Two things about ordering the sheets.
1. Inserting sheet numbers.
Is there any better way to create a new sheet in the middle of a set than right-clicking for a new sheet that ends up at the bottom of the list? It's really annoying to have to go through and manually renumber each sheet so I can have a new A105 with ten sheets behind it. At least all the callouts and flags update automatically but unless I'm missing something there really should be a provision for inserting sheets in the middle of a set that automatically renumbers the rest of the set.
2. Alphanumerical listing only?
At my office we did the site drawings as AS1-2-3, the demo drawings as AD1-2-3, and the architecturals as A1-2-3 and in that order. Guess how Revit organizes them. The first sheet was always an unnumbered cover sheet just called Cover so now that goes dead last.
There's got to be a way to control these.
AutoCAD 2010
AutoCAD 2015
Revit 2015
Solved! Go to Solution.
Solved by rosskirby. Go to Solution.
Solved by rosskirby. Go to Solution.
Coincidentally i just saw this tutorial today to index the sheets to resolve your 2nd problem.
for problem 1, I'd recommend you:
- plan ahead to know what schme you want to use. Often I see demo sheets to be the 100s, floorplans the 200s etc.
- for sheets start out with numbers every 10 or 20. Lie 100, 120, 140. then if you need to isnert one, you have the option to number ita 125 etc.
hope i understaood correctly what you wanted.
The short answer is... no.
My spirits were slightly elevated by the revelation of a drawing list schedule but then I realised that Revit schedules are about as functional as spreadsheets in Lotus123 on my Dad's old 286. Less so in fact. I forgot I would have to program Revit in order to get a reasonable ordering of sheets because even though it's 2013, drag and drop is a crutch I, who was NOT trained to be a programmer, must learn to walk without. Then it went into the I-lost-count-of-how-many steps are involved in setting up a parameter to get ONE sheet to list before all the others while LEAVING OUT the crucial first steps of setting up the shared parameter because when I tried to follow along - surprise - there's no Sort_Order parameter.
I am really dissappointed in this and other aspects of this program. It is not what the promotion lead me to believe.
AutoCAD 2010
AutoCAD 2015
Revit 2015
sure it could be more straightforward and i hope they include that as a function in future versions. But it takes a minute to do and using parameters isn't programming. At least you can customize these functions.
Knowing how to use parameters you will need to know a lot.
I don't know if you really need to create the schedule itself to order the sheets. but every planset I've seen so far has a sheet schedule anyway. i don't see that as additional work.
Once you set this up, you can just reuse it for every single project.
That doesn't help me at all. You say parameters isn't programming and maybe to you it isn't. But at this point my appreciation for how parameters work is poorer than your grammar. I can barely follow this set of instructions Autodesk provided and a key point in the instructions is missing. It's expected that the user already understands this and is prepared to move to the next step. When the video ends there are no links back to the directory where I can browse other videos. I can only get to this page but all the links lead to what's new in 2014!
That is lazy support on top of lazy development.
And it doesn't matter if I only have to do it once IF I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.
AutoCAD 2010
AutoCAD 2015
Revit 2015
I think you will benefit from learning how Revit works. Parameters are very important in understanding all the things you can do that regular AutoCAD can't even dream off.
It really is not that hard and support is very good (inc. this forum) and Google will yield tons of information if you have a common problem like this one.
It looks like you have an LT version, possible that has less functionality. i also see you have AutoCAD. Not sure if you use it in parallel to Revit. but my advice would be to totally abandon AutoCAD and concentrate on Revit. both function totally differently and hanging on to the old thinking only will slow down the new Revit way of thinking. i switched to Revit 2-3 years ago and never ever want to use autoCAD again. but i switched ccold turkey to Revit, no autoCAd projects in parallel.
I just say that since I see many consultants making the mistake to use both and then complain how difficult Revit is. it is difficult if you think in 2D and think in just lines and circles. Revit is a BIM, which is better but needs to be understood.
There are a few other sites that show how to resolve the very same problem, that video i linked seemed to show everything at once (inc. creating the parameter)
Hang in there, it will get easier.
I ask for instructions on how to make this sort_order parameter and I get plattitudes. Does your head bend light?
AutoCAD 2010
AutoCAD 2015
Revit 2015
I think the video explains it pretty well.
But I came across another problem. When I print the sheet set, the sheets don't follow this order, but just order alphabetically (A-sheets, C-sheets etc.). Is there a way to make them print int he same order?
I always print to PDF, but that probably doesn't make a difference since PDF is a printer.
My workaround to this is to re-shuffle the sheets int eh PDF I create, which isn't a convenient or fail-safe solution.
Any advice?
@Anonymous wrote:
That doesn't help me at all. You say parameters isn't programming and maybe to you it isn't. But at this point my appreciation for how parameters work is poorer than your grammar. I can barely follow this set of instructions Autodesk provided and a key point in the instructions is missing. It's expected that the user already understands this and is prepared to move to the next step. When the video ends there are no links back to the directory where I can browse other videos. I can only get to this page but all the links lead to what's new in 2014!
That is lazy support on top of lazy development.
And it doesn't matter if I only have to do it once IF I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.
The video link that was provided was one video that was part 5 of a 6 part video series showing how to work with titleblocks and sheets. The information on how to create the shared parameter files is shown in part 3.
You can see the series here: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=13945669
I can appreciate your frustration, especially if you believe the software isn't living up to your expectations. However, most of the posters on this site are users, just like you, who take time out of their day to come here and try to help, so please keep that in mind when posting.
To answer your question, see the attached images. In the first image, you'll see an unfiltered schedule (more on that later) with the sorting parameters highlighted at the top.
In the second image, I've shown how/where to add the sorting parameters.
In the third image, I've shown the typical properties of each of those parameters.
In the fourth image, I've shown how to sort/group the parameters to get what you want.
In the fifth image, I've shown where to go to hide the columns (after you've established the order of the sheets).
I typically duplicate this schedule (called Drawing Index - all fields visible) and call it Drawing Index, then hide the columns I don't want to see, and drop it on the sheet. Any time I need to adjust the sort order or add sheets, I do so via the "all fields visible" schedule so I don't accidentally forget to hide a column.
Regarding your other question as to whether there's a way to insert a sheet so that it comes in at a particular location, rather than defaulting to the top/bottom: no. How would it know where to sort it until you've told it what parameters it should have?
Regarding the other poster's question about printing sheets in order, you can't (not directly from Revit, anyway). I always export the entire set to dwf and reorder the sheets in Design Review, then print to a single PDF or print hard copies (since the collate function actually works in Design Review). This has lots of added benefits, not the least of which is being able to insert dwfs from my consultants (MEP/structural) and create a single combined file without having to buy a other software.
Hope that helps. Please let me know if there are any follow-up questions.
thanks, Ross.
so if there is no way to automatically print (or make PDF) sheets in the correct order, the only option I see would be to use a different sheet-naming system to add pref-x. Like "01 C100", "05 A100". This is unconventional.
Basically my workaround mentioned above only gives me a correct sheet list, nothing else. this indeed is disappointing and I hope Revit will at some point add the ability to do that automatically (you know, like the Revise instantly idea without manually sorting sheets every time you print)
@kschindel wrote:
so if there is no way to automatically print (or make PDF) sheets in the correct order
Not from Revit, no. Export to DWF first, combine/re-order in Design Review (along with consultant sheets), and print from there. Quick, easy, and painless.
Thank you. That got it straightened out somewhat, and I say somewhat because it doesn't affect the printing order OR the display order in the project browser so it's little more than a tool for keeping the numbers straight.
AutoCAD 2010
AutoCAD 2015
Revit 2015
You're right, it doesn't affect either of those things, and there's nothing you can do natively within Revit to affect the print order. You can, however, do something similar with the Project Browser.
In the first image, you can see how our PB is setup to sort the sheets.
If you right-click on where it says "Sheets" in the PB, you can choose "Browser Organization...", then select one of the options available, or create a new one, and edit it so that it sorts per the image below. We don't really need to sort the order of the disciplines w/in the PB, so we just have the one parameter to sort them by discipline. Note: this is the same parameter used in the schedules to sort the sheets for the drawing index.
Thanks again. There was no browser orginization in the right click menu over sheets...
I found it through the keyboard shortcuts window. That's become my go to for commands or controls whose visual locations are not known to me. But what I found doesn't exactly match your view because of version I'm guessing.
However the result is the sheet names have all disappeared from the browser.
AutoCAD 2010
AutoCAD 2015
Revit 2015
You should only need to group by Sheet Discipline, not group by Sheet Order, Sheet Number, and Sheet Name. That's why you're getting so many sub-levels. And the the Sort By should be Sheet Name.
I'm trying to replicate what you're doing but it doesn't give me the option to pick sheet order at the bottom of the grouping and sorting. I'm trying to move my ES1.1 - SITE ELECTRICAL PLAN to be moved to the top. Instead of after I PDF it the file and have to move it manually.