IPX) scan-to-BIM product. You upload a registered point cloud of a building, and BIMIT turns it into a Revit model, floor plans, CAD drawings, and a quality report. It's sold as a standardized product with published prices, not as a custom modeling engagement. IPX launched BIMIT 4.0, a new engine, on October 15, 2026. It offers three settings. BIMIT 100 and 200 are fully automated, and BIMIT 300 adds an architect's review. IPX says its starting price is 4¢ per square foot for fully automated models, delivered in hours.

Note on sources and scope: BIMIT is an online ordering and delivery service, and what you get back is a Revit model (.rvt) that you open in Revit as normal. This summary is based on IPX's own BIMIT pages, its help center, developer documentation, and launch posts. I found no independent reviews or hands-on tests, so the speed, cost, and accuracy figures below are IPX's own claims.

What BIMIT Is, and Isn't

IPX's help center describes BIMIT as a fixed-price product that turns a point cloud into a usable building model, built to confirm square footage and equipment counts quickly. IPX is explicit about what it is and isn't:

It is: A product with standardized, predictable pricing. It's built for fast, on-time delivery and can combine architecture, furniture, and MEP in one model file. It's intended for verifying floor areas, room dimensions, and element counts.
It isn't: A custom service with a unique quote for every job, work priced by the hour or as a lump sum, or a set of separate files from different consultants.
Not construction-grade: IPX says BIMIT should not be used as a definitive guide for construction. Point cloud registration from devices such as the Matterport Pro2 or Leica BLK360 has accuracy limits. Licensed professionals should always field-verify.
No materials or specifications: The model has geometry but no material information or construction details. Non-graphical data is kept generic, so you can customize it yourself.

Key Facts

Developer: Integrated Projects (IPX), which also offers SCANIT, an on-site 3D laser scanning service. SCANIT crews are on site in 3–5 business days, and BIMIT can model either a SCANIT scan or your own.
Input: A registered point cloud. The ordering guide lists .e57, .xyz, .las, and .laz files, and a Matterport MatterPak import. Imports from FARO Sphere XG, NavVis, Cintoo, OpenSpace, and Prevu3D are listed as coming soon.
Output: A Revit model, IFC and DXF files, floor plans as PDF and SVG, and a quality report.
Revit versions: You pick the Revit version for the model in the order wizard. The pages I found don't list the supported versions.
Settings: BIMIT 100 (LOD 100) and BIMIT 200 (LOD 200) are fully automated. BIMIT 300 (LOD 300) is architect-assisted.
Pricing: From 4¢ per square foot for BIMIT 100, 8¢ for BIMIT 200, and from 27¢ for BIMIT 300, with live itemized estimates and volume discounts.
Track record (IPX figures): More than 6,000 buildings and 47 million square feet digitized, with 95% on-time delivery. A January 2025 IPX article cited 10 million square feet converted, so the volume has grown quickly.
Delivery and sharing: A secure browser-based platform for ordering, viewing, and sharing, with export to Autodesk Forma.

How Ordering Works

BIMIT is ordered through the IPX platform's order wizard, the same one used for SCANIT scans. The difference is that you upload a point cloud instead of scheduling a site scan. You need to be an organization admin or have order permission.

Open the wizard: Under Services, click Get verified as-builts, and switch the service type to BIMIT.
Upload the point cloud: Drag and drop the file or import a MatterPak.
Set scope and deliverables: Choose the location, building levels, and square footage. Architecture is required and included by default (LOD 300 in the platform's ordering guide: walls, floors, ceilings, doors, windows, and stairs). Add furniture (LOD 200) or MEPF, plus exterior and site scope. Then choose the Revit version, point cloud, and floor plan deliverables.
Review and sign: Optionally invite teammates, check the summary, and sign the Service Authorization Form.
Pay the deposit: Pay 50% to confirm the order. The balance is invoiced when the deliverables are completed.

The itemized estimate updates live as you change the order. Every scope, deliverable, and add-on shows its own cost, price per square foot, and timeline. IPX says the estimate you see is the price you pay. Estimates can be emailed and are honored for up to 15 days. Unfinished orders are saved as drafts.

What's New in BIMIT 4.0

BIMIT 4.0, announced October 15, 2026, is described as a "spatial intelligence engine" that reads a scan level by level and builds each element in Revit, wall by wall and room by room. IPX highlights these points:

Trained on real Revit work: It's built from 9,000 Revit models made to the BIMIT 300 standard, using 184 standard Revit elements from the IPX Element Catalog, IPX's modeling practices, and a 107-point QA/QC checklist. For example, it knows that a wall with few scan points behind it may be glass, and it avoids in-place modeling.
Finds each level first: It checks the point cloud and identifies each level before it models anything.
Speed (IPX claim): More than 27 times faster than drafting by hand. A 10,000 sq ft building takes hours at BIMIT 100 and days at BIMIT 300.
Accuracy (IPX claim): Typical wall offset of 2.3 cm, compared with 5.4 cm for a leading frontier AI model working alone, which IPX describes as less than half the wall error.
Upgrades over version 3: According to an IPX engineer, machine learning modules were retrained on the 9,000 fully human-annotated buildings with a training pipeline at least twice as large. A frontier AI model is also used to fix misalignments against IPX's own standards, such as room closing and corner joins.
Quality report with every model: See below.

The Three BIMIT Settings

Process	Fully automated	Fully automated	Architect-assisted
Level of development	LOD 100	LOD 200	LOD 300
What's modeled	Architecture only, with the floor area	Generic Revit families, door swings, and furniture, placed and labeled	Specific Revit families, with MEP, site, and exteriors when needed
Coverage	Interiors	Interiors	Interiors and exteriors
Point cloud size	Up to 30 GB	Up to 60 GB	Up to 500 GB
Floors per order	Up to 5	Up to 5	Up to 100 (up to 1,000,000 sq ft)
Precision	Approximate	Approximate	Under an inch, verified by IPX
Quality check	Automated QA/QC	Automated QA/QC	Automated QA/QC, then an architect's review
Turnaround	Hours	Hours	Days
Price per sq ft	4¢	8¢	From 27¢
Availability	Available now	Coming soon	Available now

IPX's pricing page adds an option to fast-track delivery for about 30% more, for roughly 30% faster delivery. Furniture and equipment, MEPF (standard or complex), and facade and site scopes are priced as separate line items. Architecture is always included.

Deliverables and Quality Report

Revit model: Every wall, door, window, and piece of furniture is a Revit element. The example shown on IPX's site for one office floor lists 172 walls, 50 doors, 21 windows, and 264 pieces of furniture.
Floor plans for every level: Drawn from the scan as PDF, SVG, and image files.
CAD drawing of each level: The same plan as a DXF file for CAD software.
IFC model: For IFC-compatible platforms.
Quality report: Each element is marked verified, slightly off, or worth a second look. The report also flags anything the engine saw in the scan but left out of the model, so you know what to review before relying on it. IPX says the engine compares the model with the original scan one part at a time.
Everything in one place: The model, plans, and report can be downloaded from the IPX platform or bimit.ai, viewed in a browser, shared securely, and exported to Autodesk Forma.

Fit for a BIM Coordinator

Where it helps: Getting an existing-conditions Revit model for renovation, tenant fit-out, space planning, due diligence, and early coordination, without modeling it by hand. The Revit-native output means you can link or open it in your normal workflow.
Where to be careful: The model is meant for design and planning. It has no material data, element metadata is generic, and IPX warns against using it for construction. Plan to field-verify, and use the quality report to decide what to check first.
Model standards: The model follows IPX's own element catalog and QA/QC checklist, not your office's families, parameters, or naming. Expect some cleanup or mapping to your BIM standards.
Budgeting: Because pricing is per square foot, you can estimate cost before ordering. IPX notes that larger projects earn lower rates and that some small items carry fixed minimums.

Open Questions

When will BIMIT 200 be available? It's marked "coming soon."
How are revisions or re-runs handled if the quality report shows problem areas? Does the architect's review in BIMIT 300 cover fixes?
Are the speed and accuracy claims backed by independent testing? The benchmarks come from IPX.
How does enterprise pricing differ from on-demand pricing, and what do volume tiers look like?

Bottom Line

BIMIT is a scan-to-BIM service, not a Revit add-in. It converts a point cloud you already own, or one from IPX's SCANIT scanning service, into a Revit model, plans, and a quality report. BIMIT 4.0 adds an automated engine and an element-by-element quality report, and the pricing is unusually transparent at 4¢ per square foot for BIMIT 100 and from 27¢ for BIMIT 300, which adds an architect's review. For BIM coordinators, it's a fast way to get an existing-conditions model for renovation, space planning, and early coordination. IPX describes the output as design-grade, not construction-grade, and recommends field verification. The main things to confirm before ordering are Revit version support and how well the model fits your office standards. Starting with a small test order and checking its quality report is a sensible first step.

Sources

BIMIT is brought to you by Integrated Projects (IPX). Pricing begins at 4¢ per square foot.

Revit compatibility was not known at press time.

There's more information available on the Integrated Projects website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Product Roundup: underbim (ub.Suite Edition 1)

2026-11-03T17:47:00.000-08:00

Overview

underbim was created around one idea: BIM technology should make real work easier. It is a focused, independent company built on about 25 years of hands-on BIM and Revit experience, starting in October 2001. It took shape as underbim around a decade ago, when practice, consultancy, and development came together under one identity. Its current product line, ub.Suite, turns real workflows into focused Revit software.

Key Takeaways

Practice first: underbim did not start as a software company looking for problems to solve. It grew out of years of work with BIM models, project teams, training, and real production constraints.
Workflow before software: The approach is to observe the real problem, structure the workflow, and then build a focused tool around it. Anything Revit already does well natively is kept, and unnecessary steps are removed.
One person across the whole chain: The founder identifies workflow problems, analyzes them, designs the solution, writes the software, and understands how it behaves in a real BIM environment.
Focused, ownable products: ub.Suite is a collection of focused tools that extend Revit where everyday workflows can be made clearer, faster, and more effective. It is licensed perpetually, with no subscription required to keep using the Edition purchased.

From BIM Practice to Software

Over the years, underbim has worked across BIM consultancy, implementation, training, automation, and custom development. Its process has three steps:

Observe: Find the real problem by looking at the work itself, including recurring friction, repetitive operations, information gaps, and model-control needs.
Structure: Reduce the problem to a clear sequence of steps, preserve what already works natively in Revit, and remove unnecessary steps.
Build: Develop focused software around the workflow instead of forcing the workflow around the software.

The Founder

underbim was founded by André Cardoso, whose work with BIM and Revit began in October 2001. His professional activity has covered project production, consultancy, technical support, training, workflow development, and programming. This close link between practice and development is central to how the company works.

Guiding Principles

Practical by design: Features should solve identifiable problems and improve real workflows.
Focused, not overloaded: A tool does not need to do everything, only to do its job exceptionally well.
Built around Revit users: Interfaces and decisions are designed from the perspective of people working in Revit every day.
Independent development: Product decisions stay centered on usefulness, clarity, and the workflow itself.
Software you can own: ub.Suite uses a perpetual licensing model, so no subscription is needed to keep using the purchased Edition.

Timeline

October 2001: BIM and Revit become part of the founder's professional path, which later spans production, training, support, consultancy, and development.
Around a decade ago: underbim takes shape. Experience from BIM practice begins to operate under one identity and one direction.
Today: ub.Suite brings years of workflow analysis into a focused family of professional Revit tools.

Bottom Line

underbim is a small, focused company with a long technical history. About ten years as underbim sit on top of 25 years of BIM and Revit practice that began in 2001. That experience shapes every product and decision. It builds practical, narrowly scoped Revit tools around real workflows, and customers can own them outright through perpetual licenses.

Products

FilterToSchedule

Turn defined Revit filter results into persistent native schedule snapshots that can be reviewed, refreshed, duplicated and carried into the next workflow. | €150

ModelData

Build, inspect, calculate and refine Revit schedule and model data with more control over the logic behind the result. | €280

InterferenceInvestigator

Move from an interference result to the exact elements involved, locate them in the Revit model, recover the surrounding context and turn investigation into an actionable result. | €200

ProjectManager

Audit recurring Revit project resources, distinguish what is used from what is not, understand dependencies and manage Views in batches before making changes to the model. | €100

ConstraintScanner

Scan Revit constraints, dependencies and model conditions, reduce the result to the relationships that matter and move directly from evidence to the elements involved — without changing the model. | €120

ScopeViews

Turn selected Revit Scope Boxes into repeatable Plan, Section and 3D view sets, with templates, scale and naming controlled before the views are created. | €90

Elevations

Calculate upper and lower elevations from Revit element extents and write them to usable instance parameters, with Project or Survey coordinates as the reference. | €80

BackupMover

Find genuine Revit project and family backup files beside the current document, move them into a controlled subfolder and keep the working location readable — manually or automatically after Save. | €50

The complete suite of 8 products, titled ub.Suite Edition 1, is priced at €750.

BackupMover: Keeping Revit Backups Out of the Working Folder

2026-11-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

Overview

ub.BackupMover is an Autodesk Revit add-in from underbim, a Portugal-based BIM consultancy that has worked in BIM, Revit training, consulting, and software development since 2001. It is one of eight independent add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1, which launched in late October 2026, and is positioned as a file safety utility. Its tagline, "Move the backups. Keep the folder clear," sums up the approach. It finds genuine Revit project and family backup files beside the current document and moves them into a controlled subfolder, keeping the working folder readable. It can run manually or automatically after each Save.

Note on sources: This summary is based mainly on underbim's full BackupMover product page, which covers the workflow, feature explorer, detection rules, manual and automatic modes, destination handling, and licensing. Background on how Revit creates backups comes from Autodesk documentation, Autodesk forums, and Revit community blogs. An independent review or hands-on test was not found, and gaps are listed under Open Questions.

The Problem Area: Revit Backup Files

Revit creates backup files automatically whenever a model is saved or synchronized. Where they go and how they behave depends on the type of model, and the sources below describe several recurring problems:

Backups are saved beside the model, with no setting to change it: For standalone (non-workshared) models, Revit places backups in the same folder as the project, named like "project name.0001.rvt," "project name.0002.rvt," and so on. Forum answers confirm there's no built-in way to choose a different location. Once the maximum backup count is reached, Revit overwrites the oldest backup.
Folders fill up with clutter: The numbered backup files pile up next to the files people actually work with, and they're easy to mistake for real project files. Revit family files create the same kind of backups.
Cloud sync and server replication get overloaded: Users report that OneDrive uploads every backup, which wastes bandwidth and data. An IT manager described tens of gigabytes of extra data slowing synchronization between four offices.
Workshared models use a separate backup folder: Revit stores central and local model backup information in a folder named [model name]_backup next to the model. Autodesk says not to delete or rename files in it, and to keep the folder with the model if it's moved or copied, renaming it to match if the model is renamed. Backups in this folder are incremental, so they aren't ordinary .rvt files.
Manual and scripted workarounds: Common approaches include deleting backup files by hand, batch files with wildcards, Dynamo or Python scripts that move or delete files matching the numbered pattern, and older add-ins such as MoveBackup (later Wormhole for Revit), which moved backups into a subfolder or a chosen directory.

BackupMover addresses the clutter problem for standalone project and family files. Like the older add-ins, it moves numbered backups out of the working folder. Unlike broad scripts, it works only from the active document and applies strict matching rules, so it only ever moves files that are clearly that document's own backups.

Key Facts

Purpose: Detect the current document's Revit backup files and move them into a controlled subfolder.
Product family: One of eight independent add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1.
Files: Project (.rvt) and family (.rfa) backups that match the current document's naming pattern.
Run modes: Manual (Move Backups) or automatic after a successful Save (Auto on Save).
Source: The current document's own folder only, on a local drive or an accessible network path. Cloud and Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) models are excluded.
Destination: A configurable subfolder beside the document, conventionally named BAK, created when needed.
Safety: The current file is never moved, existing files are never silently overwritten, and results are reported as moved, ignored, or errors.
Licensing: Perpetual license by Edition. Updates within the Edition are included, and major Edition upgrades are optional. Single-activation and two-activation options are offered.
Documentation: The product page links to setup and documentation. underbim also has a Downloads area, a Customer Portal, and a public GitHub repository for signed releases and update manifests.

The Product Idea

The tool is built on one idea: protect the backups, remove the folder noise. Revit backups are useful because they preserve earlier states of a model. BackupMover doesn't replace or change that mechanism. It just recognizes the real backup files around the current .rvt or .rfa file, moves them out of the working folder, and keeps the operation narrow and predictable. The process has four stages: Detect (exact Revit backup pattern), Protect (current file untouched), Move (configured subfolder), and Report (moved, ignored, errors).

Workflow: Recognize First, Move Only What Belongs

Source: Use the saved current .rvt or .rfa file to identify the working folder and base file name.
Detect: Find only files in that folder (not subfolders) that match Revit's numbered backup pattern.
Destination: Locate the configured backup subfolder beside the document, and create it if needed.
Protect: Exclude the current file, and never silently overwrite a file that already exists in the destination.
Move: Move eligible backups manually, or automatically after a successful Save when Auto on Save is turned on.
Result: Report what was moved, ignored, or caused an error, without interrupting Revit's save process.

Backup Detection: Exact Pattern, Narrow Scope

underbim describes it as "a small utility with very strict rules." Moving files is only useful if you can trust what gets selected, so BackupMover deliberately limits what counts as a backup, where it looks, and where files can go. It doesn't scan arbitrary folders. Everything is worked out from the active, saved document:

Saved document required: The document must have a valid file path, which ties the operation to a real local or network location.
Exact pattern: Only files named with the current document's base name, then four digits, then the current extension (Name.####.rvt or Name.####.rfa) qualify.
That folder only: The scan covers only the folder containing the current document. It doesn't search subfolders or unrelated directories.
Current file protected: The working .rvt or .rfa file is never treated as one of its own backups.
Environment: Local and accessible network paths are supported. Cloud and ACC models, and documents without a usable file path, are excluded.

Example from the product page, with Project_A.rvt as the current document:

File in the folder	Result	Why
Project_A.0001.rvt	Move	Matches base name, four digits, and extension
Project_A.0042.rvt	Move	Matches base name, four digits, and extension
Project_A.rvt	Not moved	It's the current document
Project_A_old.rvt	Ignored	Doesn't match the numbered backup pattern
notes.txt	Ignored	Not a Revit file

Because only files in the document's own folder that match Name.####.rvt are considered, the incremental contents of a workshared model's separate _backup folder fall outside these rules. underbim doesn't mention workshared models directly, so this is inferred from the stated rules.

Manual and Automatic Modes

The same narrow rules apply whether you start the move from the BackupMover window or it runs automatically after a Save:

Move Backups (manual): Open the BackupMover window, check the source folder, destination, and detected files, then move the eligible files when you're ready.
Auto on Save: After each successful Save, the same move runs in the background without interfering with the save itself.
Save As: When a local Save As creates a new valid path, including a detached local copy, later automatic moves follow the document to its new location.

Destination and Results

Subfolder beside the project: Backups go to a configurable subfolder inside the document's folder, conventionally named BAK, not to an unrelated outside location. Backups stay with the project they belong to.
No overwrite: If a file with the same name already exists in the destination, BackupMover doesn't replace it. It gives the moved file a timestamped name instead, so both files are kept.
Non-matches left alone: Files that don't match the backup pattern, unsupported file types, cloud models, and documents without a usable path are excluded.
Clear results: A results area reports what was moved, what was ignored, and any errors, so every manual run ends with a clear account of what happened.

Place Within ub.Suite 1

ub.Suite 1 includes FilterToSchedule, ModelData, InterferenceInvestigator, ProjectManager, ConstraintScanner, ScopeViews, Elevations, and BackupMover. BackupMover is the only one aimed at files on disk. The other seven work on the contents of the Revit model itself. It's most closely related to one tool:

ProjectManager: Audits and cleans up model content such as views, view templates, filters, and scope boxes. BackupMover does a similar tidying job for files in project folders. This fits the suite's "project organization" theme, though underbim hasn't said the two tools work together.

The suite's other tools rely on Revit Undo for safety. BackupMover works on files on disk, so it gets its safety from strict rules instead:

It acts only on the current document's own numbered backups.
It never moves the working file.
It never silently overwrites anything, renaming with a timestamp instead.
It keeps backups beside the project.
It reports every result.

underbim doesn't mention an undo or restore command for moved files. Since nothing is deleted, moved backups stay in the BAK subfolder, where you can still open them.

Compared with Native Revit and Manual Methods

Need	Native Revit and manual methods	BackupMover
Keep backups out of the project folder	No setting; backups are saved beside the model. Workarounds are batch files, Dynamo or Python scripts, or older add-ins	Moves the current document's numbered backups into a BAK subfolder beside it
Limit how many backups are kept	Maximum number of backups set in the Save As options	Doesn't change Revit's backup setting; it only relocates the backups Revit creates
Avoid syncing backups to the cloud or other offices	Filter by file name in the sync software, or move files out by hand	Not addressed directly; the BAK subfolder sits inside the project folder, so excluding it from sync would be a separate step
Handle workshared _backup folders safely	Autodesk advises keeping the folder with the model and not editing its contents	Not mentioned; detection rules (document's own folder, numbered pattern only) suggest the _backup folder isn't touched
Process many folders at once	Scripts that search folders and subfolders	No, by design: only the current document's folder; Auto on Save covers each document as it's saved
Clean up automatically	No native option; scheduled scripts or older add-ins	Auto on Save runs the move after each successful Save

Open Questions

Can the destination subfolder name be set per project or office-wide, and can it point anywhere other than inside the document's folder?
Are template (.rte) and family template (.rft) backups supported, or only .rvt and .rfa?
Are results from automatic runs logged anywhere, or shown only in the window during manual runs?

Bottom Line

BackupMover targets a small but persistent Revit annoyance: numbered backup files piling up beside the model, with no setting in Revit to put them anywhere else. It keeps Revit's backup system intact and simply moves each document's genuine .rvt and .rfa backups into a BAK subfolder beside it. It can do this on demand or automatically after every Save. Its strict rules keep it safe: only the current document's numbered backups are touched, the working file is never moved, nothing is silently overwritten, and every run is reported. Cloud and ACC models are excluded, and moving backups into a subfolder doesn't by itself stop cloud sync from uploading them.

Sources

BackupMover is brought to you by underbim. It's priced at €50, or €750 for the complete 8-tool ub.Suite 1. A 30-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2025-2027.

There's more information available on the underbim website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Elevations: Top and Bottom Elevation Data for Revit Elements

2026-11-02T17:35:00.000-08:00

Overview

ub.Elevations is an Autodesk Revit add-in from underbim, a Portugal-based BIM consultancy that has worked in BIM, Revit training, consulting, and software development since 2001. It is one of eight independent add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1, which launched in late October 2026. Despite its name, it doesn't create elevation views. It's a vertical data tool. Its tagline, "Know where every element starts and ends," sums up the approach. It calculates each element's upper and lower elevations from its extents in the Revit model and writes them to usable instance parameters, using either Project or Survey coordinates as the reference.

Note on sources: This summary is based mainly on underbim's full Elevations product page, which covers the workflow, feature explorer, coordinate references, parameter output, and licensing. Background on Revit's elevation parameters and coordinate system comes from Autodesk documentation and community forums. An independent review or hands-on test wasn't found.

The Problem Area: Vertical Data in Revit

Knowing the absolute top and bottom elevation of elements matters for coordination, clearance checks, scheduling, tagging, and handing data to contractors or other software. Revit shows this information graphically, but it isn't consistently available as data that can be scheduled. Autodesk documentation and user forums describe several gaps:

Built-in elevation parameters only exist for some categories: Ducts, pipes, cable trays, and conduit have detailed top, bottom, and centerline elevation parameters, and structural framing has Elevation at Top and Elevation at Bottom. Many other categories have no equivalent absolute elevation values.
Level-relative values, not absolute ones: Parameters such as Elevation from Level give an offset from a level, not an absolute height. They're also unavailable in multi-category schedules.
No level elevation in schedules: For elements such as columns, a schedule can show the base and top level names and offsets, but not the level's elevation as a number. That means you can't calculate the actual top or bottom elevation in a schedule or tag. This is a long-standing request on the Revit Ideas board.
Annotation isn't data: Spot elevations can show heights relative to the Project Base Point or the Survey Point, but they're annotations in a view, not parameter values you can filter, schedule, or export.
Dynamo workarounds go stale: A common fix is to add shared parameters and fill them with a Dynamo script. Forum users point out that values become outdated as heights and offsets change, unless someone remembers to rerun the script.
Coordinate references cause confusion: Revit has an Internal Origin, a Project Base Point (the project's local zero), and a Survey Point (the real-world reference, often sea level). The same element can have very different elevation values depending on which reference is used.

Elevations addresses this gap. It works the same way across whichever categories you choose: it calculates top and bottom values and writes them to parameters you control, with the coordinate reference stated explicitly.

Key Facts

Purpose: Calculate each element's top and bottom elevations and write them to instance parameters.
Product family: One of eight independent add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1.
Reference: Project or Survey coordinates.
Data source: Entire Project, Current View, or Selection.
Calculation: Based on the extents of each element's bounding box, for fast, consistent results.
Output: Separate instance Length parameters for Top and Bottom. If no suitable parameter exists, the tool can create and bind a shared parameter.
Reversibility: Both preparing parameters and writing values are committed through Revit transactions and can be undone.
Licensing: Perpetual license by Edition. Updates within the Edition are included, and major Edition upgrades are optional. Single-activation and two-activation options are offered.
Documentation: The product page links to setup and documentation. underbim also has a Downloads area, a Customer Portal, and a public GitHub repository for signed releases and update manifests.

The Product Idea

The tool is built on one idea: turn each element's vertical extent into usable project data. You select the model categories, choose the Top and Bottom target parameters, and pick the elevation reference. The add-in then prepares the parameters and writes the values consistently. The process moves through four stages: Model (selected categories), Target (Top and Bottom parameters), Reference (Project or Survey), and Result (usable elevation values).

Workflow: Set the Reference, Write the Result

Categories: Select the model categories that should receive elevation data.
Targets: Choose or define compatible instance Length parameters for Top and Bottom.
Reference: Choose Project or Survey elevation coordinates.
Source: Process the Entire Project, the Current View, or the current Selection.
Calculate: Work out Top and Bottom from each element's bounding box.
Write: Prepare the parameters and write the values. The operation can be undone.

Model Categories and Data Source

The operation is limited to the categories you select, not the whole project as one undifferentiated set. The category list can be filtered to show only used categories (those actually in the model), which helps on large projects. The active category selection also determines which categories the parameters are bound to and which elements are processed, so values are written only to the chosen set. Within those categories, the data source sets which elements are processed:

Entire Project: Processes all matching element instances (not types) across the document.
Current View: Limits processing to elements available in the active Revit view.
Selection: Uses the current selection, or the Select Elements option, to set exactly which elements are processed.

Reference and Targets

underbim stresses that Project and Survey aren't just display options. They set the coordinate reference used for the values written to the model:

Top: A compatible instance Length parameter that receives the element's upper elevation.
Bottom: A separate compatible instance Length parameter that receives the lower elevation.
Project: Writes elevations in the project's coordinate system, measured from the Project Base Point.
Survey: Converts the measured height (Z value) using the active Project Location, giving elevations relative to the survey reference.

Example from the product page: An element reads Top 12.40 and Bottom 0.00 in Project coordinates. With the Survey reference, the same zero point reads +48.20.

Parameter Output

Setting up the parameters is part of the same operation. The tool can use existing compatible parameters, or it can create missing definitions and bind them to the selected categories:

Top and Bottom: Separate instance Length parameters receive the top and bottom of each element's bounding box.
Shared parameter when needed: If no usable target exists, the tool creates and binds a shared Length parameter.
Usable afterward: Because the values are stored as ordinary instance parameters, they can be used in schedules, tags, view filters, and exports like any other parameter data.
Undo: Preparing the parameters and writing the values are both committed through Revit transactions and can be undone.

A note on bounding boxes: A bounding box gives an element's overall vertical extent, meaning its highest and lowest points. For sloped or irregular elements such as sloped beams, ramps, or roofs, Top and Bottom are those extremes, not the elevation at a particular point along the element. Revit bounding boxes are also aligned to the model's axes, which doesn't affect vertical values but is worth knowing when reviewing the results.

Place Within ub.Suite 1

ub.Suite 1 includes FilterToSchedule, ModelData, InterferenceInvestigator, ProjectManager, ConstraintScanner, ScopeViews, Elevations, and BackupMover. The launch announcement grouped Elevations with the "views" tools, but the product page shows it's really a model data tool. It fits best alongside these:

ModelData and FilterToSchedule: These are the suite's model data and schedule tools. Elevations creates new parameter data (Top and Bottom), which these tools could then review, filter, or schedule. underbim hasn't described a direct integration.
InterferenceInvestigator: Absolute top and bottom values are useful for checking vertical clearances and conflicts. That makes Elevations a natural partner for coordination work, though no link between the two is described.
ScopeViews: Despite the similar "views" grouping, ScopeViews creates plan, section, and 3D views from Scope Boxes, while Elevations creates no views at all.

Elevations follows the suite's shared design approach. Choices are made up front in one place instead of across a long series of dialogs, the scope is set deliberately, and every change to the model can be undone.

Compared with Native Revit Tools

Need	Native Revit	Elevations
Get the absolute top and bottom elevation of elements	Built-in only for some categories, such as MEP elements and structural framing	Calculated from the bounding box for any selected category and written to Top and Bottom parameters
Schedule or tag elevations across categories	Elevation from Level isn't available in multi-category schedules, and level elevations can't be scheduled as numbers	Values stored in shared instance Length parameters bound to the chosen categories
Report elevations to the survey reference	Spot elevations can reference the Survey Point, but only as annotation in a view	Survey option converts the height using the active Project Location and writes it as parameter data
Limit processing to the right elements	Manual selection or Dynamo filtering	Category selection plus Entire Project, Current View, or Selection
Keep values current after design changes	Dynamo scripts must be rerun by hand	Values are written when the tool runs; automatic updating isn't mentioned

Open Questions

Are values updated automatically when elements move or levels change, or does the tool need to be rerun?
How are nested families, element groups, and elements with symbolic or invisible geometry handled in the bounding box calculation?
Are there default names for the shared parameters it creates?
Is there a result report, like ScopeViews' Status area, listing skipped or failed elements?

Bottom Line

Elevations fills a long-standing Revit data gap. It gives elements in any selected category absolute top and bottom elevations as real instance parameters, referenced to Project or Survey coordinates. You choose the categories, target parameters, reference, and scope up front, and the tool can create and bind shared parameters when needed. Every change can be undone. For BIM coordinators who need vertical data for clearance checks, coordination, schedules, tags, or contractor handover, it replaces fragile Dynamo workarounds with one controlled operation. Keep in mind that values come from bounding boxes and may need to be refreshed after design changes.

Sources

Elevations is brought to you by underbim. It's priced at €80, or €750 for the complete 8-tool ub.Suite 1. A 30-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2025-2027.

There's more information available on the underbim website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

ScopeViews: Scope Box–Driven View Creation for Revit

2026-10-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

Overview

ScopeViews is an Autodesk Revit add-in from underbim, a Portugal-based BIM consultancy that has worked in BIM, Revit training, consulting, and software development since 2001. It is one of eight independent add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1, which launched in late October 2026, and is positioned as a view creation tool. Its tagline, "Define the scope. Generate the views," sums up the approach. It turns selected Revit Scope Boxes into repeatable sets of plan, section, and 3D views. View templates, scale, and naming are all set before the views are created.

Note on sources: This summary is based mainly on underbim's full ScopeViews product page, which covers the workflow, feature explorer, generated view set, templates and scale, naming, and licensing. The background on scope boxes comes from Autodesk documentation and community forums. An independent review or hands-on test was not found, and the gaps are listed under Open Questions.

The Problem Area: Views and Scope in Revit

In Revit, view "scope" is mainly controlled by scope boxes and crop regions. A scope box is a 3D region drawn around part of the model. Assign it to views and their crop extents follow the box, so changing the box once updates every view that uses it. Assign it to grids, levels, and reference planes and they appear only in views whose cut plane intersects the box. The difference is often summed up as "a crop region belongs to one view, a scope box belongs to the project." Documentation and user forums point to several recurring pain points:

Repetitive view setup: Large or multi-zone projects need many plans, ceiling plans, and dependent views cropped consistently. Cropping views by hand often leaves them slightly misaligned on sheets.
Assignment limits: Scope boxes can only be created in plan views. Since Revit 2023, users report they can no longer assign or change scope boxes on dependent section views and some other dependent views, though dependent floor plans still work.
Finding and tracking scope boxes: Scope boxes appear only in views they intersect. Forum users report "losing" a scope box after deleting the views where it was visible, and they have no easy way to see which views use which box.
Greyed-out or conflicting settings: The Scope Box parameter can be unavailable, for example when a view template controls it, which makes troubleshooting harder.
Bulk work needs add-ins: Creating dependent views from scope boxes, reassigning scope boxes across many views, or copying scope boxes from linked models is commonly done with third-party add-ins or Dynamo, not native tools.

ScopeViews tackles the repetitive-setup part of this problem. It uses the Scope Boxes you've already defined as the spatial basis for generating complete, consistently set-up view sets, so you don't have to create and crop each view by hand.

Key Facts

Purpose: Generate plan, section, and 3D view sets from selected Revit Scope Boxes.
Product family: One of eight independent add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1, covering the suite's "views" workflow area.
View set: For each Scope Box, up to six views: one plan, four sections, and one 3D view. Only the selected output types are created.
Scale: Standard scales, or a custom scale from 1 to 5000 that defaults to 1:50 and is checked before creation.
Reversibility: Each creation run is committed as one Revit transaction and can be undone with Revit Undo.
Licensing: Perpetual license by Edition. Updates within the Edition are included, and major Edition upgrades are optional. Single-activation and two-activation options are offered.
Documentation: The product page links to setup and documentation. underbim also has a Downloads area, a Customer Portal, and a public GitHub repository for signed releases and update manifests.

The Product Idea

The tool is built on one idea: use the Scope Box as the spatial instruction. ScopeViews starts from the project scope you've already defined. Each selected Scope Box becomes the shared spatial basis for the views you choose to create and for the display rules applied to them. The process moves through four stages: Scope (selected Scope Boxes), Views (plan, sections, 3D), Represent (templates and scale), and Result (a named, marked view set).

Workflow: Select the Scope, Build the View Set

One setup screen controls what is created, how it's displayed, and how the result is reported:

Scope Boxes: Select one or more project Scope Boxes as the spatial source. Select All and Clear make it quick to set up or reset a run.
View types: Choose plan, sections, and/or 3D. At least one output type is required.
Templates: Use a separate view template for each view type, or reuse one template across the set.
Scale: Choose a standard or custom scale, and decide whether it overrides the template's scale.
Create: Generate the chosen views and apply the scope, display settings, and marker data.
Review: Read the Status output for created views, naming adjustments, and template or scale conflicts.

The Generated View Set: One Scope Box, Up to Six Views

The selected Scope Box drives the geometry of every chosen output. The plan, sections, and 3D view all stay tied to the same spatial definition, with no manual setup view by view:

Plan: Creates one plan on the level closest to the Scope Box's minimum Z (its lowest point) and applies the selected Scope Box.
Four sections: Creates two sections along the box's length and two along its width, placed at the box's edges and facing inward.
3D: Creates one isometric 3D view that uses the selected Scope Box as its spatial extent.
Selective output: Plan, sections, and 3D are independent options, so you create only what you need.

Because several Scope Boxes can be processed in one run, a multi-zone project can get a full, consistent set of views for every zone in a single operation.

Templates and Scale

How the views look is decided before they exist. Templates and scale are resolved during creation, and any conflicts are reported instead of interrupting you with extra pop-ups:

Separate templates: Plan, sections, and 3D can each use their own compatible view template.
Same template: Reuse the plan template across the plan, section, and 3D outputs. The template's properties are applied to the views, but the views aren't left permanently linked to the template.
Scale precedence: By default, the template's scale wins. Turning on Override View Template Scales forces the scale you chose, and the Status area reports the result.

Naming, Marking, and Status

Naming: Generated views are named after their Scope Box, for example "Scope - Plan" and "Scope - 3D." If a name is already taken, a unique name is used instead.
ub_SVMarker: ScopeViews makes sure a marker parameter exists on views and writes a Scope Box–specific value to each view it creates. This makes the generated views easy to identify later.
Status: Created views, warnings, naming adjustments, and template or scale conflicts are reported in a Status area instead of through repeated dialogs.
Undo: Each creation run is committed as one Revit transaction, so you can undo it in one step.

Place Within ub.Suite 1

ub.Suite 1 includes FilterToSchedule, ModelData, InterferenceInvestigator, ProjectManager, ConstraintScanner, ScopeViews, Elevations, and BackupMover. ScopeViews fits alongside two related tools:

ProjectManager: Audits scope boxes, V/G filters, view templates, and views. It classifies them as used, unused, or unreferenced and supports controlled cleanup. ScopeViews is the creation side of this pair: it generates views from Scope Boxes, while ProjectManager reviews and cleans them up.
Elevations: A separate view-related tool in the suite. ScopeViews generates sections, not elevations, which fits underbim's approach of splitting view workflows into specialized tools.

ScopeViews follows the suite's shared design approach. Choices are made up front, each run can be undone in one step, and results are reported clearly. The Status area replaces repeated pop-ups, and the ub_SVMarker parameter keeps generated views traceable after the dialog closes.

Compared with Native Revit Tools

Need	Native Revit	ScopeViews
Apply a scope box to views	Scope Box parameter in Properties; can be set on several selected views at once	Applies the selected Scope Box to the generated plan; sections are placed at the box's edges, and the 3D view uses the box as its extent
Create view sets from scope boxes	Manual, one view at a time	One plan, four sections, and one 3D view per Scope Box, for multiple boxes in one run; creating dependent views isn't mentioned
See which views use which scope box	No direct overview	Generated views carry Scope Box–based names and an ub_SVMarker value; full usage auditing stays in ProjectManager
Work with dependent section views	Scope box assignment restricted since Revit 2023	Not stated; it creates new sections at the Scope Box's edges
Bulk view setup across large projects	Manual or Dynamo	Multi-box runs with templates, scale, and naming set up front; undo in one step
Apply templates and scale consistently	Set view by view after creation	Set before creation, with a template per type or one shared template, a scale override, and conflicts reported in Status

Open Questions

Does it create dependent views or reflected ceiling plans, or only the plan, section, and 3D outputs described?
Can it update or regenerate an existing view set after a Scope Box changes, or only create new views?
Can view naming be customized beyond the "Scope - Plan" pattern, for example with prefixes or discipline codes?
Does it place generated views on sheets?
Does it work with Scope Boxes from linked models?
How are rotated Scope Boxes handled when placing sections and the 3D extent?

Bottom Line

ScopeViews targets a common, time-consuming part of Revit documentation: setting up consistent views around project zones. It turns each selected Scope Box into up to six views. Templates, scale, and naming are decided before creation, conflicts are reported in one Status area, and each run can be undone in one step. For BIM coordinators managing large, multi-zone projects, it's a focused tool for faster, more consistent view setup.

Sources

ScopeViews is brought to you by underbim. It's priced at €90, or €750 for the complete 8-tool ub.Suite 1. A 30-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2025-2027.

There's more information available on the underbim website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

ConstraintScanner: Inspecting Constraints in Revit Projects

2026-10-30T18:12:00.000-07:00

Overview

ub.ConstraintScanner is an Autodesk Revit add-in from underbim, a Portugal-based BIM consultancy that has worked in BIM, Revit training, consulting, and software development since 2001. It is one of eight independent add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1, which launched in late October 2026, and is positioned as a model diagnosis tool. Its tagline, "See the relationships. Inspect what they mean," sums up the approach. It scans Revit constraints, dependencies, and model conditions, narrows the results to the relationships that matter, and lets users go straight from the evidence to the elements involved, without changing the model.

Note on sources: This summary is based mainly on underbim's full ConstraintScanner product page, which covers the workflow, feature explorer, coverage, and licensing. The background on Revit constraints comes from Autodesk documentation and community forums. An independent review or hands-on test wasn't found, and gaps are listed under Open Questions.

The Problem It Addresses: Constraints in Revit

Constraints build intelligence into a Revit model by setting relationships between elements. They're powerful, but they're also a common source of confusion and unexpected model behavior. Autodesk's documentation and user forums describe several traits that make constraints hard to manage at project scale:

Several kinds of constraints: Explicit constraints (locked alignments, locked dimensions, and EQ equality constraints) always hold, and conflicts with them cause errors. Looser relationships, such as unlocked dimensions and alignments, may be dropped without notice when a conflict occurs. Implied constraints, such as walls attached to roofs or joined at corners, are managed by Revit itself.
Constraints exist apart from dimensions: Constraints don't belong to a specific view and can exist without the dimension that created them. Deleting a dimension doesn't always remove the constraint, so "hidden" constraints can remain in the model. Several locked dimensions between the same two references can also map to a single constraint.
Hard to trace: Revit's native Reveal Constraints mode shows constraints only temporarily, in the current view. Users on Autodesk forums report they can't find which locked dimension or view controls an element, or "take me to" the source of a constraint.
No native bulk review: Revit has no built-in way to list, filter, or unlock constraints across a whole project. Users have turned to Dynamo scripts or the Revit API, where constraints sit in a separate category from dimensions.
Over-constraining and unpredictable behavior: Leftover or unnecessary locks can make elements resist edits or move unexpectedly. In workshared models, a constraint can't be edited if any constrained element is in a workset the user can't edit.

ConstraintScanner is aimed at this gap. It helps BIM managers, coordinators, and modelers inspect and understand the constraints and dependencies already in a model, instead of discovering them one at a time when an element won't move.

Key Facts

Purpose: Read-only diagnosis of Revit constraints, dependencies, and model conditions.
Scan scopes: Current Selection, Current View, or Entire Project.
Operating mode: Read-only. The scanner has no Delete, Ungroup, Unpin, or Unconstrain option.
Licensing: Perpetual license by Edition. Updates within the Edition are included, and major Edition upgrades are optional. Single-activation and two-activation options are offered.
Documentation: The product page links to setup and documentation. underbim's website also has a Downloads area and a Customer Portal.

The Product Idea

The tool is built on one idea: a relationship isn't automatically a problem. ConstraintScanner presents constraints and dependencies as evidence to inspect, not as errors to remove automatically. The aim is to make model relationships easier to understand before anyone decides whether they need attention. The diagnosis and any change to the model are deliberately kept separate.

Workflow: Scan Broadly, Investigate Deliberately

Scope: Choose Current Selection, Current View, or Entire Project.
Scan: Read the supported constraint, dependency, and warning conditions.
Filter: Use search and filters to narrow the results to the relationships worth reviewing.
Inspect: Read the Impact, the Evidence, and the element information attached to each occurrence.
Locate: Select, open, or zoom to the relevant model context, and isolate it temporarily.
Review: Keep the diagnosis read-only, and decide separately what, if anything, should change.

Coverage: One Inspection Surface

ConstraintScanner brings several common sources of model dependency into one searchable review. It deliberately covers a defined set of Revit relationships and conditions, and it reports them for inspection without removing or rewriting them:

Locks, EQ, and references (constraint relationships): Locked dimension segments, equality (EQ) conditions, and reference relationships found by the scan.
Pinned elements, groups, and arrays (element state and membership): Pinned state and membership relationships, including groups detected in the Revit model.
Hosts and levels (model dependencies): Supported host and level relationships, shown in the same diagnostic results.
Warnings (native model conditions): Supported Revit warnings, included in the same searchable inspection view.

Each result is tagged with a short label: LOCK (locked segment), EQ (equal dimension), PINNED (pinned element), or GROUP (group membership). The three scan scopes support different kinds of investigation. Selection inspects only the elements already selected in Revit, Current View limits the scan to the active view for spatially focused work, and Entire Project checks all supported conditions across the active document for a broad audit.

Impact and Evidence

A scan result is only useful if you can read it in context. Each occurrence stays linked to the reason it was flagged and to the model elements behind it, through four kinds of information:

Condition: States what was detected, so a result is never just an Element ID.
Impact: Describes how the occurrence takes part in the model.
Evidence: Shows the reason behind the result, so you can review it before going into a Revit view.
Identity: Gives the element information, including a Copy ID option for tracing an occurrence or sharing it with others.

Example from the product page: A wall (ID 184233) is paired with a dimension (ID 205981). The scanner reports the condition as Locked segment, the impact as Relationship retained, and the evidence as Constraint / reference context.

Model Investigation: From Result Back into Revit

Results stay useful after filtering because you can find each occurrence in the model and inspect it there, and none of these actions edits the model:

Select: Select the relevant Revit element directly from the current scan result.
Open / Zoom: Open or zoom to a Revit view that shows the occurrence, when one is available.
Temporary Isolate: Use Revit's Temporary Hide/Isolate to focus on the relevant elements without saving a permanent graphic state.

Place Within ub.Suite 1

ub.Suite 1 includes FilterToSchedule, ModelData, InterferenceInvestigator, , ConstraintScanner, ScopeViews, Elevations, and BackupMover. ConstraintScanner shares the suite's design approach:

Understand before acting: ProjectManager follows an "audit first, change second" principle. Discovery and filtering are kept separate from destructive operations, changes are previewed, and each applied operation keeps a single Revit Undo path.
Reach the actual elements: InterferenceInvestigator emphasizes moving from a result to the real model elements, then selecting, isolating, and recovering enough context to understand an issue.
Structured, reviewable results: Sibling tools turn findings into native Revit schedules, .ubr result packages, or input to ModelData for further work.

ConstraintScanner takes the "understand before acting" idea furthest of the suite's tools. It's entirely read-only and has no cleanup commands, so any change is a separate, deliberate step done with native Revit tools or another add-in. Like InterferenceInvestigator, it puts the emphasis on moving from a result back to the actual elements.

Compared with Native Revit Tools

Need	Native Revit	ConstraintScanner
See constraints	Reveal Constraints, temporary and per view	Searchable scan by Selection, View, or Project, covering locks, EQ, references, pins, groups, arrays, hosts, levels, and warnings
Understand what controls an element	Manual hunting across views and dimensions	Condition, Impact, Evidence, and Identity for each occurrence, plus Select, Open/Zoom, and Temporary Isolate
Find hidden or orphaned constraints	No direct tool; Dynamo or API workarounds	Reports constraint and reference relationships; whether it explicitly flags orphaned constraints isn't stated
Bulk review or cleanup	Not available natively	Bulk review with search and filters; no cleanup by design (read-only, with no Delete, Ungroup, Unpin, or Unconstrain)
Reporting or export	Not available natively	Copy ID for tracing and communication; no export or report format is described
Review warnings alongside relationships	Separate Review Warnings dialog	Supported warnings shown in the same searchable results

Open Questions

Which Revit warnings and host/level relationships count as "supported"?
Does it detect hidden constraints left behind after dimensions were deleted, implied constraints such as wall joins and attachments, or constraints inside families?
Does the scan include linked models, or only the active document?
Can results be exported, saved, or sent to a schedule, a .ubr package, or ModelData like other suite tools, or is Copy ID the only output?
How does it present constraints on elements in worksets the user can't edit in workshared models?

Bottom Line

ConstraintScanner targets a long-standing Revit pain point: constraints and dependencies are powerful, but they're hard to see, trace, and manage across a project. Native tools only show them one view at a time. It brings locks, EQ conditions, references, pins, groups, arrays, hosts, levels, and supported warnings into one searchable, evidence-based view. Each result connects directly to the elements in the model, and the model is never changed. For BIM coordinators focused on model QA/QC, it's a low-risk audit tool, though cleanup still has to be done separately.

Sources

ConstraintScanner is brought to you by underbim. It's priced at €120, or €750 for the complete 8-tool ub.Suite 1. A 30-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2025-2027.

There's more information available on the underbim website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

ProjectManager: Project Cleanup with Context Attached

2026-10-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

Overview

ProjectManager is an Autodesk Revit add-in from underbim, a Portugal-based BIM consultancy with experience in BIM, Revit training, consulting, and software development since 2001. It is one of eight add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1, released in late October 2026, and can be purchased individually or as part of the suite. underbim summarizes its purpose as “Know what is in the project. Decide what stays.” The add-in audits recurring Revit project resources—V/G filters, scope boxes, view templates, and views—classifies them as used, unused, or unreferenced, shows their dependencies, and supports batch view management and controlled cleanup. Its defining principle is “audit first, change second”: discovery and filtering are kept separate from destructive operations, every change can be previewed before it is applied, and an applied operation retains a single Revit Undo path.

This summary is based primarily on the text of the official ProjectManager product page, supplemented by underbim’s website, suite overview, and announcement. The product page is marketing material: the Views workflow and delete behavior are described in detail, while some feature areas are summarized briefly. No user guide, independent review, or hands-on testing was available, so the remaining gaps are listed as open questions rather than filled with assumptions.

Core Concept: Audit First, Change Second

ProjectManager brings recurring project-management operations into one place, so the target set can be understood before anything is renamed, detached, or deleted. The product page frames this in four stages:

Find: search, filters, and project content.
Classify: used, unused, and unreferenced.
Review: dependencies, protection, and preview.
Act: batch changes, delete, and Undo.

Six-Step Workflow

underbim describes the workflow as “Find the target set. Understand it before acting.” Discovery and filtering are separated from destructive operations so that project cleanup remains an explicit user decision:

Audit: read the current project content across the supported resource areas and views.
Filter: reduce the list by usage, search criteria, or native Revit view properties.
Understand: review usage counts, dependencies, sheet placement, references, and protected conditions.
Select: build the working set manually or from the current filtered result.
Preview: see what will be deleted, skipped, or detached before the Revit document is modified.
Apply: commit the selected operation, review the result, and retain a single Revit Undo path.

Feature Explorer: Project Cleanup with Context Attached

Selection, classification, and destructive actions are kept separate so that the user understands the target set before modifying the model. The page names eight feature areas: Resources, Used / Unused, Dependencies, Views, Batch View Actions, Preview, Safe / Force Delete, and Results & Undo.

Resources: One Audit Surface

One audit surface: V/G filters, scope boxes, view templates, and views are handled in one place instead of across separate Revit dialogs.
Search: locate resources by name or Element ID without manually scanning long lists.
Scope: analysis is performed against the current, active Revit document.
Separation: filtering and selection are kept apart from destructive actions.

The page’s project-control graphic shows the audit classifying sample items as Used (a coordination filter), Unused (an old scope box), Protected (a working plan), and Unreferenced (an old GA plan), followed by the sequence Filter → Review → Preview → Apply.

Views: Filter the Project Browser Without Scanning It

Views have the deepest workflow in ProjectManager. Name-based criteria are combined with native Revit properties to build precise working sets for review and batch actions:

Name filters: Six case-insensitive operators for building view-name criteria. The specific operators are not listed.
Revit properties: Cumulative filtering by Discipline, View Type, View Template, Phase, Phase Filter, and Relationship, combined with name criteria.
Project state: Not on Sheets and Unreferenced conditions, so the target set reflects project relationships instead of relying on naming alone.
Batch actions: Prefix, Suffix, Replace, and Rename applied to the reviewed, highlighted set rather than to views one by one.

The page’s illustration shows sample views tagged Unreferenced, Not on sheet, Referenced, and Protected. “Relationship” likely refers to primary and dependent view relationships, and “Unreferenced” likely means views not referenced by other views, such as through section, elevation, or callout tags. Both are interpretations; the page does not define them.

V/G Filters, Scope Boxes, and View Templates

The same audit-first model covers recurring project resources that otherwise live in separate Revit dialogs:

V/G filters: list, search, and classify Visibility/Graphics filters as All, Used, or Unused before selecting cleanup actions.
Scope boxes: review scope boxes with their current usage so unused or redundant project extents can be identified deliberately.
View templates: distinguish used and unused templates and inspect their current project relationships before removal.

Safe Delete, Force Delete, Preview, and Undo

underbim summarizes the delete model as “Delete with context. Finish with a readable result.” Cleanup remains an explicit operation with conservative and forced paths:

Safe Delete: For supported resources, items that are still used are skipped and kept out of the destructive path.
Force Delete: When explicitly chosen, known dependencies are detached before the selected resource is removed.
Preview: Each planned operation appears in Results as DELETE, DETACH + DELETE, or SKIP before the Revit document is modified.
Results & Undo: After Apply, the analyzed project state is refreshed for review, and the operation retains a single Revit Undo path.
Protection: Active and primary view conditions remain outside the delete path.

Compatibility and Licensing

Supported content: V/G filters, scope boxes, view templates, and views. underbim describes the current scope as intentionally focused.
Protection: safeguards for active and primary views keep protected view conditions outside the delete path.
License model: perpetual by Edition. Edition updates are included; major Edition upgrades are optional.
Checkout: secure checkout via Freemius.
Documentation: the product page links to setup and documentation resources.

Workflow Value for BIM Coordinators

The following are interpretations of the published capabilities, not verified performance claims:

Safer cleanup: preview-first deletion, Safe mode, and active and primary view protection reduce the risk of removing content still in use.
Faster view housekeeping: filters such as Not on Sheets and Unreferenced, combined with batch renaming, can turn a manual Project Browser review into a filtered, repeatable operation.
Naming standards: batch Prefix, Suffix, Replace, and Rename support bringing inherited or legacy views into line with office naming conventions.
Model health and handover: removing unused filters, scope boxes, templates, and views can simplify a project before issue, archiving, or handover.
Easy recovery: a single Undo path after Apply makes a large batch operation reversible in one step.
Caution: Force Delete deliberately detaches dependencies, so its preview should be reviewed carefully. Because results are not described as exportable, teams that need an audit record may have to document cleanup separately.

Remaining Open Questions

Classification rules: what exactly counts as “used” for each resource type—for example, a filter applied only within a view template, or a scope box assigned to datums but not views—and how is “Unreferenced” defined for views?
Force Delete detachments: which dependencies are detached for each resource type, such as removing a template assignment from views or a filter from views and templates?
View deletion safeguards: beyond active and primary views, how are views placed on sheets, dependent views, and views referenced by other views handled during deletion?
Name operators: which six case-insensitive name operators are available, and how do Replace and Rename handle duplicate-name conflicts?
Batch actions for other resources: are rename operations available for V/G filters, scope boxes, and view templates, or only for views?
Reporting: can audit results be exported, saved as a .ubr, or handed to ModelData? No connected workflow is described.
Scope expansion: are other resource types, such as line patterns, fill patterns, materials, or families, planned for later Editions?
Worksharing: how are elements owned by other users handled during batch renaming and deletion?
Commercial terms: whether activations are per machine or per user, license transfer, and offline activation.

Suggested Trial Evaluation

Use a copy of a representative project with an accumulated history of filters, scope boxes, templates, and views.
Run the audit and spot-check the Used, Unused, and Unreferenced classifications against the project, including edge cases such as filters used only within view templates.
Combine view-name criteria with Discipline, View Type, Phase, and Not on Sheets filters, and confirm that the resulting working set is correct.
Apply Prefix, Suffix, Replace, and Rename to a small set of views, including a case that would create a duplicate name.
Preview a Safe Delete on a mixed selection and confirm that used items are marked SKIP.
Preview a Force Delete and record exactly which dependencies are marked DETACH + DELETE before applying it.
After applying a batch operation, use Revit Undo once and confirm that the full operation is reversed.
Attempt to delete the active view and primary views with dependents to confirm the protection behavior.
Compare the results with Revit’s native Purge Unused and manual Project Browser cleanup.
Test in a workshared model if that is normal production practice.

Overall Assessment

ProjectManager is a focused, cleanup and view-management add-in. Its strength is control rather than breadth: it audits only V/G filters, scope boxes, view templates, and views, but classifies their usage, exposes dependencies and protected conditions, previews each operation as DELETE, DETACH + DELETE, or SKIP, and retains a single Revit Undo path after Apply. The Views workflow—cumulative filtering by name and native properties, including Not on Sheets and Unreferenced, together with batch Prefix, Suffix, Replace, and Rename—addresses a common source of Project Browser clutter. It suits BIM coordinators responsible for project health and model handovers. Its limited resource scope, the lack of any described export or suite handoff, and undocumented classification and detachment rules should be checked during the 30-day trial.

Sources

underbim — ProjectManager product page. Primary source for concept, workflow, features, delete behavior, compatibility, licensing, and pricing.
underbim — ub.Suite 1 overview page. Eight-product suite, Revit 2025–2027, perpetual licensing, and documentation.
underbim — home page. Lists ProjectManager within ub.Suite Edition 1.
underbim — ub.Suite 1 LinkedIn announcement. Suite context and release timing.

ProjectManager is brought to you by underbim. It's priced at €100, or €750 for the complete 8-tool ub.Suite 1. A 30-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2025-2027.

There's more information available on the underbim website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

InterferenceInvestigator: Interference Management in Revit

2026-10-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

Overview

InterferenceInvestigator is an Autodesk Revit add-in from underbim, a Portugal-based BIM consultancy with experience in BIM, Revit training, consulting, and software development since 2001. It is one of eight add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1, released in late October 2026, and can be purchased individually or as part of the suite. underbim summarizes its purpose as “See the clash. Understand the pair.” The add-in focuses on the work after interference detection: moving from an interference result to the exact host and linked elements involved, locating them in the Revit model, recovering enough surrounding context to understand the problem, tracking a review state for each occurrence, and turning the investigation into an actionable result. Reviewed results can become a native Revit schedule, a .ubr result package, or input to ModelData.

This summary is based primarily on the text of the official InterferenceInvestigator product page, supplemented by the ModelData and FilterToSchedule product pages, underbim’s website and suite announcement, and Autodesk documentation on the native Interference Check. The product page is marketing material: several feature areas are described in detail, while others are only named. No user guide, independent review, or hands-on testing was available, so the remaining gaps are listed as open questions rather than filled with assumptions.

Core Concept: A Clash Becomes Useful When You Can Investigate It

underbim states that InterferenceInvestigator is “built for the work after detection”: identifying the pair, reaching the actual elements, understanding their model context, and deciding what needs to happen next. The product page frames this as four stages:

Result: a structured interference set.
Pair: host and linked participants with their identities.
Context: select, isolate, and Focus 5%.
Continue: schedule, .ubr, or ModelData.

The page’s coordination-workflow graphic illustrates a pair consisting of a host structural beam and a linked service element, labeled “Status · Open,” following a path of pair → model → context.

Six-Step Workflow

underbim describes the workflow as moving “from result to model action,” keeping the interference result structured throughout the investigative work inside Revit:

Result: start from a structured set of interference occurrences rather than an unconnected list.
Pair: work with the two explicit participants of each occurrence, including host and linked elements.
Locate: select and reach the actual model elements instead of stopping at their identifiers.
Context: isolate the pair or retain only the context needed to understand the interference.
Review: filter, navigate, and update the state of occurrences as the investigation progresses.
Continue: create a schedule, produce a .ubr, or continue directly in ModelData.

Feature Explorer: Investigate the Occurrence, Keep the Result

The investigation stays connected to the structured interference result: pair identity, model location, visual context, review state, and outputs. The page names eight feature areas: Results, Pairs, Linked Elements, Select & Isolate, Focus 5%, Context, Status & Filters, and Outputs.

Results: Keep the Interference Set Structured

Occurrence: each interference remains an explicit occurrence, one pair at a time, rather than an anonymous row.
Identity: the host and linked participant identities remain attached to the same structured result.
Subset: the visible, filtered subset can drive investigation and outputs without redefining the source result, preserving provenance.

Pairs and Linked Elements: Two Participants, One Explicit Pair

Both sides of each occurrence remain explicit. A linked participant is not reduced to a vague reference to the RVT Link; the investigation can reach and highlight the actual element inside the link while preserving its relationship to the host element.

Host element (Participant A): select the native element in the active Revit document while keeping it tied to the occurrence.
Linked element (Participant B): resolve and highlight the actual element within the linked document context rather than stopping at the RVT Link container.

Select, Isolate, Focus 5%, and Context

Select: synchronize the result with the pair in Revit, moving directly to the model elements.
Isolate: strip the view down when surrounding geometry is no longer useful.
Focus 5%: retain a small spatial envelope around the pair so its location and adjacency remain understandable without the noise of the full model. The name suggests a 5% margin; whether it can be adjusted is not stated.
Context: named as a separate feature area, described as retaining only the context needed to understand the interference.

Status, Filters, and Outputs

Each occurrence carries a review state of Open, Reviewed, Resolved, or Ignore, which remains attached while the result set is navigated and filtered. Filtering creates a visible subset that can drive investigation and outputs without changing the source result. The Outputs feature area covers schedule creation, .ubr results, and the ModelData handoff described below. The page does not state whether states persist after the project is closed, whether comments or assignees can be added, or how states carry over when interferences are checked again.

Comparison with Revit’s Native Interference Check

Revit’s native Interference Check (Collaborate tab › Interference Check › Run Interference Check) compares two category sets and lists detected clashes in an Interference Report dialog. Selecting an item in the report highlights it in the model. The report is a review dialog rather than a structured, trackable dataset: it does not store a review state per clash or produce schedule data.

InterferenceInvestigator adds what the native report lacks: persistent occurrence identity, direct resolution of linked elements, controlled-context views, per-occurrence review states, filtering, and outputs to schedules, .ubr files, and ModelData. Because underbim describes InterferenceInvestigator as built for the work after detection, it should be understood mainly as an investigation and review layer rather than a replacement detection engine. The product page does not state whether InterferenceInvestigator performs its own detection, starts from Revit’s Interference Check, or imports results from another tool.

Connected Workflows and Outputs

underbim describes this as “investigate spatially, continue structurally.” A reviewed result can become a persistent project artifact or move forward without rebuilding the investigation context:

Create Schedule: materialize the investigated subset as a native, persistent project schedule when an in-model result is useful.
Create .ubr: package the interference result with both participants and the context needed for downstream underbim workflows.
Open in ModelData: hand the created schedule and its document identity to ModelData for structured analysis. InterferenceInvestigator closes only after ModelData accepts the handoff. ModelData can then add fields, logical filters, grouping, calculations, investigation tools, reusable .ubsd definitions, and CSV/XLSX export.
Occurrence—Explicit interference pair: Keeps both participants attached to the same identifiable occurrence throughout investigation.
Review state—Open · Reviewed · Resolved · Ignore: Keeps the coordination state attached to the occurrence during navigation and filtering.
Revit schedule—Native project result: Materializes the current investigated subset as a persistent schedule in the Revit project.
.UBR—Definition + context + result: Carries the structured result, participant identities, and relevant context in the common ub.Suite result format.

Compatibility and Licensing

Investigation scope: host-model and linked elements.
Core model: pair → model → context, keeping each occurrence and its two participants connected throughout investigation.
Outputs: native Revit schedule, .ubr result package, or handoff to ModelData.
License model: perpetual by Edition. Edition updates are included; major Edition upgrades are optional.
Checkout: secure checkout via Freemius.
Updates and documentation: underbim publishes signed releases and update manifests on GitHub, and the product page links to setup and documentation resources.

Workflow Value for BIM Coordinators

The following are interpretations of the published capabilities, not verified performance claims:

Faster linked-model review: resolving the actual element inside an RVT Link removes a common friction point in host-versus-link coordination.
Readable clash views: Isolate and Focus 5% may reduce the manual section-box and visibility work otherwise needed to understand a clash in congested areas.
Trackable review: Open, Reviewed, Resolved, and Ignore states turn a one-time report into a working coordination list that can be filtered by progress.
Documented outcomes: schedules and .ubr results provide in-model or portable records of what was found and reviewed.
Deeper analysis: the ModelData handoff supports grouping, counting, and reporting clashes by category, level, system, or other data.
Caution: InterferenceInvestigator appears to complement, not replace, dedicated coordination platforms such as Navisworks or cloud issue tracking, especially for multi-discipline, multi-party workflows. Its fit depends on whether coordination reviews take place inside Revit.

Remaining Open Questions

Source of the result: the page describes work “after detection” and starting from a structured set of occurrences, but does not state where that set comes from. Does InterferenceInvestigator run its own detection, use Revit’s Interference Check, or import an exported interference report or another clash result?
Detection settings: if InterferenceInvestigator performs detection, are categories, tolerances, clearance checks, and rules for ignoring expected intersections configurable?
Link-to-link pairs: the page describes host-plus-linked pairs; are pairs involving two linked models, or two host elements, supported?
Context options: is the Focus margin fixed at 5% or adjustable, and what does the separate Context feature area include, such as section boxes or 3D views?
Review state persistence: are Open, Reviewed, Resolved, and Ignore states stored in the project, in a .ubr file, or only during a session? Can comments or assignees be added?
Re-runs: after the model changes, can a new result be compared with an earlier one so that states carry over and resolved clashes are recognized?
Schedule behavior: how does the schedule represent linked elements, does it refresh deliberately like FilterToSchedule snapshots, and are any parameters added to elements?
Exchange: are BCF, Navisworks, or other external clash formats supported?
Performance: how does it handle large models and large occurrence counts?

Suggested Trial Evaluation

Use a copy of a representative coordinated project, including at least one linked model.
Establish how a structured result is created or loaded, and compare its occurrences with Revit’s native Interference Check for the same category pairs.
For host-plus-linked pairs, confirm that the linked participant is resolved and highlighted as the actual element, not just the link instance.
Use Select, Isolate, and Focus 5% on clashes in congested areas, and confirm that the working view is restored afterward.
Set occurrences to Reviewed, Resolved, and Ignore, filter by status, then close and reopen the project to see whether states persist.
Change the model to resolve some clashes, then repeat the process to see how earlier results and states are handled.
Create a schedule from a filtered subset and review how host and linked participants appear.
Create a .ubr and, if ModelData is being evaluated, open the result in ModelData to confirm what transfers.
Check any parameters, schedules, views, or other content added to the project against office standards.

Overall Assessment

InterferenceInvestigator is a focused add-in that concentrates on the work after interference detection. Its key distinctions are explicit occurrence pairs with persistent participant identity; direct resolution of the actual element inside a RVT Link; Select, Isolate, and Focus 5% tools for viewing a clash in useful context; and Open, Reviewed, Resolved, and Ignore states attached to each occurrence. Reviewed results can continue as native schedules, .ubr packages, or ModelData analysis. It suits BIM coordinators who review host-versus-linked clashes inside Revit and want those reviews to produce a structured, trackable record. The page does not explain where the initial interference result comes from, how review states persist across re-runs, or whether external formats such as BCF are supported. These are the critical points to confirm during the 30-day trial.

Sources

underbim — InterferenceInvestigator product page. Primary source for concept, workflow, features, pair and linked-element investigation, review states, outputs, compatibility, licensing, and pricing.
underbim — ModelData product page. Source for ModelData capabilities after handoff, the Windows platform statement, and ModelData pricing.
underbim — FilterToSchedule product page. Source for comparison pricing and snapshot behavior.
underbim — home page. Lists InterferenceInvestigator within ub.Suite Edition 1.
underbim — ub.Suite 1 LinkedIn announcement. Suite context and release timing.
underbim — official releases repository (GitHub). Signed releases and update manifests.
underbim — About page. Company background since 2001.
Autodesk Support — How to run an interference check between elements in Revit. Native Interference Check workflow.

InterferenceInvestigator is brought to you by underbim. It's priced at €200, or €750 for the complete 8-tool ub.Suite 1. A 30-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2025-2027.

There's more information available on the underbim website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

ModelData: A Schedule-Centered Data Workbench

2026-10-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

Overview

ModelData is an Autodesk Revit add-in from underbim, a Portugal-based BIM consultancy with experience in BIM, Revit training, consulting, and software development since 2001. It is one of eight add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1, released in late October 2026. underbim positions it as a “data workbench” to “build, inspect, calculate and refine Revit schedule and model data with more control over the logic behind the result.” Rather than replacing Revit schedules with a separate data viewer, ModelData extends the schedule workflow with richer field sources, logical filters, grouping, calculated and combined values, investigation in the model, and reusable definitions and results. It is sold individually or as part of the complete ub.Suite.

This summary is based primarily on the text of the official ModelData product page, supplemented by underbim’s website and suite announcement. The product page is marketing material: it describes capabilities at a high level, and some feature areas are named without detailed explanation. No user guide content, independent review, or hands-on testing was available, so those gaps are identified in the open-questions section rather than filled with assumptions.

Core Concept: Work with the Logic Behind the Schedule

The product idea is to extend Revit’s schedule workflow “with filters, grouping, derived values and model context — while keeping the native Revit schedule at the centre.” underbim frames this as four connected layers:

Input: native and semantic fields.
Logic: filters and structure.
Data: calculated and combined values.
Context: investigation in the model.

The product page includes an illustrative data-workbench preview listing walls with Element, Level, Calculated, and Status columns, in which one row is flagged “CHECK” while the others show “OK.” This suggests that calculated values and status-style results can be used to flag items for review. Because it is a marketing preview, the specific rules behind such a status column are not explained.

Six-Step Workflow

underbim describes a connected workflow in which each step, “from source data to final output,” remains part of the same process:

Fields: choose native, semantic, and derived data sources.
Filter: build conditions and logical groups around the result.
Structure: sort, group, and organize the schedule output.
Calculate: create concatenations and calculated data where needed.
Investigate: move from rows and values back into model context.
Output: keep the Revit schedule or continue into reusable results.

Feature Explorer: Eight Layers of Control

The product page presents “one workbench” with eight feature areas: Fields, Filters, Sorting and Grouping, Formatting, Concatenations, Calculated Data, Investigate, and Semantic Data. The supplied page text describes Fields and Investigate in detail; the other areas are named and summarized only through the workflow description above.

Fields: Choose the Data Source, Not Just the Column

ModelData works with native Revit schedule fields while also providing access to semantic and derived data where a workflow needs a more stable or reusable source.

Native first: use Revit data directly and keep native schedule behavior wherever it already solves the task.
Select from: choose from supported sources beyond the immediate field list, broadening data access.
Portable logic: preserve meaning by keeping data identities useful across definitions and workflows.

Filters, Structure, and Calculations

Filters: conditions and logical groups built around the result. The page does not specify supported operators, nesting depth, or how the logic relates to Revit’s native schedule-filter limits.
Sorting and Grouping: sort, group, and organize schedule output.
Formatting: named as a feature area; its options are not described.
Concatenations: combine values into new data where needed.
Calculated Data: create derived values. Formula syntax and whether results are written to parameters are not described.
Semantic Data: named as a feature area and linked to “more stable or reusable” data sources; the exact meaning of “semantic” in ModelData is not defined.

Investigate: The Data Never Has to Lose the Model

ModelData turns schedule results back into model context, following a path from schedule row to model context to focused view:

Select / Zoom: return directly from a schedule result to the corresponding element in the model.
Isolate / Clear: temporarily isolate relevant elements to reduce visual noise, then restore the working view when finished.
Focus: frame the selected result with a controlled contextual margin.
Groups: surface conditions related to Revit groups “instead of silently forcing unsafe changes.” This indicates awareness of group constraints, although the page does not specify which operations might change elements.

Connected ub.Suite Workflows

ModelData can be used on its own, but underbim emphasizes carrying structured context and results between ub.Suite tools “instead of starting again from scratch”:

FilterToSchedule → ModelData: open a FilterToSchedule result directly in ModelData and continue with fields, filters, grouping, calculations, investigation, and output.
InterferenceInvestigator → ModelData: carry structured clash results forward so an investigation can become a schedule, a reusable result, or further model-data analysis.
ub.Flow: ModelData participates in a wider ub.Suite workflow model in which tools exchange context and results instead of acting as isolated endpoints. The page describes this as “start from the task, then carry the context”; ub.Flow’s own features are not detailed.

This also provides the first published indication of FilterToSchedule’s role: it produces filtered results that can be opened in ModelData for further structured analysis.

Definitions, Results, and Output

ModelData is designed to preserve both the setup and the result, so the logic can be reused and outputs keep their context:

.UBSD—Reusable definition: Stores a reconstructible schedule definition, including the logic needed to rebuild the working setup.
.UBR—Definition + context + result: Stores a factual result with enough context to understand where it came from and continue working with it.
CSV / XLSX—External exchange: Exports structured results when the next step belongs outside Revit.
Revit schedule—Native working surface: Keeps the Revit schedule central instead of replacing it with a disconnected data viewer.

The page describes CSV and XLSX as export formats; it does not describe importing edited spreadsheet data back into Revit.

Compatibility and Licensing

File formats: .ubsd definitions and .ubr contextualized results, plus CSV and XLSX export.
License model: perpetual licensing by Edition. Edition updates are included; major Edition upgrades are optional.
Documentation: the page links to setup and documentation resources.

The bundle may suit teams that want the connected FilterToSchedule and Interference Investigator workflows.

Workflow Value for BIM Coordinators

The following are interpretations of the published capabilities, not verified performance claims:

Richer schedule logic: logical filter groups, calculated values, and concatenations may reduce dependence on helper parameters, Dynamo graphs, or spreadsheet post-processing for analytical schedules.
QA/QC: calculated values and status-style results, combined with Select, Zoom, Isolate, and Focus, support a review loop of identifying an anomaly, locating it in the model, and investigating it.
Standardization: reusable .ubsd definitions could let BIM coordinators package and share standard data checks across projects.
Traceability: .ubr results preserve where a result came from, which may support coordination records and reporting.
Coordination follow-up: carrying Interference Investigator results into ModelData could turn clash findings into structured, trackable data.
Native continuity: keeping the Revit schedule central may make outputs easier to place on sheets and maintain within existing project standards.

Remaining Open Questions

The product page answers the main questions about purpose, workflow, output formats, compatibility, and pricing. These details remain to be confirmed from documentation or a trial:

Writing data: does “refine” include editing element parameter values, or do calculated and concatenated values exist only in ModelData schedules and results? If values are written, what parameters are created, and how are undo and validation handled?
Semantic data: what does “semantic” mean in practice, and which additional data sources are available beyond standard schedule fields?
Filter logic: are OR conditions, nested groups, and more than Revit’s native limit of eight schedule filters supported, and how is the result maintained in the native schedule?
Calculations: what formula syntax, functions, units, and rounding rules are supported?
Updates: do schedules and results refresh automatically after model changes, or must definitions be rerun?
Model scope: how are linked models, phases, design options, and worksharing handled?
Spreadsheet round trip: is XLSX export-only, or can edited data be imported?
Performance: how does ModelData perform on large models and schedules?
Licensing details: two-activation price, whether activations are per machine or per user, license transfer, offline activation, and what counts as an Edition update versus a major upgrade.
Data handling: what licensing traffic occurs through Freemius licensing, and is all model processing local?

Suggested Trial Evaluation

Use a copy of a representative project rather than a live model.
Rebuild an existing analytical schedule that currently relies on helper parameters or Dynamo, then compare setup time and results.
Test complex filters with OR conditions and nested groups, and confirm the rows match the expected element set.
Spot-check calculated and concatenated values against manual calculations, including units and rounding.
Use Select, Zoom, Isolate, Focus, and Clear to confirm that results map to the correct elements and that the working view is restored.
Include elements in Revit groups to observe how group-related conditions are reported.
Save a .ubsd definition, reuse it in another project, and confirm that the setup rebuilds correctly.
Save a .ubr result and export CSV and XLSX files, then review the context, structure, and formatting.
If the suite is being considered, test the FilterToSchedule and Interference Investigator handoffs to ModelData.
Check for any parameters, schedules, or other content added to the project, and confirm they meet office standards.

Overall Assessment

ModelData is a schedule-centered data workbench. It adds expanded field sources, logical filters, grouping, calculations, concatenations, and investigation tools on top of native Revit schedules instead of replacing them. Its main differentiators are bidirectional movement between schedule data and model context, reusable .ubsd definitions, context-preserving .ubr results, and integration with other ub.Suite tools. It is positioned for BIM coordinators who need more analytical control over schedule data. Key implementation details—particularly whether it writes data back to elements and how semantic data and complex filters work—are not yet published in the reviewed material. A 30-day trial on a representative project is recommended before adoption.

Sources

underbim — ModelData product page. Primary source for product concept, workflow, features, connected workflows, file formats, compatibility, licensing, and pricing.
underbim — home page. Lists ModelData within ub.Suite Edition 1.
underbim — ub.Suite 1 LinkedIn announcement. Source for suite context and release timing.
underbim — About page. Source for company background since 2001.
underbim — Contact page. Source for contact email.

ModelData is brought to you by underbim. It's priced at €280, or €750 for the complete 8-tool ub.Suite 1. A 30-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2025-2027.

There's more information available on the underbim website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

FilterToSchedule: Revit Schedule Snapshots With OR Statements

2026-10-28T17:36:00.000-07:00

Overview

FilterToSchedule (F2S) is an Autodesk Revit add-in from underbim, a BIM consultancy with experience in BIM, Revit training, consulting, and software development since 2001. It is one of eight add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1, released in late October 2026, and can be purchased individually or as part of the suite. underbim summarizes its purpose as “Filter once. Keep the result.” The add-in turns defined Revit filter results into persistent native Revit schedule snapshots that can be reviewed, refreshed, duplicated, and carried into the next workflow, either as a stored .ubr result or directly in ModelData.

This summary is based primarily on the text of the official FilterToSchedule product page, supplemented by the ModelData product page, underbim’s website and suite announcement, and Autodesk documentation on native schedule filters. The product page is marketing material: some feature areas are described in detail, while others are only named. No user guide, independent review, or hands-on testing was available, so the remaining gaps are listed as open questions rather than filled with assumptions.

Core Concept: Make the Result Persist

underbim observes that a filter is useful while it is being evaluated, but its result is not otherwise retained. FilterToSchedule turns that result into a native Revit schedule snapshot with its own identity, provenance, and controlled lifecycle. The product page frames this in four stages:

Scope: model, category, and context.
Logic: Filter A and Filter B with AND/OR.
Result: a native Revit schedule snapshot.
Continue: refresh, create a .ubr, or open in ModelData.

The page’s workflow graphic shows source elements passing through Filter A (parameter, operator, value), an AND/OR connector, an optional Filter B, and a stored, persistent schedule snapshot. This indicates that a result is built from one or two parameter conditions; the page does not state whether more conditions or nested groups are possible.

Six-Step Workflow

underbim describes the workflow as “Define it. Materialise it. Keep it useful.” It moves from scope and filter logic to a persistent schedule, after which the user decides when the factual result should be refreshed, duplicated, or continued:

Scope: choose where the result comes from and which category is evaluated.
Filter: build the conditions that define the result, including A/B logic where needed.
Context: refine the result with phase, design option, and workset context.
Create: materialize the result as a persistent native Revit schedule snapshot.
Refresh: re-evaluate deliberately when the model changes instead of updating silently.
Continue: keep the schedule, create a .ubr, or open the result directly in ModelData.

Feature Explorer: A Controlled Lifecycle

underbim says FilterToSchedule manages more than the initial query, keeping the scope, identity, state, and next step of each result visible throughout its lifecycle. The page names eight feature areas: Scope, Filters, Context, Output Fields, Persistent Schedules, Refresh & Re-run, Edit & Duplicate, and Continue. Scope and the snapshot lifecycle are described in detail; Output Fields is named but not explained.

Scope: Define Where the Result Comes From

The model scope and category are established before the filter is evaluated, keeping each result tied to a clear, reconstructible starting point:

Model scope: work from the intended model context instead of treating every query as global.
Category: define the Revit category that gives the schedule its working scope.
Links: use supported linked-model context where the task requires it.

Filters, Context, and Output Fields

Filters: Filter A is defined by a parameter, an operator, and a value. An optional Filter B adds a second condition, combined with AND or OR.
Context: the result can be refined by phase, design option, and workset.
Output Fields: named as a feature area; how fields are selected for the resulting schedule is not described.

Snapshot by Design: Stable Until You Choose to Refresh

FilterToSchedule schedules are snapshots. Their values do not update automatically when the model changes; the stored result remains factual until the user deliberately refreshes or re-runs it. This is the most important behavioral difference from a native Revit schedule. Each result displays one of these states:

Snapshot current: The schedule represents the result currently stored by FilterToSchedule.
Update available: The source can be re-evaluated; the existing snapshot remains unchanged until Refresh snapshot is explicitly requested.
Cannot refresh: The original context cannot be resolved safely, so the stored snapshot remains available.
Result Info: Shows provenance: scope, category, filter identity, result ID, and relevant dates.

Refresh, Edit, and Duplicate

Refresh snapshot: re-evaluates the existing result when explicitly requested.
Edit & re-run: changes the definition and re-runs it while preserving the same result identity.
Duplicate as new: intentionally creates a new result with its own lineage, leaving the original intact.

Connected Workflows: Keep the Schedule or Take It Further

FilterToSchedule works on its own. When a task continues, underbim says the result can move forward without rebuilding the same scope and context from scratch. Three paths are described:

Native Revit schedule: keep the filtered result inside the Revit project as a persistent schedule with its own identity and lifecycle.
Create .ubr from schedule: package the definition, context, and result together when the factual result needs to move beyond the current working surface.
Open in ModelData: hand the persistent schedule to ModelData for deeper schedule and model-data work without recreating the result. Both product pages confirm this handoff. ModelData then adds fields, logical filters, grouping, calculations, investigation in the model, reusable .ubsd definitions, and CSV/XLSX export.

Result Identity and Output

underbim emphasizes preserving both the stored result and its identity, distinguishing continuation from duplication, and carrying context forward when another workflow needs it:

Revit schedule—Persistent snapshot: The native schedule is the factual stored result, stable until an explicit refresh or re-run.
F2S_ResultId—Persistent identity: An internal result identity ties each persistent schedule to its FilterToSchedule lifecycle.
.UBR—Contextualized result: A result package created from the stored schedule when definition, context, and result need to travel together.
Edit / Duplicate—Continue or branch: Edit & re-run preserves the result identity; Duplicate as new intentionally creates a new lineage.

The FilterToSchedule page does not list CSV or XLSX export or reusable .ubsd definitions; those options are available after the result is opened in ModelData.

The Problem Space: View Filters vs. Schedule Filters

FilterToSchedule operates in an area where native Revit schedule filtering is well documented as limited:

AND-only logic: Revit allows up to eight schedule filters, and all of them must be satisfied for a row to appear. Native schedules offer no OR logic.
Fields must be scheduled: filtering on a field requires adding it to the schedule; an unwanted column must be added and then hidden.
Unsupported fields: material parameters and Area Type (in area schedules) cannot be used as schedule filters, and filters are case sensitive.
View filters are more expressive: rule-based view filters can use AND or OR conditions and nested filter sets.
Common workarounds: “contains” and “does not contain” rules (Autodesk’s own recommendation), Yes/No inclusion parameters, combined parameters, or filtering by workset.
Longstanding demand: an Autodesk Community thread asking for OR logic in schedule filters dates from 2011 and has more than 60 replies and over 40,000 views.

FilterToSchedule addresses part of this gap. Its published workflow builds conditions from Filter A, an optional Filter B, and AND/OR logic, refines them with phase, design option, and workset context, and stores the matching elements as a schedule. This allows OR logic between two conditions in a schedule-based result, which native schedule filters cannot provide. However, the page does not state that existing Revit view filters can be converted, and its graphic shows two conditions rather than unlimited nested rules. The mechanism used to restrict schedule rows to the stored result is not described. Because results are snapshots, they intentionally do not behave like live native schedule filters.

Compatibility and Licensing

Primary output: native Revit schedule, with an optional contextualized .ubr exchange format.
Result model: persistent snapshot with explicit refresh, rather than silent automatic value updates.
License model: perpetual by Edition. Edition updates are included; major Edition upgrades are optional.
Checkout: secure checkout via Freemius.
Updates and documentation: underbim publishes signed releases and update manifests on GitHub, and the product page links to setup and documentation resources.

Workflow Value for BIM Coordinators

The following are interpretations of the published capabilities, not verified performance claims:

Stable review records: snapshots do not change while a result is being reviewed, coordinated, or issued, so a reviewed list remains the list that was reviewed.
Traceability: Result Info shows scope, category, filter identity, result ID, and relevant dates, which supports auditable QA/QC and coordination records.
Controlled change: the “Update available” status signals when the model can be re-evaluated, while the user decides when the result changes.
More flexible schedule results: OR logic between two conditions, plus phase, design option, workset, and linked-model context, may reduce reliance on helper parameters for some schedule-filtering tasks.
Intentional branching: Duplicate as new allows variations without disturbing the original result and its lineage.
Continuation: .ubr results and the ModelData handoff avoid rebuilding the same scope and filter logic for further analysis.
Caution: because snapshots do not update automatically, a schedule placed on a sheet may become out of date until it is refreshed. Teams will need clear conventions for when results are refreshed and how snapshot schedules are identified.

Remaining Open Questions

Filter depth: is the logic limited to Filter A and an optional Filter B, or are additional conditions and nested groups supported?
Filter source: can existing Revit view filters be used as input, or are conditions built only within FilterToSchedule?
Mechanism: how does the schedule restrict rows to the stored result, and are any parameters added to elements? Is F2S_ResultId stored as a parameter or as hidden internal data?
Update detection: how and when does the add-in determine that an update is available?
Output Fields: which fields can be included, and can they be changed after creation?
Categories: is each result limited to one category, or are multicategory results possible?
Linked models: what does “supported linked-model context” include, and how are linked elements shown in a host-model schedule?
Worksharing and sheets: how do refreshes behave in workshared models, and on sheets where a snapshot schedule has been placed?
Commercial terms: two-activation price, whether activations are per machine or per user, license transfer, and offline activation.

Suggested Trial Evaluation

Use a copy of a representative project rather than a live model.
Build results with Filter A only, A AND B, and A OR B, then verify the rows against a manual check of the model.
Add phase, design option, and workset context, and confirm the result changes as expected.
Include a linked model if linked-context results are needed.
Change the model and confirm that the snapshot stays unchanged, that “Update available” appears, and that Refresh snapshot produces the correct result.
Test a “Cannot refresh” case, for example by unloading a link or removing a design option, and confirm the stored snapshot is preserved.
Compare Edit & re-run with Duplicate as new, and check the Result Info details for each.
Place a snapshot schedule on a sheet and confirm its behavior before and after a refresh.
Create a .ubr result and, if ModelData is being evaluated, open the result in ModelData to confirm what transfers.
Check any parameters, schedules, or other content added to the project against office naming and template standards.

Overall Assessment

FilterToSchedule is a focused add-in that turns filter results into persistent native schedule snapshots. Its key distinction is deliberate control: results remain stable until explicitly refreshed, carry visible provenance and a persistent identity, report whether they are current or can be refreshed, and can be re-run or branched intentionally. Its A/B conditions with AND/OR logic, plus phase, design option, workset, and linked-model context, address part of Revit’s long-standing schedule-filter limitations. Results can also continue as .ubr packages or in ModelData. It suits BIM coordinators who need fixed, traceable filter results for QA/QC and coordination. The snapshot model requires team discipline around refreshing, and the depth of filter logic, the storage mechanism, and multicategory support should be confirmed through the 30-day trial.

Sources

underbim — FilterToSchedule product page. Primary source for concept, workflow, features, snapshot lifecycle, connected workflows, output, compatibility, licensing, and pricing.
underbim — ModelData product page. Source for ModelData capabilities after handoff, the Windows platform statement, and ModelData pricing.
underbim — home page. Lists FilterToSchedule within ub.Suite Edition 1.
underbim — ub.Suite 1 LinkedIn announcement. Suite context and release timing.
underbim — official releases repository (GitHub). Signed releases and update manifests.
underbim — About page. Company background since 2001.
Autodesk Help — Filter Data in a Schedule. Native schedule-filter limits.
Autodesk Support — Using multiple filters in a Revit schedule. AND logic and recommended workarounds.
Autodesk Community — Schedule Filters. Comparison with AND/OR and nested view filters.
Autodesk Community — Filter a Schedule using OR instead of AND. Long-standing user demand.

FilterToSchedule is brought to you by underbim. It's priced at €150, or €750 for the complete 8-tool ub.Suite 1. A 30-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2025-2027.

There's more information available on the underbim website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

BPM — BIM Production Manager: A Dashboard for Managing Drawing-Sheet Production Inside Revit

2026-10-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

Overview and Purpose

BPM, short for BIM Production Manager, is a Revit add-in from BREVIT LLC focused on managing drawing-sheet production inside the authoring environment. It brings sheet status, tasks, assignments, production phases, reference links, notes, sketches, PDF export, and print-set preparation into a single dashboard. Its scope is drawing-production coordination rather than geometric modeling, engineering analysis, or clash detection.

Dashboard and Sheet Management

Modeless interface: the dashboard can remain open while users work in Revit, reducing the need to repeatedly close a dialog to return to the model.
Sheet-set visibility: sheet cards provide an overview of the drawing set and its production status, with a detail panel for selected-sheet information.
Grouping: sheets can be organized into groups and moved between them to support the team’s production structure.
Sheet metadata: the documented detail workflow includes editing sheet number, sheet name, and a Reference / Link field.
Bulk selection: selecting several sheet-row checkboxes switches the panel into bulk-edit mode. Sheet numbers and names are locked in this mode to prevent accidental collective renaming.
Sheet duplication: a Duplicate Sheet action is documented.

Tasks, Progress, and Production Phases

Sheet-based tasks: tasks can be added to an individual sheet or applied across multiple sheets, supporting repeated production checklists without entering the same item separately on every drawing.
Task completion: users can check and uncheck tasks. Completion stamps record the user and time, providing context for checklist updates.
Progress tracking: the dashboard exposes sheet-production progress. The reviewed source excerpts do not specify the calculation formula, task weighting, or whether progress can also be entered manually.
Phase assignment: sheets can be associated with production phases and filtered to focus on the phase being prepared.
Live phase filtering: removing a sheet from the active phase removes it from the filtered list immediately; adding a sheet to that phase brings it into the list without a manual refresh.

Assignments and Role-Based Controls

BPM supports sheet assignments and three application roles. The developer describes these as controls over available editing tools, not different license tiers. Every participating user requires a license.

BIM Manager: includes Project Manager capabilities plus Settings, project initialization, and team-list management.
Project Manager: provides full sheet-editing capabilities, including phases, assignees, references, sketches, and Project Notes. Users are Project Managers by default in the documented version.
Team Member: can view all data, check and uncheck tasks, and move sheets between groups. Project Manager-only tools are hidden rather than merely disabled.
Role setup: BIM Managers and restricted Team Members are managed through two lists.
Settings protection: a Settings password is optional and is not imposed on first use. The guide states that, when enabled, anyone with the password can open Settings.

These controls should be assessed as BPM workflow permissions, not assumed to be a substitute for model-access security or organizational identity management. In particular, the default Project Manager role and optional Settings password warrant deliberate configuration before a broader rollout.

Notes, Sketches, References, and Output

Project Notes: tabbed notes with inline editing keep production information available within the dashboard.
Sketches: the product supports sketches associated with the sheet workflow.
Reference / Link: users can attach reference information to sheets, including a bulk-edit workflow that saves the reference across all selected sheets.
PDF export: PDFs can be exported directly from the dashboard.
Print sets: users can prepare print sets as part of the drawing-package workflow.

The reviewed material does not establish detailed PDF naming rules, combined-versus-separate file options, unattended scheduling, revision-package automation, or other export formats. These should be checked during evaluation rather than inferred from the general PDF and print-set capabilities.

Data Storage, Synchronization, and Privacy

BREVIT states that BPM’s production information resides inside the project’s .rvt file as shared parameters, without an external project database. The documented data includes progress, tasks, assignees, phases, reference links, Project Notes, bookmarks, and team-role lists. Team updates are distributed through Revit’s Sync to Central workflow. Consequently, the advertised collaboration model is model-based synchronization, not evidence of a separate live web service or cross-project management portal.

The developer’s privacy policy distinguishes project data from licensing traffic. It states that model content and project information are not uploaded to BREVIT. Activation, renewal, and trial requests do send the license key, registered email, product name, and a one-way hash of the computer name to its license server over HTTPS. License status and per-project preferences are cached locally. The policy also states that the plugins do not collect telemetry or usage analytics.

Practical Value and Evaluation Considerations

BPM’s strongest potential application is keeping drawing-production coordination close to the sheets being produced. Bulk tasks, assignments, phase filtering, and model-resident notes may reduce duplicate recordkeeping between Revit and separate trackers. PDF export and print-set preparation connect that coordination information to package preparation.

Worksharing: test simultaneous edits, element ownership, synchronization timing, and conflict handling with a representative project.
Parameter governance: inspect added parameters, their bindings and naming, template implications, and how production records behave when sheets or models are copied. Exact parameter names were not established in the retrieved excerpts.
Progress interpretation: establish what completion means and how totals are calculated. Checking off tasks should not be treated as automatic verification of drawing correctness or issue readiness.
Permissions: verify restricted-role behavior and Settings protection before team deployment.
Output QA: validate exported sheets, page sizes, naming, and intended print-set membership against existing issuance standards.
Integration boundaries: cross-model dashboards, external issue-platform integrations, APIs, spreadsheet exchange, and formal document-control approvals were not established by the reviewed sources.
Operational fit: assess dashboard responsiveness on a large sheet set and confirm behavior on the organization’s actual worksharing setup and Revit builds.

Overall Assessment

BPM is best understood as an in-Revit sheet-production coordination layer: a modeless dashboard combining tasks, progress, assignments, production phases, notes, references, and drawing output. Its key differentiator is keeping the coordination data in the Revit project and sharing it through normal model synchronization rather than maintaining a separate project database. It appears most relevant to teams seeking a sheet-centered production workflow, but its benefit depends on consistent use, suitable worksharing behavior, and clear definitions of completion.

Internet Sources

BREVIT — BPM product overview. Primary source for scope, dashboard features, roles, supported platforms, and the per-user license requirement.
BREVIT — BPM complete guide. Primary source for version 1.3.1 changes, save behavior, bulk editing, phase filtering, role setup, and recent version history.
BREVIT — Privacy Policy. Primary source for model-resident data, license-validation traffic, local caching, and publisher privacy statements.
Autodesk Marketplace — BREVIT LLC publisher profile. Source for publisher identity and support contact.
BREVIT — main website. Additional context for the product family and current BPM version.

BPM is brought to you by BREVIT LLC. Pricing was not known at press time. A free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2024-2027.

There's more information available on the BREVIT website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Revit Add-ons Eclipses 4,000 Post Mark!

2026-10-27T14:45:23.594-07:00

We recently made our 4,000th post about a week ago with Product Roundup: Karo Modum. We knew we were close, but still ticked past the landmark. At an average of one post per day, that would be about 11 years of posts. We now sit at 4,009 published posts and slightly over 4.8 million pageviews. That makes us happy. Thank you readers!

LengthMEP: Measure and Tabulate the Lengths of MEP Elements

2026-10-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

Overview

LengthMEP is a focused Autodesk Revit add-in from DQ Projects for measuring and tabulating the lengths of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing elements. Its documented capabilities combine length checks on preselected elements with the creation of category-specific and multicategory quantity schedules. The publisher also describes measurement in views and updating total values by diameter or size. Its primary purpose is quantity reporting rather than system design or engineering calculations.

Supported Revit Categories

Electrical: conduits, wires, and cable trays.
Mechanical: ducts and flex ducts.
Plumbing and piping: pipes and flex pipes.

These are the seven categories explicitly identified in the Autodesk Marketplace description. Fittings, accessories, equipment, fabrication parts, and linked-model elements are not expressly identified as supported measurement categories. Their treatment should therefore be confirmed rather than assumed.

Principal Commands and Outputs

LengthMEP command: creates quantity schedules for the supported categories, creates a multicategory schedule, and updates total values by diameter or size. This provides a reporting-oriented workflow for reviewing accumulated lengths rather than inspecting elements individually.
Selection command: displays total length for supported elements that the user has already selected. Preselection is an explicit prerequisite in the publisher’s description, making this command suitable for focused checks of a chosen group of elements.

The two-command interface separates quick measurement from schedule-based reporting. However, the available description does not explain the schedule field layouts, sorting and filtering rules, treatment of mixed categories, or whether the reported results refresh automatically after model changes. Because an update function is explicitly mentioned, users should verify when it must be rerun.

Shared Parameters and Model Integration

The add-in links two shared parameters to the seven supported categories: layoutlength_length, identified as a Length-type parameter, and layoutlength_string, identified as a String-type parameter. This gives the tool both a length-valued parameter and a text-valued parameter within its documented data structure.

Practical Applications and Workflow Value

Localized quantity checks: use selection-based totals to review a defined collection of conduits, ducts, pipes, wires, or cable trays without manually adding individual lengths.
MEP quantity documentation: use the schedule-generation capabilities to organize supported model lengths in Revit schedules.
Diameter- or size-based review: use the documented total-update capability when reviewing quantities by the applicable element size.
Cross-category reporting: use the multicategory schedule capability where a combined reporting structure is helpful, while retaining clear distinctions between different systems and element categories.
QA/QC support: compare selected quantities and scheduled totals against a controlled model sample to check reporting scope and consistency.

These applications are interpretations of the documented measurement and scheduling functions, not evidence of additional built-in features. The potential efficiency benefit is reduced repetitive measurement and schedule setup.

Pricing and Licensing

The developer’s website lists LengthMEP at US$12 under lifetime licenses with free future updates. The current Autodesk Marketplace product page labels the offering as a trial and provides a free-trial option.

Limitations and Evaluation Considerations

Measurement basis: the sources do not define centerline versus other measurement conventions, fitting allowances, bend treatment, or the handling of slopes and flexible geometry.
Wire interpretation: support for the Wires category is documented, but the sources do not establish that the output represents installed conductor length, circuit-path length, conductor multiplicity, or termination allowances.
Scope and visibility: measurement in views is advertised, but the exact interaction with view filters, hidden elements, phases, design options, and linked files is not explained.
Update behavior: automatic background synchronization is not established; verify whether edits require rerunning the command.
Data and deliverables: the reviewed descriptions do not document built-in Excel export, cost databases, labor calculation, waste factors, or a complete bill-of-materials workflow.
Validation: check a small, known sample in each intended category, review generated parameters and schedules, and confirm units and rounding before relying on project-wide results.

Overall Assessment

LengthMEP is best understood as a narrowly scoped MEP length-measurement and scheduling utility. Its distinguishing combination is support for seven Revit categories—including wires and flexible ducts and pipes—together with preselection-based totals, shared-parameter integration, category schedules, and multicategory reporting. It may be useful where teams repeatedly need model-derived length summaries without developing custom automation.

Sources

Autodesk Marketplace — LengthMEP product listing. Primary source for functions, shared parameters, supported categories, version, dates, compatibility, trial availability, and support contact.
DQ Projects — developer website. Primary source for the advertised US$12 lifetime license and free future updates.
Autodesk App Store — DQ Projects publisher directory. Source for the Win64 designation and conflicting free listing.
RVT Plugins — LengthMEP review. Secondary description of the same core functions; also labels the product free. Promotional assessments were not treated as independent performance validation.

LengthMEP is brought to you by DQ Projects. It's priced at $12. A free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2022-2027.

There's more information available on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace »

Questions? Contact the developer »

BNotes: Advanced Keynote Manager

2026-10-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

Overview

Bnotes—Advanced Keynote Manager is a Revit add-in from BREVIT LLC that provides a visual interface for searching, editing, organizing, and maintaining keynote text files. It retains Revit’s external .txt keynote-file workflow while reducing the need to maintain that file manually in a separate editor. Its main capabilities combine hierarchical browsing, usage indicators, inline editing, reference updates, file recovery, and coordination tools for cloud-hosted keynote files.

Keynote Browsing and Editing

Hierarchical tree view: Keynotes appear in a collapsible parent/child structure. The Marketplace listing identifies blue entries as used, red entries as unused, and black entries as parent or category headings. This makes project usage visible without reviewing a flat text file.
Live search: Entering part of a keynote key or description filters the tree. The listing describes debounced searching intended to remain responsive with thousands of entries.
Inline editing: Users select an entry and change its key or description in the detail panel. Changes can be written back to the keynote file and applied to Revit. The guide distinguishes Update Selected, Reload From File, Refresh, and Save & Apply to Revit controls.
Adding and reorganizing notes: Users can add child or sibling entries, edit a parent key to move an entry within the hierarchy, and delete entries with confirmation. New keys are automatically numbered to follow the existing scheme, according to the listing.
File-wide text-case tools: Descriptions can be converted to Title Case, UPPERCASE, or lowercase. These are broad standardization operations across the file, rather than selective editorial corrections.

Usage Checking and Reference Coordination

Usage navigation: Users can click usage indicators to reach the sheets and views where a keynote is used. This provides a connection between library maintenance and placed documentation.
Bulk reference updates: Renaming a keynote key updates placed references across sheets in one Revit transaction. The precise coverage of element assignments, annotations, and project-specific conditions should be verified in a trial.
Orphan detection: Identification of missing-key references and entries no longer referenced. These conditions should be treated differently: an unused library note may be intentional, whereas a placed reference with a missing key requires investigation.
Keynote types: The product page explicitly identifies element and user keynotes. The reviewed material does not clearly establish equivalent material-keynote support; firms requiring that workflow should confirm it directly.

File Management and Recovery

Create or copy files: The File drawer can create a blank keynote file or copy an existing one. Bnotes automatically assigns the resulting file as the project’s keynote source.
Per-project file memory: Bnotes remembers the selected keynote-file location for each Revit project, reducing repeated browsing between sessions.
Save Project Keynotes As: Identified as new in version 2.0, this recovery feature exports keynote entries already loaded in Revit’s memory to a new .txt file. It is intended for lost files, inaccessible paths, or related file-access problems.
Recovery boundary: Exporting loaded project data is not the same as recovering every historical revision of an external file. Changes never loaded into the project should not be assumed recoverable through this feature.

Cloud Files and Worksharing

The Marketplace listing names Autodesk Docs, Autodesk Forma, and BIM 360 as cloud-file scenarios. It describes a Refresh function for resynchronizing keynote information when Revit shows question marks in keynote annotations. The guide also names OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, SharePoint, and Box in its cloud-worksharing discussion.

For a workshared model with a cloud-hosted keynote file, Bnotes prompts users to Sync With Central before editing and uses the Bnotes_ActiveUser project parameter to track editing activity. If another user has Bnotes open, it displays a warning with that user’s name. On closing, the user can synchronize or close without synchronizing. The documented flow is skipped for local keynote files. Although marketed as conflict prevention, the described behavior establishes synchronization prompts and editing-status warnings, not an unconditional file lock or demonstrated database-style concurrency control.

Compatibility, Pricing, and Licensing

The developer lists Revit 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027, with one license covering all six supported versions. The Autodesk Marketplace listing offers a trial, but its duration was not established by the retrieved information. Advertised one-time prices are in US dollars:

Solo: 1 seat — $59.
Duo: 2 seats — $109.
Small Team: 5 seats — $239.
Team: 10 seats — $439.
Studio: 30 seats — $1,239.

The pricing page defines a seat as one activation, tracked per machine and email. Larger deployments and site licenses require contacting BREVIT. It states that every plan includes all features, a perpetual license, one year of updates and support, immediate license delivery, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. After the first year, updates and support can optionally be renewed for 30% of the license price annually; without renewal, the owned version continues working.

Terms to confirm: The main product page also advertises free updates within the major version, while the dedicated pricing page describes one year of updates with optional renewal. Those entitlements are not identical. Buyers should resolve the discrepancy and confirm the applicable terms before purchase. Prices and compatibility may change.

Practical Value and Evaluation Priorities

Bnotes is most relevant to teams maintaining substantial keynote libraries or project-specific files. Its likely workflow benefits are less manual text-file maintenance, faster identification of used notes, more consistent description formatting, easier hierarchy changes, and improved visibility into missing references and shared editing. These are implications of the published features, not measured productivity results.

Test automatic numbering and parent/child changes against actual office keynote conventions.
Verify renamed-key behavior across annotations, element assignments, views, and sheets in a representative project.
Confirm material-keynote support if required.
Check cloud-file accessibility, refresh behavior, simultaneous-editor warnings, and synchronization practices.
Compare recovered text-file output with the keynote data expected from the project.
Confirm activation administration, license transfer arrangements, trial duration, update entitlements, and support terms before wider deployment.

Overall Assessment

Bnotes is a focused keynote-management utility rather than a general-purpose Revit productivity suite. Its principal appeal is bringing visual editing, organization, usage checking, file recovery, and cloud-worksharing awareness together around Revit’s existing keynote-file system. The reviewed sources are predominantly developer documentation and the Autodesk Marketplace listing, which displayed two 5-star ratings. The feature set merits a representative project trial, but reliability, performance, reference-update coverage, and collaboration behavior should not be treated as independently validated.

Sources

BREVIT: Bnotes product overview — advertised capabilities and supported Revit versions.
BREVIT: Bnotes complete guide — interface, editing controls, and worksharing details.
BREVIT: Bnotes pricing — plan prices, activation model, updates, support, and refund terms.
Autodesk Marketplace: Bnotes—Advanced Keynote Manager — developer identification, feature descriptions, trial availability, and review status.

The main Bnotes interface

Keynotes count

Prevents duplicate keynote numbers.

Text drawer.

Adding keynotes and changing text case.

Bnotes is brought to you by BREVIT LLC. Pricing starts at $59/seat. A free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2022-2027.

There's more information available on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Free ModelMedic: Model-Health Checks and Selective Remediation

2026-10-24T13:05:36.718-07:00

Overview

ModelMedic is a model-health and QA/QC toolkit for Autodesk Revit published by ME Solutions, identified in its privacy policy as Mohamed Elzaiat. It brings six focused tools into one add-in: ModelCheck, LinkTrace, Warnalyzer, ModelMop, GridSync, and JoinMaster. Together they address repeatable model checks, link-coordinate investigation, selected warning fixes, targeted cleanup, element-to-grid alignment, and geometry join order. Its distinguishing proposition is the combination of inspection and remediation: users can identify selected problems and then address supported cases within Revit rather than collecting a report alone. The current marketplace lists the add-in as free. [1, 2]

ModelMedic - Main Window

1. ModelCheck — Repeatable Model-Health Reviews

ModelCheck lets teams set project thresholds, run health checks, review pass/fail results, share settings, and export reports to Excel (.xlsx). The developer describes a distributed workflow in which a BIM manager defines thresholds and exports settings, team members import them and run checks, and results return for review. This could support recurring coordination checks and pre-issue reviews using consistent criteria. However, the retrieved product material does not enumerate the complete metric library, threshold ranges, weighting, check-setting format, or report schema. It should not be assumed to validate arbitrary client requirements, every BIM execution plan provision, or all information-delivery standards. [1, 3]

ModelMedic - ModelCheck Settings

ModelMedic - ModelCheck Report

2. LinkTrace — Link Placement and Coordinate Analysis

LinkTrace reviews RVT link placement and coordinate relationships. The marketplace identifies Shared Site status; Survey Point, Project Base Point, and Internal Origin deltas; rotation differences; placement source; and duplicated link instances. These checks can help distinguish a local placement problem from a broader coordination or coordinate-system discrepancy. A displayed delta is evidence to investigate, not an instruction to move the link or acquire/publish coordinates: a difference may be intentional. The public description confirms analysis, not automatic repair of shared-coordinate relationships or authority to overwrite a project’s agreed survey setup. [1]

ModelMedic - LinkTrace

3. Warnalyzer — Warning Review and Supported Fixes

Warning investigation: Review Revit warnings and select the affected elements.
Joined but not intersecting: The developer describes resolving this condition by unjoining the affected geometry.
Slightly off-axis elements: Supported corrections snap small alignment or rotation discrepancies within a tolerance.
Duplicated instances: Supported duplicate removal retains one instance, according to the developer’s description. Rules for deciding which instance survives require confirmation.
Duplicate Mark and Type Mark: A parameter resolver supports bulk cleanup of conflicting values. Naming patterns, exclusions, and downstream effects on tags and schedules should be tested.

Warnalyzer is not advertised as an automatic solution for every warning category. Even a supported correction can change design or documentation intent: a slight angle may be intentional, repeated marks may follow a legitimate convention, and coincident elements may represent different phases or requirements. Pilot corrections on controlled copies and verify geometry, hosting, tags, schedules, and warning counts afterward. [1, 3]

ModelMedic - Warnalyzer

ModelMedic - Warnalyzer;
Duplicate Mark/Type-mark Resolver

4. ModelMop — Targeted Cleanup and Optimization

ModelMop offers selectable cleanup actions rather than a single undifferentiated purge. The current listing names unused content, views, sheets, links, CAD, PDFs, images, annotations, regions, groups, arrays, rooms, spaces, and areas. It also advertises family cleanup, Convert In-Place, workset assignment, and pinning of links, grids, and levels. The developer’s earlier overview additionally mentions empty worksets, filters, view templates, and group explosion. Those historical details should be checked against the installed version rather than treated as a complete current command specification. [1, 3]

The practical value is selective housekeeping and reference protection. However, unused does not always mean unnecessary: unplaced views, spare types, planning rooms, reference images, and templates may be intentional project resources. Likewise, in-place conversion, exploding groups, deleting sheets, or removing linked content can have substantial effects. Confirm previews, dependent deletions, protected-content exclusions, transaction behavior, and recovery procedures before enabling destructive actions. The listing does not establish that conversion preserves every constraint, relationship, parameter, and category behavior.

ModelMedic - ModelMop

5. GridSync — Element-to-Grid Alignment

GridSync checks and corrects columns, walls, and beams using distance, center, and angle criteria. The marketplace identifies visible-element and selected-element scopes. The developer describes configurable distance/angle tolerances and correction logging. This makes it potentially useful for minor near-misses rather than wholesale geometric redesign. Teams must distinguish accidental drift from deliberate offsets, sloping framing, eccentric columns, and nonorthogonal layouts. Test pinned elements, constraints, groups, hosted components, sloped members, and worksharing ownership before applying corrections broadly. No public specification for all supported grid geometries or structural relationships was established. [1, 3]

ModelMedic - GridSync

6. JoinMaster — Priority-Based Geometry Joins

JoinMaster automatically joins eligible intersecting elements and enforces join order according to a user-defined category priority. The developer gives Walls → Floors → Framing as an example of a priority sequence, not a universal recommended standard. The tool can potentially reduce repetitive join and switch-join operations and improve consistent representation. Join order also affects visible edges and quantity interpretation, so priorities should reflect the project’s modeling rules. Confirm supported category pairs, processing scope, exceptions, and effects on sections, material quantities, and schedules. The description does not establish a clash-detection or analytical-model coordination capability. [1, 3]

ModelMedic - JoinMaster

Recommended QA/QC Workflow

Establish a baseline: Record warnings, relevant health results, link-coordinate findings, and representative model behavior before changes.
Standardize settings: Agree project-specific thresholds, alignment tolerances, join priorities, naming rules, and cleanup exclusions.
Inspect before modifying: Start with ModelCheck and LinkTrace, then triage warning and alignment findings by impact and intent.
Pilot targeted corrections: Use a sandboxed copy and limited selections for Warnalyzer, GridSync, ModelMop, and JoinMaster.
Validate downstream effects: Review constraints, hosting, groups, phases, geometry, schedules, tags, quantities, joins, and coordinate relationships.
Recheck and report: Rerun relevant checks and retain the Excel health report alongside a project record of accepted exceptions and actual corrections.
Repeat at agreed milestones: Use a documented cadence appropriate to model maturity and deliverable risk. This workflow is evaluation guidance, not a confirmed automation feature.

Local Processing, Connectivity, and Privacy

The marketplace states that model operations run locally inside Revit and that model geometry and project content are not uploaded. It also acknowledges connections for update, availability, and version checks. The publisher’s privacy policy provides a more specific and material qualification: a weekly online update check is required, and the application may require a critical update before further use. Therefore, local model processing should not be described as fully offline operation or absence of transmitted identifiers. [1, 2]

The policy says update requests transmit the application version, Revit major version, a randomly generated installation ID, Revit username, and Windows account name. The hosting provider also records IP address and User-Agent as part of normal web requests. The publisher describes these uses as updates, compatibility, abuse prevention, and possible future entitlement validation, not advertising or analytics. Autodesk may also share purchaser name and email for entitlement and support. Although the policy’s general offline section says no default personal-data collection, its required-update section expressly lists identifiers; deployment review should use the more specific disclosure rather than characterize the software as having no data transmission. IT should confirm endpoints, retention, access, offline grace behavior, and the effect of blocked requests. [2]

Availability, Compatibility, and Support

Publisher: ME Solutions; the privacy policy identifies Mohamed Elzaiat.
Current listed price: Free on Autodesk Marketplace. The privacy policy anticipates possible future licensing; permanent free availability should not be assumed.
Supported Revit versions: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 in the current listing. Revit 2027 support was not established.
Operating system and language: Windows 10/11; English.
Current listed release: Version 1.0.8, last updated September 21, 2026. The marketplace gives June 17, 2026 as the release date.
Public reviews: The retrieved marketplace listing shows one 5-star rating. Its “no known issues” FAQ is not evidence of error-free operation.
Unconfirmed details: Installer prerequisites, administrative deployment switches, complete licensing terms, support response commitments, and detailed rollback behavior were not established. [1–3]

Overall Assessment

ModelMedic offers a broad, practical combination of model-health checks and selective remediation in a currently free Revit toolkit. Its strongest documented features are shareable checking thresholds, Excel reporting, link-coordinate diagnostics, fixes for several common warnings, targeted cleanup, tolerance-based alignment, and category-priority join control. It is best treated as a coordinated maintenance toolkit, not an all-purpose compliance validator, clash detector, or guarantee of improved performance. Adoption should depend on controlled testing of modifying commands and approval of the mandatory-update/privacy behavior. No independent performance benchmark was established, so productivity and reliability benefits remain to be evaluated on representative project models.

Sources

Autodesk Marketplace — ModelMedic, ME Solutions. Primary current product source for the six modules, feature scope, Excel reporting, local model processing, free price, version and release dates, compatibility, operating system, language, and rating status.
ModelMedic — Publisher Privacy Policy. Publisher identity and contact; effective September 18, 2025. Source for required weekly update checks, possible critical-update enforcement, transmitted identifiers, entitlement information, and potential future licensing.
Mohamed Elzaiat — ModelMedic developer announcement. Supplementary developer-authored detail on distributed checking, warning fixes, alignment tolerances, cleanup, and join priorities. Earlier compatibility and early-access subscription statements are not substituted for the current marketplace listing.

ModelMedic is brought to you by ME Solutions. It's free.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2022-2026.

There's more information available on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Product Roundup: Karo Modum

2026-10-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

From the Karo Modum website:

Karo.ModelGuard

Prevents model degradation in real time — before bad changes reach central. Enforces modeling discipline across multidisciplinary teams with instant alerts and audit trails, without disrupting daily Revit drafting. | $99/mo or $990/yr

Karo.Segments

Parametric modeling and architectural detailing for flashings, trims, parapet copings, and facade panels. Transforms manual 2D line work into accurate, scheduled 3D elements snapped to host geometry. | $19/mo or $149/yr

Karo.WhatsChanged

Audits and tracks geometry shifts, coordinate changes, and parameter modifications whenever consultants reload linked models. Pinpoints exact additions, modifications, and deletions without cloud processing or file size limits. | $15/mo or $120/yr

Karo.WhyHidden

Instantly diagnoses why an element is invisible in your active view and guides you directly to the fix. Eliminates minutes of manual troubleshooting through nested visibility graphics, design options, and phase settings. | $9/mo or $69/yr

Karo.Segments: Creating & Managing Architectural Segments as Plates on Host Geometry

2026-10-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

Overview

Karo.Segments is a Revit add-in from Karo Modum for creating and managing user-defined architectural segments as plates on host geometry. Its advertised applications include flashings, trims, parapet copings, cover strips, drips, panels, cassettes, and sheet-material layouts. It combines face-and-edge-based placement, a mark-based catalog, dimensional editing, overlap controls, schedules, and display management. The central proposition is a connected modeling-and-documentation workflow for repeated envelope components, rather than a collection of separately modeled details. The vendor’s manual and demonstration are the principal evidence for this summary; they do not constitute independent testing. [1, 2]

Placement and Editing Workflow

Choose or define a segment: Select an existing catalog mark or enter type parameters. The placement form foregrounds type and length, with additional fields available in an expanded view.
Reference model geometry: Placement uses a selected planar face and reference edge. The manual describes magnetic snapping near segment ends and face corners, with other positions moving along the edge in 5 mm increments.
Set orientation: Rotation and mirroring controls support positioning relative to the host. The manual distinguishes the add-in’s rotation control from Revit’s native Rotate command, which it says is blocked for Karo plates.
Place and manage: The segment appears in the model and catalog as a Karo plate. Selecting a catalog row selects matching elements; selecting a plate highlights the corresponding catalog entry.
Edit dimensions and data: Parameters can be edited in the hub, Revit Properties, or native schedules using shared fields. The manual says invalid values are reverted with a notification.
Refine joints and documentation: Adjust overlap and side-offset settings, review geometry and appearance, and prepare schedules with profile illustrations. [1, 2]

Catalog and Parameter Management

Mark-based organization: The catalog lists segment types by mark, with dimensions, check and construction colors, RAL information, and instance counts.
Schedule groups: Rows are grouped by Schedule group, while segments excluded from schedules are shown separately. This makes inclusion decisions visible, but teams must still reconcile exclusions against deliverables.
Search and selection: Filtering by mark and description helps locate entries. Multiple marks can be selected for catalog operations.
Type and instance visibility: In the documented Per segment mode, a parent mark has nested length/color variants. This supports review of variations within a nominal type.
Centralized editing: Type editing includes mark, description, sizes, image, and RAL data. The manual notes that changing the selection discards unsaved edits, an interaction worth including in user training.
Native-model interaction: The manual documents moving plates with Revit’s Move tool and copying/pasting to create another segment of the same mark. This does not establish the underlying Revit category, family implementation, or behavior without the add-in installed. [1]

Geometry, Overlaps, and Detailing

The demonstration highlights edge and corner placement, 3D lap joints and overlaps, profile-dimension changes, and length adjustments through Revit Properties. The manual also identifies overlap and side-offset controls. These features are relevant to repeated sheet-material components where junctions and end relationships are as important as the nominal profile. However, the source excerpts do not establish universal corner solving, curved-host support, arbitrary freeform profiles, automatic adaptation to later host edits, or fabrication-ready bend development. Those capabilities should not be assumed from the product’s architectural-detailing positioning. [1, 2]

Schedules, Profile Images, and Display

Profile illustrations: The vendor demonstration advertises schedules containing profile sketches or drawings, potentially making similar marks easier to distinguish than text-only lists.
Shared data fields: Hub, Properties, and native-schedule editing use the same fields according to the manual, reducing the need for separately maintained metadata.
Schedule organization: Grouping, inclusion/exclusion, instance counts, and length/color variants support structured review of repeated components.
Display management: A dedicated Display section and switching between view display modes are documented. The reviewed excerpts do not fully specify the modes or whether settings affect one view or multiple views.
Output caveat: The manual excerpts and demonstration confirm schedules and profile drawings, but do not establish exact export formats, sheet placement behavior, automatic drawing dimensions, CNC output, or a validated fabrication quantity workflow. [1, 2]

Potential BIM and Production Benefits

Less repetitive component setup: Reusing marks and placing against model references may reduce repeated manual modeling of trims and flashings.
More consistent data: A common catalog can help standardize descriptions, dimensions, finishes, and schedule groupings.
Better visual coordination: Modeled components can be inspected in context rather than existing solely as disconnected 2D details.
Clearer schedules: Profile drawings may improve communication where marks differ by cross-section rather than description alone.
Focused QA: Bidirectional catalog/model selection and visible instance counts provide useful review points for omissions, inconsistent marks, and unintended variants.

Limitations and Evaluation Questions

Host geometry: Documented placement begins with a planar face. Test slopes, irregular edges, corner conditions, linked hosts, and geometry changes before assuming coverage.
Model persistence: Confirm how elements behave on workstations without Segments, after subscription expiry, and during Revit upgrades or uninstall.
Interoperability: Verify category assignment, materials, worksets, phasing, design options, IFC/DWG export, tags, and clash-detection visibility.
Quantity reliability: Reconcile marks, lengths, counts, overlaps, and schedule exclusions against a controlled reference. A displayed profile is not evidence of a fabrication-ready blank or bend allowance.
Worksharing: Test ownership and simultaneous edits to shared marks and type data. Public evidence reviewed does not explain conflict handling.
Interaction differences: Add-in-specific rotation and unsaved-edit behavior may require targeted training.
Performance: Benchmark large repeated layouts; no independently verified capacity or productivity benchmark was established.
Evidence boundary: No independent product review was established in this research. Recommendations here are evaluation guidance, not verified product capabilities.

Compatibility, Local Processing, and Commercial Status

Revit compatibility: The vendor demonstration lists Revit 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027.
Operating system: Windows 10 and Windows 11, 64-bit, are advertised.
Interface languages: The manual documents an English/Russian toggle.
Data processing: The vendor states that calculations and model processing run locally and that model data is not sent to external servers. This does not establish offline licensing, absent telemetry, or network requirements for activation and updates.
Support: The demonstration lists support@karomodum.com.
Unverified commercial details: A licensing interface is documented, but Segments-specific pricing, trial duration, current release number, seat terms, and installer details were not established by the retrieved material. Prices for other Karo products should not be applied to Segments.
General terms: Karo Modum’s EULA describes license restrictions, subscription provisions, and digital-license refund limitations subject to applicable law, and identifies the developer as independent of Autodesk. Confirm product-specific terms before purchase. [1, 2, 4]

Recommended Pilot

A representative pilot should include a parapet coping, a window flashing or drip, a repeated cover strip, and a panel or cassette condition. Test placement accuracy, slopes and corners, overlap changes, mark reuse, host edits, worksharing, schedule reconciliation, display settings, and deliverable exports. Include a workstation without the add-in and validate installation and activation with IT. Measure modeling and documentation effort against the team’s existing method without relying on vendor benchmark claims.

Overall Assessment

Karo.Segments is best understood as a specialized architectural-component authoring and management tool. Its most compelling documented combination is reference-based placement, reusable marks, coordinated parameter editing, overlap controls, and schedules with profile illustrations. It is potentially valuable where repeated flashings, trims, copings, or sheet-material components justify consistent 3D representation. It should not be treated as a confirmed substitute for fabrication engineering, automatic host adaptation, or enterprise content management without further testing. A purchase decision should follow confirmation of commercial terms and a controlled pilot using actual project conditions.

Sources

Karo.Segments — Installation & Documentation. Primary technical evidence for applications, placement, catalog organization, parameter editing, interactions, language options, and licensing access.
Karo — How to Model Flashings, Trims & Copings in Autodesk Revit. Vendor demonstration description supporting overlaps, dimensional editing, display switching, profile schedules, compatibility, local processing, and support contact.
Karo Modum — Official product catalogue. Developer and product-discovery context. Retrieved excerpts foregrounded other products and did not establish Segments-specific pricing or release details.
Karo Modum — Terms of Service & EULA. General commercial context; effective August 19, 2026.

Karo.Segments is brought to you by Karo Modum. It's priced at $19/month or $149/year. A 14-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2023-2027.

There's more information available on the Karo Modum website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Karo.ModelGuard: Enforce Selected BIM Standards While Users Work

2026-10-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

Overview

Karo.ModelGuard is a team-oriented Revit add-in from Karo Modum that enforces selected BIM standards while users work. Rather than waiting for a scheduled model audit to report problems after they have entered the central model, ModelGuard intercepts configured actions at transaction time. Depending on policy, it can block the action, require a written justification, allow it, or record it. The vendor positions the product for protecting coordination references, datum elements, documentation integrity, and modeling standards across multidisciplinary teams. Its emphasis is prevention and traceability, not general-purpose model-health analysis.

Operating Model

Define policies: A BIM administrator configures a centralized policy matrix for the team’s protected Revit actions.
Assign an enforcement mode: Each rule can be configured to prevent an action, require an explanation, or permit it under the chosen governance model.
Distribute centrally: Policy files are stored in a shared on-premises network folder. The vendor states that connected users receive policy updates without a Revit restart and without a separate database server.
Intercept user actions: ModelGuard evaluates configured changes as users attempt them, before problematic edits reach the central model.
Respond in context: A user sees an immediate alert. A strict rule stops the action; a justification rule requires a reason before an exception proceeds.
Record the event: The shared audit trail captures details such as user identity, time, affected element IDs, action, and stated reason.
Monitor deployment: A workstation monitor reports connected clients and policy status across the team.

Enforcement Modes

StrictBlock: Prevents a prohibited transaction immediately. The vendor demonstrates this for high-consequence actions such as deleting RVT or CAD links, levels, and project grids.
Justify: Permits an exception only after the user enters a reason. This is intended for changes that may be legitimate but should never be undocumented, such as manual dimension-text overrides.
Permit or monitor: The public product description indicates configurable enforcement rather than a single universal block.

Advertised Policy Areas

The vendor advertises eight core BIM policies and publicly identifies protection involving CAD imports, shared parameters, dimensions, in-place families, RVT and CAD links, levels, and grids. The examples include stopping exploded CAD, preventing deletion of coordination links and datums, flagging unpinned links, and requiring justification for “fake” dimension values created through text overrides. The indexed public material does not provide a definitive field-by-field specification for all eight policies, so the precise triggers, category scope, exemptions, and behavior in every worksharing condition should be verified during a trial.

Coordination links: Protect RVT and CAD links from accidental deletion and discourage unpinned references that could shift unexpectedly.
Datum integrity: Guard levels and project grids whose deletion can affect many views, hosted elements, constraints, and coordination references.
CAD discipline: Prevent or control importing and exploding CAD content, which can introduce large numbers of unmanaged lines, styles, and other objects.
Dimension integrity: Detect manual text overrides and require a documented exception, reducing the risk that displayed values differ from modeled geometry.
Shared-parameter governance: Control actions affecting shared parameters so uncoordinated data changes are less likely to undermine schedules, tags, and downstream exchanges.
In-place-family governance: Restrict or justify creation and related actions where office standards favor loadable, reusable content.

Centralized Administration and Audit Trail

ModelGuard uses an on-premises, shared-folder architecture rather than requiring an external database server. This lowers infrastructure complexity and keeps policy and audit data under the organization’s control. The vendor says policy updates deploy across connected workstations without restarting Revit. A central audit log records user identity, timestamp, affected element IDs, and reasons for justified exceptions, while a client monitor shows workstation status. This can support BIM support, incident reconstruction, coaching, and standards refinement. Organizations should still validate network availability, permissions, concurrent writes, file locking, backup, retention, tamper resistance, time synchronization, and performance over wide-area or VPN connections.

Value for BIM Management

Prevention before synchronization: High-risk edits can be stopped before they propagate to the central model and other users.
Consistent standards: A shared policy matrix applies the same rules across participating disciplines and workstations.
Documented exceptions: Justification captures intent at the moment of action instead of relying on later recollection.
Reduced cleanup risk: Blocking exploded CAD, unintended datum deletion, and similar actions may avoid model repair and coordination disruption.
Actionable governance data: Audit records can reveal recurring rule triggers, training needs, problematic workflows, or policies that generate excessive friction.
Low-server deployment: The shared-folder design may be attractive to teams that want centralized control without operating a web service or external database.

Limitations and Risks

Policy enforcement is not comprehensive QA: ModelGuard targets configured transactions; it does not replace clash detection, warnings review, standards audits, model-performance analysis, or professional judgment.
Overblocking can disrupt production: Rules that are too strict may prevent legitimate work, create workarounds, or increase support demand. A Justify mode may be preferable where exceptions are valid.
Dependence on shared infrastructure: Teams need defined behavior for unavailable, stale, or read-only network policy locations and for remote users with intermittent connectivity.
Logs require governance: User-attributed records may have privacy, labor, security, and retention implications. Access and use should be transparent and proportionate.
Coverage needs testing: The public material does not fully document every Revit command path, API-driven change, group edit, copy/monitor condition, undo/redo case, family-editor context, linked model, or worksharing edge case.
Administrative security matters: Policy and audit folders need controlled permissions so ordinary users cannot silently alter rules or records.
Vendor claims need validation: “Instant,” real-time, and no-restart deployment statements are vendor claims rather than independent performance benchmarks.

Recommended Implementation

Start with observed risks: Use recent model incidents and standards violations to choose a small group of high-value rules.
Classify each rule: Reserve StrictBlock for actions with severe and rarely legitimate consequences; use Justify where valid exceptions occur.
Pilot safely: Test in detached or sandboxed copies with architects, structural and MEP users, BIM staff, remote users, and different Revit versions.
Exercise edge cases: Test undo/redo, groups, worksharing ownership, copy/paste, monitored datums, API tools, link reloads, network loss, and policy updates during active sessions.
Design the infrastructure: Establish resilient shared paths, permissions, backup, retention, failover behavior, and an administrator change-control process.
Publish user guidance: Explain why each rule exists, what is blocked, when justification is appropriate, and how to request an exception.
Review the audit data: Use events to improve training and policy design rather than measuring individual productivity.
Measure outcomes: Compare prevented incidents, support time, false positives, synchronization disruption, and user friction before expanding deployment.

Compatibility, Licensing, and Support

Supported Revit versions: Revit 2023 through 2027 are advertised.
Current vendor release: Version 1.8.4, distributed as an MSI installer at the time of review.
Trial: A 14-day full-featured team trial is advertised.
Team licensing: US$99 per month or US$990 per year for five users, according to the current vendor catalogue.
Deployment architecture: On-premises shared network configuration with no external database or server requirement, according to the vendor.
Support: The demonstration lists support@karomodum.com.
Commercial caveat: Karo Modum’s terms describe recurring billing, license restrictions, limited warranties, liability limits, and generally non-refundable digital licenses after delivery, activation, or use, subject to applicable law. Karo Modum states that it is an independent developer and is not affiliated with or certified by Autodesk.

Assessment

Karo.ModelGuard is a focused preventive-control system for Revit teams. Its strongest proposition is the combination of transaction-time enforcement, strict blocking for high-consequence actions, justified exceptions for legitimate deviations, centrally distributed policies, and a shared audit trail. This distinguishes it from tools that only report model problems after an audit. Its value will depend on policy quality: narrowly designed rules can protect coordination and documentation integrity, while aggressive or poorly tested rules can impede production. A representative team pilot is therefore essential, with particular attention to worksharing, remote connectivity, administrative security, false positives, and the organizational use of user-attributed logs.

Sources

Karo Modum — official Revit product catalogue. Primary source for product positioning, policy matrix, protected actions, centralized configuration, audit logging, current release, compatibility, trial, and pricing.
Karo — How to Protect Revit Models in Real Time. Vendor demonstration used to corroborate StrictBlock, Justify, link and grid protection, centralized network policies, the audit trail, workstation monitoring, and support details.
Karo Modum — Terms of Service and EULA. Used for commercial, licensing, payment, refund, warranty, liability, support, and independent-developer context.

Karo.ModelGuard is brought to you by Karo Modum. It's priced at $99/month or $990/year. A 14-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2023-2027.

There's more information available on the Karo Modum website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Karo.WhyHidden: A Visibility-Diagnostics Add-in

2026-10-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

Overview

Karo.WhyHidden is a Revit visibility-diagnostics add-in from Karo Modum. It investigates why a known element does not appear in a particular view, bringing together checks that would otherwise require opening several Revit settings dialogs. The vendor describes 16 visibility checks covering direct hiding, graphics settings, spatial clipping, worksets, phasing, design options, linked-model display, and view-template control. Findings appear as diagnostic cards identifying relevant settings, filters, or worksets. Selected issues have one-click fixes; others receive guidance. The product is primarily a troubleshooting aid rather than a model-wide QA engine or an automatic redesign of view standards. [1-3]

Typical Workflow

Identify the element: Select it in a view where it is visible, or use its element ID. This is a targeted investigation of a known object, not a search for an unidentified missing object.
Activate the problem view: Switch to the plan, section, elevation, or 3D view where the element should appear.
Run Why Hidden: Launch the command from the Karo ribbon tab.
Review diagnostics: Read the cards identifying visibility blockers and the settings responsible. Multiple conditions may apply at the same time.
Resolve appropriate conditions: Use an available quick fix or follow the guidance, retaining control over office templates and shared standards.
Verify and communicate: Confirm the intended display and copy the formatted diagnostic report into a team chat or task tracker. [2]

The 16-Point Diagnostic Scope

The vendor’s technical checklist identifies the following mechanisms. These are diagnostic categories, not a promise that every possible family, geometry, or linked-model edge case can be conclusively resolved. Applicability depends on the selected element and view type. [3]

Manually hidden element: The object was hidden individually in the view.
Category visibility: Its model or annotation category is disabled in Visibility/Graphics.
View filters: A matching filter suppresses visibility or applies an invisible-line treatment.
View range: The object falls outside the plan’s applicable vertical display range.
3D section box: An active section box clips the geometry.
Workset visibility: The element’s workset is not visible in the view.
Phase and phase filter: Temporal display settings exclude the element.
Design options: The element belongs to an option not displayed by the view.
Crop region or model extents: The object lies beyond the view’s spatial boundary.
Annotation crop: Annotation falls outside the annotation crop boundary.
Family detail-level settings: Family geometry has display restrictions at Coarse, Medium, or Fine detail.
Temporary Hide/Isolate: A temporary visibility session suppresses the object.
Element graphic overrides: An individual override applies an invisible-line treatment.
View-specific ownership: A 2D element belongs to another view rather than the target view.
Revit link overrides: Linked-model display is governed by host-view or linked-view settings.
View-template control: A governing template controls settings that cannot be changed independently in the view. [3]

Key Features and Practical Value

Consolidated investigation: Reduces repeated checks across Visibility/Graphics, filters, view ranges, worksets, and templates.
Specific findings: Diagnostic cards identify the implicated setting, filter name, or workset, making results more actionable than a generic visibility warning.
Multi-cause review: Helps expose overlapping blockers, so resolving one condition does not necessarily end the investigation.
Selective quick fixes: The demonstration lists Unhide, Reset Invisible Lines, and Restore Temporary Hide as examples. Not all diagnostic categories have automated fixes.
Template-aware diagnosis: The vendor states that diagnosis does not require unlocking or detaching view templates. This should not be interpreted as permission to make broad template changes without review.
Clipboard reporting: A formatted report can be copied for support requests, coordination messages, and issue tracking. Public evidence reviewed confirms clipboard output, not dedicated Excel or PDF export.
Local execution: The vendor describes a standalone add-in running locally inside Revit without cloud processing. [2]

Applications in BIM Production and QA/QC

WhyHidden is most relevant to frequent, element-specific visibility support: a component missing from a plan, a tag clipped by annotation boundaries, geometry excluded by a workset or filter, or linked content displayed differently between views. For BIM support teams, a consistent diagnostic report can reduce back-and-forth questions and provide a clearer record of the setting involved. For production teams, explicit findings may reduce trial-and-error changes that inadvertently disrupt documentation standards. These are potential workflow benefits, not independently measured productivity results.

Limitations and Evaluation Considerations

Not an exhaustive guarantee: Sixteen checks do not establish coverage of every Revit visibility interaction. Family internals, masking or occlusion, specialized categories, and complex nested links warrant pilot testing rather than assumed support.
Known-element prerequisite: The published workflow requires selecting the element or knowing its ID. It does not establish a capability to reconstruct a deleted object or discover an unknown missing element.
Intent still requires judgment: An element may correctly be hidden by design. A detected blocker is not automatically an error that should be removed.
Broader effects of changes: Editing a shared template, workset display rule, phase filter, or link setting can affect more than the selected element.
Linked-element behavior needs confirmation: The checklist includes link overrides, but the material reviewed does not fully establish selection procedures and coverage for nested links or every host/linked-view combination.
No independent benchmark: Claims of instant diagnosis and time savings come from the vendor. No independent performance or accuracy testing was established in this review.
Documentation visibility: A technical manual is referenced in the demonstration, but its contents were not recovered in the search results. Exact installer version, language options, detailed system requirements, activation connectivity, and complete unsupported-case lists remain unverified.

Compatibility, Pricing, and Licensing

Revit support: The vendor demonstration lists Revit 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027.
Supported graphical contexts: Plans, sections, elevations, and 3D views are advertised; individual checks apply only where relevant.
Trial: A 14-day free trial is advertised.
Subscription: US$9 per month or US$69 per year, as advertised in the vendor demonstration available during this review.
Activation: Transferable machine activation is advertised. Seat counts, concurrent-use rights, and transfer procedures should be confirmed before purchase.
Commercial terms: Karo Modum’s terms describe recurring billing and restrictions, and state that digital purchases are generally non-refundable after delivery, activation, or use, subject to applicable law. The developer disclaims Autodesk affiliation or certification.
Verification: Confirm live checkout pricing, taxes, subscription conditions, compatible builds, and organizational deployment requirements before purchase. [2, 4]

Recommended Pilot

Build a controlled test set with known hiding causes across plans, sections, elevations, and 3D views.
Include overlapping conditions, such as an individually hidden object whose category is also disabled.
Test template-controlled settings, worksets, phase filters, design options, annotation crops, and host/linked-view combinations.
Compare findings against the known cause and record false positives, omissions, and situations requiring manual interpretation.
Apply quick fixes only in a test model and verify their scope, reversibility, and effect on shared standards.
Review copied report content for usefulness and project confidentiality before sharing outside the project team.
Validate installation, activation, compatibility, and local-processing claims with IT, then document approved support procedures.

Overall Assessment

Karo.WhyHidden is a focused troubleshooting tool whose strongest advertised combination is consolidated visibility checks, specific diagnostic findings, selective quick fixes, and shareable reports. Its potential value lies in reducing repetitive investigation while preserving deliberate control over view standards. It is best positioned as an assistant to Revit troubleshooting, not a guarantee that every visibility problem can be automatically diagnosed or repaired. Teams with frequent missing-element support requests should evaluate it through the trial using representative project conditions, especially overlapping blockers, templates, and linked content.

Sources

Karo Modum — official product catalogue. Developer context and product discovery. The indexed excerpt did not expose the full WhyHidden product section.
Karo — How to Find Missing & Hidden Elements in Revit | Karo WhyHidden. Vendor demonstration and description; principal evidence for workflow, cards, quick fixes, clipboard reporting, local execution, Revit versions, trial, pricing, and transferable activation.
Karo Modum — Why Is an Element Hidden in Revit? The 16-Point Visibility Troubleshooting Checklist. Vendor technical reference, updated September 2026; source for the 16 diagnostic categories. This is vendor-authored reference material, not independent validation.
Karo Modum — Terms of Service & EULA. Commercial and licensing context; effective August 19, 2026.

Karo.WhyHidden is brought to you by Karo Modum. It's priced at $9/month or $69/year. A 14-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2023-2027.

There's more information available on the Karo Modum website »

Questions? Contact the developer »

Karo.WhatsChanged: A Local Change-Audit and Investigation Layer

2026-10-19T18:12:00.000-07:00

Overview

Karo.WhatsChanged is a model-coordination add-in for Autodesk Revit that records a reference state and identifies what changed after linked consultant models are reloaded. It is designed to replace broad visual comparison with an element-level audit that surfaces additions, deletions, moved geometry, coordinate changes, and parameter modifications. The add-in keeps comparison data locally in SQLite rather than uploading project geometry to a cloud service. Its principal audience is BIM coordinators, architects, engineers, and multidisciplinary delivery teams that need to assess the impact of updated architectural, structural, or MEP links.

Core Workflow

Establish a baseline. The add-in records a personal reference state for the host model and its links on the user’s workstation.
Reload updated links. When a consultant model is refreshed, WhatsChanged compares the new state with the stored baseline.
Review detected changes. An audit grid groups and counts Added, Modified, and Deleted elements and supports filtering by change status, category, and source document.
Inspect the delta. Select an item to review before-and-after parameter values and geometry or coordinate differences.
Locate the affected area. Synchronize the selected result with the active Revit view or create a dedicated 3D view with an automatically framed section box.
Document the review. Export results to Excel or a formatted PDF for coordination meetings, issue logs, and follow-up.
Advance the reference state. After the update is reviewed and accepted, establish the appropriate new baseline for the next comparison cycle.

Changes It Detects

Added elements: New model objects introduced since the stored reference state.
Deleted elements: Objects present in the baseline but missing from the updated model.
Modified geometry: Changes to an element’s form, size, or geometric representation.
Relocation and coordinate shifts: Movement in 3D space, including changes that may affect alignment, clearances, penetrations, supports, or hosted relationships.
Parameter changes: Differences in instance and type data, with exact previous and current values for fields such as levels, offsets, dimensions, and type parameters.
Host and linked-document changes: Results can be filtered by the host document or a specific RVT link, helping isolate responsibility and scope.

Review and Navigation Tools

Interactive audit grid: Presents detected changes in a sortable, filterable list with category counts and quick status filters.
Deep parameter inspector: Shows the specific fields that changed and their before-and-after values rather than only marking an element as modified.
View synchronization: Selecting a result can zoom to and center the affected element in the active view.
Focus Dim: Keeps contextual geometry visible while visually de-emphasizing surrounding content, making the changed object easier to recognize without losing spatial context.
Automated 3D section box: Generates a dedicated 3D inspection view framed around an item that is difficult to understand in plan, section, or elevation.
Excel and PDF reports: Produces structured outputs suitable for coordination sessions and change records. The vendor describes them as meeting-ready; teams should still confirm fields and formatting against their own issue-management standards.

Data Architecture, Privacy, and Worksharing

Comparison is performed locally using SQLite. According to the vendor, project geometry and diff databases remain on the workstation or office network, with no cloud upload, cloud-processing delay, or model-size cap. This architecture may suit projects governed by nondisclosure, healthcare, enterprise, or other restrictive data policies, but organizations should independently validate storage paths, access controls, backup behavior, encryption expectations, retention, and software telemetry before approval.

The product supports Revit Server and BIM 360/Autodesk Construction Cloud models, but the baseline is described as a local, personal reference point per workstation. That is important operationally: two coordinators may compare against different baselines and therefore receive different results. Teams should define who owns the comparison cycle, when a baseline is accepted, where reports are stored, and how findings are distributed.

Value for BIM Coordination

Reduces manual comparison: Directs attention to detected deltas instead of requiring coordinators to scan entire updated models.
Improves impact assessment: Exact parameter and coordinate differences help distinguish a significant coordination change from a minor, unrelated edit.
Speeds visual investigation: Synchronized views, Focus Dim, and section boxes reduce the effort required to locate linked elements.
Supports accountability: Exported reports can provide a dated record for meetings, consultant questions, and downstream task assignment.
Works across disciplines: The same process can review architectural, structural, and MEP link updates, improving consistency in multidisciplinary coordination.
Preserves local control: On-premises comparison avoids sending full models to another cloud platform solely for change detection.

Limitations and Interpretation

Detection is not impact analysis: The tool can identify changed elements, but it cannot determine whether a change is acceptable, coordinated, constructible, or contractually significant.
Results depend on the baseline: A missing, stale, reset, or workstation-specific reference state can alter what appears in the next comparison.
Model churn can create noise: Recreated elements, family changes, altered identifiers, or broad consultant cleanup may yield many results that require triage.
Deleted items need contextual review: A deleted linked element cannot always be navigated like a current element; reports and stored prior-state data may be more important for investigation.
Coordinate changes require extra care: Shared-coordinate, link-positioning, or origin changes can produce widespread movement with major coordination implications. Teams should verify whether the shift is intentional before accepting a new baseline.
Report export is not issue management: Excel and PDF records do not by themselves assign responsibility, maintain issue status, or synchronize with a CDE issue workflow.
Performance claims are vendor statements: “In seconds,” “zero cloud lag,” and “no file size limits” should be validated with representative project models and hardware.

Recommended Implementation

Select representative host and linked models, including at least one large multidisciplinary project.
Define the authoritative comparison owner, baseline event, link-reload protocol, and report repository.
Establish triage rules for additions, deletions, movement tolerances, parameter changes, and coordinate-system changes.
Test element recreation, family/type replacement, link unloading, nested links, phase changes, and shared-coordinate updates.
Confirm that users can consistently locate active and deleted changes and that exported reports contain the data required for meetings and issue creation.
Benchmark scan time, database growth, and navigation performance on supported workstation configurations.
Complete IT review of the MSI installer, licensing traffic, local SQLite data, network storage, backups, retention, and uninstall behavior.
Document when a reviewed model becomes the new baseline so subsequent comparisons remain consistent.

Compatibility, Licensing, and Support

Supported Revit versions: Revit 2023 through 2027.
Operating system: Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit.
Current vendor release: Version 1.11.9, distributed as an MSI installer at the time of review.
Trial: A 14-day full-featured evaluation.
Pricing: US$15 per month or US$120 per year, with cancellation permitted under the vendor’s stated subscription terms.
License mobility: The vendor states that a license can be transferred to another computer while preserving remaining subscription days.
Future support: The vendor says future Revit versions are included while the product is maintained. This is a forward-looking vendor commitment, not a guarantee of indefinite compatibility.

Assessment

Karo.WhatsChanged addresses a specific but costly coordination problem: understanding the consequences of a reloaded consultant model. Its strongest capabilities are element-level classification, exact parameter and coordinate deltas, rapid visual focus, automated 3D framing, and locally stored comparison data. It is best viewed as a change-audit and investigation layer rather than a replacement for clash detection, model checking, issue management, or professional coordination judgment. The local-baseline design offers privacy and speed advantages but requires disciplined ownership to keep comparisons consistent across a team. For projects with frequent link updates, a controlled trial using real consultant exchanges should reveal whether the reduction in manual review justifies the subscription and governance overhead.

Sources

Karo Modum — Karo.WhatsChanged product page. Primary source for product purpose, features, workflow, local SQLite processing, current version, compatibility, trial, pricing, license transfer, and vendor claims.
Karo — How to Track Changes in Linked Revit Models. Vendor demonstration used to corroborate audit filtering, parameter inspection, view synchronization, Focus Dim, automated section boxes, reporting, operating-system requirements, and worksharing statements.
Karo Modum — Terms of Service and EULA. Used for general commercial context, payment, subscription, licensing, support, warranty, and independent-developer caveats.

Karo.WhatsChanged is brought to you by Karo Modum. It's priced at $15/month or $120/year. A 14-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2023-2027.

There's more information available on the Karo Modum website »

Questions? Contact the developer »