How to edit and customize the UniformatClassifications.txt file

[SteveFong]

I can't find any documentation on how Revit interprets the UniformatClassifications.txt file.  The logic of the Keynote file is well documented, but I can't find any information on the assembly code files.  

When opened in Excel it looks like this:

Revit interprets this as:

I am having a hard time understanding the logic of how this works. 

Column D must be related to the Revit Category. 

Can anyone point me to a reference?  

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Alphabetical order....

1: Top Level

.... 2: Secondary Level

........ 3: Sub-level

............... 4: Itemized

.... 2: Secondary Level

........ 3: Sub-level

............... 4: Itemized

etc...

[barthbradley]

There's also add-ins for managing, changing , adding assembly codes.  FWIW.

[SteveFong]

Thanks, but I tried that already, and it didn't work.  Further, Column D is important for something, I think categories. 

I am looking for comprehensive instructions from Autodesk.  I have been unable to find them. 

[SteveFong]

I didn't describe my goal.  I am at the investigation phase of trying to get my uniformatClassifications.txt to match RS Means.  This would require that I basically rewrite the .txt file, but I need to understand its formatting well to be able to accomplish this. 

[SteveFong]

So, I had tried this, but apparently I had some sort of problem in my formatting.  I think you are correct!  Thanks for the answer.

[Anonymous]

When you use Excel you need to export it to a certain format of txt file for it to work...Think it is uniformat...but I could be wrong.  I usually just use the text editor.  In the case of the Keynote file I use Keynote Manager, which the format is very similar.

[barthbradley]

---

@SteveFong wrote:

Column D must be related to the Revit Category. 

---

Column D does refer to Categories. For instance "-2000011" is "1;Model;Walls;-2000011;;True;False"

[Anonymous]

Oh....btw...

"Note: Autodesk does not recommend or support edits made to the Uniformat data file (UniformatClassifications.txt) located in %APPDATA%\Autodesk\Revit\<product name and release>."

[Samuel.Arsenault-Brassard]

"Autodesk does not recommend or support edits made to the Uniformat data file (UniformatClassifications.txt)"

This is frustrating...

Here's a modified version of the file that works using common sense and can be edited.

To do this fix, I've replaced the undocumented and arbitraty code (-2000011) with the proper code in the first column. To do this, I had to count the number of characters in each cell of the first colums

=LEN(A1)

, then assign a level based on the length characters

=IF(B2=1, 1, IF(B2=3, 2, IF(B2=5, 3, IF(B2=8, 4, IF(B2=13, 5, "Other")))))

Then I did IF statements to capture the appropriate level below and concatenated each column into a final result. Now the file is useable using the common logic.

https://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-99AE9D3E-3326-4F21-ADC5-303F2E1A2135

[Samuel.Arsenault-Brassard]

I did a three aprt video series on this problem today if you're curious, the fix is detailled in Part 1 & 2. It explains how to go from a custumized Uniformat Excel document to a Revit Keynote classification file. It also explains why the default Uniformat classification file is lacking and should be skipped altogether.

Estimation in BIM - Part 1 - Proper Formatting in Excel

https://www.loom.com/share/4a4c44c4eff841ff8527fc46abd5eb7a?sid=215e08da-17bb-4419-b304-c0482f3c9b2c

Estimation in BIM - Part 2 - Accurate Revit Keynote File

https://www.loom.com/share/c5f1f82f536b4196b37fe8118b9660bc?sid=a2b94a89-0f71-4c37-9362-caab2be6a20d

Estimation in BIM - Part 3 - Construction Data, Standards & Collaboration Philosophy

https://www.loom.com/share/1eaeb2c413f04ee1b7c001d64a132815?sid=1c5227bf-99bc-4ce5-85b9-5bf08b89d10e

[SteveFong]

Great Videos!  Thanks for breaking it down and showing your code.  Love the method and your philosophy in Part 3.