When typing text into a Revit schedule, the first letter sometimes appears at the end of the word

[njnorrisbp]

I can't seem to find a solution to this problem... When I type the word "FIRST" into a schedule, it almost always appears as "IRSTF" because it places the first letter at the end of the word. How has this not been resolved by now? This is really frustrating. I'd like to raise the issue so the problem gets solved. Simply recreating every schedule (what they're suggesting in the link) is not a solution. Renaming headings, regrouping them, and then reformatting  the columns is a considerable amount of work to do for every schedule on every project.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/When-typ...

[michael_coviello]

Hello @njnorrisbp 

Thank you for posting to the forum, I'm happy to help.

A similar issue has been reported here.  Does the listed workaround help?

When typing text into a Revit schedule, the first letter sometimes appears at the end of the word | ...

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if this helps to address your issue.

[njnorrisbp]

Michael,

The "workaround" takes about 10 hours per project. It's not really a viable solution... it's like recreating a template every time you need to create a new document - that's not what a template is for. The program is not working as it's intended to, and new editions have come out with the same error, so I wanted to bring it up to make sure there's still a solution being worked on. Company wide, it will cost us ~$100k/year in time spent if we have to use this workaround. That's a pretty good reason to try another product.

[michael_coviello]

I can understand the concern. 

The article status currently indicates this is being investigated for a possible cause and resolution.

Does the problem recur in the same model once the workaround has been applied?
If you are starting new projects from a template, is the workaround being applied to the template?

I recommend logging a support case with the particular model.   This will ensure that the issue you are experiencing is address and tracked.     Please feel free to DM if you have any issues creating a support case or to send me the case number.  

Contact Customer Support | Autodesk Support

[RobDraw]

---

@njnorrisbp wrote:

That's a pretty good reason to try another product.

---

More appropriately, it's time to find the cause. I can see why having to deal with it is disconcerting but apparently it is not a common problem. Something like this would be a huge game changer for anyone editing schedules. I can't say that I've ever seen it. I may have but not consistently enough to grab my attention.

There are some trouble shooting steps that might narrow down the cause. It sounds like for you that it is repeatable and apparently unavoidable. Does it happen in a project created with a clean template? Maybe the template that was used to start the project has been upgraded a number of times and needs a fresh start. I don't think this warrants such drastic measures as dropping Revit without knowing that the problem wasn't self inflicted. Due diligence, ya know?

[njnorrisbp]

Sure, that does make sense. I do know what causes the issue: it happens in any project with a schedule that was brought in using the Insert Views from File function. New template, same issue. Every schedule, every text parameter. If I take two clean projects and create a schedule in the first one with a text parameter, and then I insert that schedule into the other project, it will inevitably occur. The only way around it is to create a new schedule in each project that I want to use it in, which means I can never reuse a schedule. This did not happen before 2021... Maybe 2020. It blurs together which version it started in but it's in all recent versions. If there's something I need to do differently, I'll give it a go but it seems like the developers should just fix the bug.

[RobDraw]

Your opinion about the program only muddies the waters of finding solutions that might work for you. I wish I had a definitive answer for you but I think your estimations on man hours due to something that you know how to avoid seem a bit over the top.

I've got no dog in this fight. I'm out. Good luck. 

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

While I have never had that issue myself I have seen posts telling the same thing you said.  Regardless, the solution provided in the AKN is pretty dumb and that is putting lightly.  All you need to do is sort the schedule by that field, untick Itemize every instance, and re-enter the correct value Once.

[njnorrisbp]

@RobDraw The estimation of man hours is pretty simple. About 100 projects a year. Not all of them are that heavily scheduled, so I'm only counting 70 projects. On average, we have about 25 schedules per project, each with about 15 parameters. To add 15 parameters, reformat units, group, rename the headings so they appear correct takes about 90 seconds per parameter. That's 22 minutes a schedule, times 25 schedules is about 9 hours and 10 minutes per project. Times 70 projects is 640 hours. Average hourly cost of a designer is $75/hour, which is $45k. So I exaggerated a little bit initially but you get the point.

Two years ago, we were able to insert the exact same schedules all at once in about 5 minutes. That's the difference.

[njnorrisbp]

@ToanDN That's pretty clever. I actually do that when I have a bunch of parameters that are the same - should have thought of it for this too. Still a bummer that there isn't a real fix, but this is way better than the AKN solution.

[RobDraw]

Sorry, maybe I should have said estimating manhours is both not in my wheelhouse nor my job description. I get your point, but disagree with the logic.

[michael_coviello · Accepted solution]

Hello @ToanDN  Thank you for providing a much simpler workaround to this issue.    The article has been updated with this and other options.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/When-typ...

Best Regards,

[tgolden]

Thanks for the workaround but that's all it is. When will Autodesk have a Fix for it? I have a large schedule family that I pull from. I have remade my schedule file in 2022 and still have the same problem.

[zkerr.cjl.jtn]

This issue has plagued me for a few years now. On the mechanical design side of things, we have a ton of schedules with a ton of parameters. For example, on an air handling unit schedule, which has many parameters, I'd estimate around 10 parameters that have this issue. It is very frustrating and concerning. If you are adding numbers to a column, and the numbers get flipped around and goes unnoticed, this can be a very costly mistake. How this hasn't been fixed by the developers by now baffles me. Most of the workarounds are not practical as others have mentioned. 

[russellvee]

Filling out Revit schedules is the worst. A schedule that takes 10 minutes to fill out in excel will take a couple hours to enter the same numbers and text into a Revit schedule. The user interface is that bad. I believe the root of the issue is the autocomplete where it tries to finish your entry after you type the first letter. I don't need Revit to autocomplete the numbers in my schedule. It's not helpful at all. It also seems to be affected when you narrow the columns so there is only space for a few characters in the entry. If I need to quickly enter the number 25 in a narrow column, about half the values will end up saying 52.

I'd estimate it would take a programmer about 2 hours to add an option for us to disable autocomplete. I'll guess that instead of doing that they will spend 20,000 hours programming some useless new feature instead.

[fabiosato]

Hello,

You can use a plug-in to export to Excel, like the Sheet link from DiRoots (it´s free),  edit in Excel, and then import the spreadsheet back to Revit.

It works well.

[zkerr.cjl.jtn]

I have used the DiRoots Sheet Link in the past but, ran into issues where it only showed sheets I linked in and not other users. The schedule issue should be a simple fix by Autodesk and release an update. Not sure how this issue has been dragged out through at least 3 versions. 

[fabiosato]

Hello,

Does your schedules have Filter by sheet checked?

[zkerr.cjl.jtn]

Filter by sheet is not checked. 

[fabiosato]

Hello,

Is there any filter?

I do not understand why all elements are not showing in your schedule.