Wednesday, May 14, 2014

No Print Text

A fairly common request is a special text that won't print. This would let us add comments to various places in the model for other people to act on. Filters don't see annotation categories either, at least not Text.

One approach we can take is to use a Detail Item family because Filters do work on them. This means instead of placing red text, we place a Detail Item family that has a red text formatted label that we can enter whatever comment is necessary. Then we can apply a Filter using the Family Name as its criteria to find all of them and turn them off in Visibility/Graphics.


A bonus is that Detail Items can also be scheduled since the release of Revit 2014. This means we could schedule them to provide a summary of comments or remarks that have been placed in the model for action. Add a parameter for "Resolved, Resolved By and Resolved Date" (and perhaps more) and users can indicate when the comment has been acted on, by whom and when.

It is also possible to create Saved Selection Sets. Select all the Red Text, Save a selection Set. Then that selection set can be used to create a Filter. For example in the following image, I've created a Saved Selection Set of text called No Print Text and then created a Filter to control it in the view.


If you've got a Saved Selection Set you can Load or Edit them via the Manage ribbon > Selection Panel. If you select multiple elements then the Selection panel appears and you can also Save your selection set.


Be sure to check out the Selection Set features and not just for this!

2014 Revit OpEd

Basd on a comment I've edited the post and added the following (March 27, 2015)

If you'd like to experiment with a sample of this click the links to either download the family or a project with the family and a schedule in place to see it wall working together.


Download an EXAMPLE DETAIL ITEM
Download an EXAMPLE PROJECT USING IT

17 comments:

Danny Jones said...

Steve, not sure if this is what you meant on your wording of the last sentence, but, you can add the selection set to the Filter in Visibility/Graphics.

Steve said...

Thanks Danny, you're right I wrote that badly! I've fixed it and added a couple images!

Robert Vida said...

When you say "...a Detail Item family that has a red text formatted label that we can enter whatever comment is necessary." do you really mean label? I don't see the option for adding a label in the Detail Item family, but I may have missed it. Could include a screenshot to show where the option for a label is? Thanks, this sounds like a great workaround!

abodley11 said...

I see the same issue as Robert Vida. In the Detail Item family there is no Label option. Would it be a Generic Annotation that you create to achieve this?

Thanks...

abodley11 said...

Agreed with Robert Vida. No Labels in detail items. Unless there is some workaround I am not aware of. Were you referring to a Generic Annotation instead?

Steve said...

No it is a nested Annotation Family. There are three Label families that come with the stock library, in the Annotation family library folder.

They are: Label Annotation 1-8, 1-16 and 3-32. When these are nested in the detail family you can associate its label with a parameter in the host to control what it says.

Anonymous said...

Not following how to create a "Detail Item Family that has red text formatted." Can you explain/show this better? I really think this would be very helpful for my projects.

Steve said...

Create a new Detail Item family
Load Family - Annotation folder - choose one of the label families

This nested label can be associated with a parameter in the Detail Item family which is where users will store their comments.

To get the red text you edit the label family, change the text type to use a red color instead and reload that family (usually use a new name instead) into the Detail Item.

I'll see if I have an example handy.

Steve said...

Revisit the post, I've added an image and two sample files (one family and a project). Good luck!

It's all in 2015 so hopefully you're not stuck in an older version.

Kjersten Tucker said...

Steve, can the nested label be manipulated on an instance basis directly in the project? What I mean is, can I set up one detail item family, drop it into three views, and type in three different sets of comments?

Thanks!

Steve said...

Sure, the nested label annotation value can be associated with an instance parameter in the host family. You may have to make it an instance in the label family first though.

Anonymous said...

How do you globally apply the filter of visibility to turn off or on the Markup family?

Can the family be placed on a Workset so it can be hidden or shown?

thanks

Steve said...

View Filters are applied by view so it isn't going to happen globally (automatically). That's where templates and view templates factor in. If you configure your projects to use this technique then all documentation views should have the filter assigned to documentation focused view templates so all relevant views are ready to act on them.

I don't think this technique should be used casually. Notes that should not be printed should not be used in documentation views, in my opinion. There should be internal model focused views that use them. No need to even worry about a filter for them in those views. Internal notes should not be remarking about documentation, like missing tags or dimensions. They ought to be reserved for model and design issues that can't be resolved in the moment by the person observing the situation.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

How do you add a leader arrow head to the family once placed into a view?

Thanks

Steve said...

Did you consider downloading the example project? When you select the family look on the Options Bar for settings to add a leader(s).

Anonymous said...

Yes, I downloaded both but still do not see where the Option is to apply the Leader Arrow is.

Also, I created a schedule to show the "Critical Issues" How do I add in a field to show Sheet Numbers so then its easy for the reader to locate where the markups are.

Unknown said...

This family failed to load into a title block family. I am wanting to add a non printable text place holder for the position of the client logo image we place on our title blocks. Maybe there is a way to add a label that has "CLIENT LOGO" sample text but actually allows me to select, load and resize the client logo by project?