How do you find if a Project Parameter is NOT being used

[donnia.tabor-hanson]

I would like to clean up an old template and I am finding a lot of Project Parameters that I am not sure where they are used. They are placed on doors but we are not using them in our door families. They are not being pulled from any Shared Parameter file so they are strictly Project Parameters.

Is there a way to find if a Project Parameter is being used and which are not being used and can be deleted?

[ToanDN]

Create a door schedule and see if the column has any value. If not then delete it.

[donnia.tabor-hanson]

That did not work well for me, glad to see us on the same track to check that. @ToanDN 

I finally ran across a Key Schedule with some of the parameters in it. 

I just wish there was a way to clean up Project Parameters that are no longer used.

For example, I had one that was assigned to Sheets for a sort order. It showed to be from a Shared Parameter file when I looked at it in the Project Parameters dialog box. So I do a search on the Shared Parameter file we use now, not there. I searched on the previous Shared Parameter file, not there. I needed to use that sheet order for a Dynamo to get sheet # of count for the titleblocks. Since I could not find or use that parameter I replaced it with a new Shared Parameter. Now I wonder if I could find out if the project parameter is from a Shared Parameter file, what the name of it is.

I would also like to know where a Project Parameter is being used? What schedule, family category it is assigned to, where it is freaking being used. There you go, that is my frustration right now.

[ToanDN]

Edit the parameter and you can see the categories it is assigned to.  Then use schedules to get the value in order to decide what to do with it.

[barthbradley]

@donnia.tabor-hanson wrote:

Now I wonder if I could find out if the project parameter is from a Shared Parameter file, what the name of it is.

I would also like to know where a Project Parameter is being used? What schedule, family category it is assigned to, where it is freaking being used. There you go, that is my frustration right now.

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There is no "live" link between the Shared Parameter Text File and the Project, so it doesn't really matter what or where the source Shared Parameter Text File is.  Have you scrolled through the entire list of Categories that are available to the Project Parameter to see if there is another one checked? 

[donnia.tabor-hanson]

You can do that but I am working in a template and there are no elements placed. 

It would be so frustrating to have to do this with all the parameters in the Project Parameters also.

[donnia.tabor-hanson]

@barthbradley wrote:

There is no "live" link between the Shared Parameter Text File and the Project, so it doesn't really matter what or where the source Shared Parameter Text File is. 

It does matter if I want to use it in a label in a family also.

[barthbradley]

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@donnia.tabor-hanson wrote:

@barthbradley wrote:

There is no "live" link between the Shared Parameter Text File and the Project, so it doesn't really matter what or where the source Shared Parameter Text File is. 

It does matter if I want to use it in a label in a family also.

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Agreed, but that is not what you are talking about.  My understanding is that you are trying to find out where an existing Project Parameter is used in the Project.  It's used by those Categories that are checked.  

[donnia.tabor-hanson]

If it tells me it is used for a door, then where is it used. I finally found the origin of some in a door key schedule.

If it is in a sheet, and I really needed to use that in a label, and I could not find it in a Shared Parameter, I had to recreate it.

I am just tired of playing hide and seek with all of them and would love to get a list:

What is your name?

What category are you used for?
Do you appear in this project at any time?

If you do appear, where are you used first and where are you used? example: Key Schedule to overall schedule.

Oh, I can find them, I am just tired of all the Revit Forensics I have to go through to dig it out of the Project Parameter list. I want a way of it telling all it's dirty little secrets without me going all CSI on it.

[ToanDN]

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@donnia.tabor-hanson wrote:

If it is in a sheet, and I really needed to use that in a label, and I could not find it in a Shared Parameter, I had to recreate it.

Open Project parameters > Modify the parameter and export it to the shared parameter file then use it for the label.

[donnia.tabor-hanson]

True @ToanDN.

At that point it was 6 to 1 and half a dozen to another on that one parameter.

My issue is that I have to do all this research. 

My REAL issue is, I would like a way of Revit telling me about my Project Parameters. It is a freaking database, right?

It should be able to report if a Project Parameter is used and where it is used? You know, answer those questions I listed a couple of responses back.

[HVAC-Novice]

If that template already has schedules set up, the person who created the project parameter may have included it there. At least that is where i usually end up using the project parameters. 

If you can't find it, and you are the one to use the template in the future.... I'd just delete the ones you don't know. Worst thing that can happen is that you need to re-create it to make whatever scheme they were used for works again (again, usually in a schedule).

I'm the sole user of my template, but i make effort to track in a spreadsheet what parameters I created and for what. After many years some information can be fuzzy, especially I changed the workflow and forgot to delete the old parameters. 

Maybe Dynamo can help, but I have no idea how. but it would be good to find an easier way than to just "look everywhere". 

[donnia.tabor-hanson]

I had already used various methods of looking for schedules, what category the parameters were set for, and various other methods of discerning what it was, where it was used, would I still need it, etc. 

So it appears that Revit Forensics and CSI are the only way to go. 

If anyone knows how to schedule the Project parameters, I would love to hear about that. 

[barthbradley]

@donnia.tabor-hanson wrote:

If anyone knows how to schedule the Project parameters, I would love to hear about that. 

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"Schedule Project Parameters"? Sounds like you have already tried that. 

Am I reading you right? You are in a Project that has a Project Parameter assigned to only ONE Category - Doors - and when you create a new Door Schedule, that Project Parameter is NOT shown in the list of Available Parameter Fields? That would be weird if true.  It should be in the list  - even if it isn't being used.  Now if it is there and you can add it to your Schedule, then every Door Instance should have a cell in that Project Parameter Column.  If none populate then the Project Parameter isn't being used.   Sounds to me like you are developing a Template, so I would assume there are no Doors to schedule and therefore no cells to populate for that Project Parameter.  

[Jonathan.Ludwig · Accepted solution]

Not sure how much this would helps you here, but there are tools out there that can analyze parameter usage.  There are some on the Autodesk Exchange, but I found them to be useless.   The tool from Ideate is legit though.   I'm not a shill for Ideate, but I'd be lost without it, especially for parameter scrubs like this.   It'll tell you if it is being used, where it is being used, if it is a shared vs project param, etc..

Jonathan Ludwig

Steinberg Hart

[skyeg321]

Ideate Style Manager plugin will show you what parameters are unused. Its expensive though at I think $500 for 6 months.

[RobDraw]

I wonder if rebuilding would be recommended. It's a best practice to start templates from scratch rather than spend a bunch of time looking for stuff you don't want. 

[donnia.tabor-hanson]

@RobDraw Oh, I agree with you. Sometimes you may not have that opportunity. That is the situation I am currently in. Just started in August with this company. I got assigned to the templates in early November, I think. The company has paid for a template from a third party. I am working on a variation of that for a particular group within our company. That is what has caused me the stress of all the project parameters. 

It is not just doors, it is all of them. 

[donnia.tabor-hanson]

@Jonathan.Ludwig DING DING DING - you win.

That looks exactly like what I need. I am off to research that solution now.

Thanks