Blank Labels Display as Question Marks?

[stephenp745878]

Has anybody else run into this problem? We had created a bunch of new lighting fixtures for use in our 2011 projects, and had tagged them with text labels to indicate existing, demo, fixture number etc. Not every fixture required both labels, so our staff just left the field blank if they didn't need to fill the information in and it would display blank. Fast forward to Revit 2012, and now if they don't enter something in one of the two text fields it displays as a question mark. There is no way (that I have found) to get rid of the question mark, besides adding text to the field, which is less than ideal in situations where they didn't want something there in the first place. The worst part is, question mark shows up when printed and the only workaround I see is creating a visibility parameter so the user can turn that label off if they aren't using it. Just wondering if anybody else has run into this problem, or knows of any fixes that will hide the question mark when we aren't using it...

Thanks!

[jsteinhauer]

Has anybody else run into this problem? We had created a bunch of new lighting fixtures for use in our 2011 projects, and had tagged them with text labels to indicate existing, demo, fixture number etc. Not every fixture required both labels, so our staff just left the field blank if they didn't need to fill the information in and it would display blank. Fast forward to Revit 2012, and now if they don't enter something in one of the two text fields it displays as a question mark. There is no way (that I have found) to get rid of the question mark, besides adding text to the field, which is less than ideal in situations where they didn't want something there in the first place. The worst part is, question mark shows up when printed and the only workaround I see is creating a visibility parameter so the user can turn that label off if they aren't using it. Just wondering if anybody else has run into this problem, or knows of any fixes that will hide the question mark when we aren't using it...

Thanks!

Why not create a visibility control parameter for each of those labels in the tag and turn them on and off by type when needed? Otherwise have two separate tags.

Hope this helps,
Jeff S.

[phyllisr]

...visibility control parameter for each of those labels...

We had done this for this particular case because we had no choice but this is just one more thing for our users to do when it is a simple project (Interior Alteration work, for example) when we do not need a Fixture Type nor do we need to populate the other symbol. Our problem is that though there is a solution (as you noted), this is another example where something was "fixed" in Revit that was not broken.

We now must go back through 5-6 years of content to add visibility parameters just because Autodesk made an arbitrary change. Which was not even documented anywhere that I could find.

Grrrrrr.

[jonathanschade]

I think this was meant for identification notes. If you edit it you will notice that you have an option for a Leader. We just errase it, because even though it comes in as part of the fixture you can just sellect the "?" and get rid of it. I have not figured out a way to have an option to turn it off.

[phyllisr]

...you can just select the "?" and get rid of it...

No, you cannot select the question mark and remove it. That is the problem. In Revit 2011, if the field was blank, it was blank in the element. Now, if the field is blank, the question mark appears.

[kkansara]

It seems that you are using multiple labels to display status of member or component. What you need to do is use only one label and insert multiple parameters. You can add Comment Parameter to display various conditions in addition to main tag and you have an option to insert break between two parameters inserted in same label.

This way as long as one of the parameter is used in a tag and other is left blank it will not show question mark.

For example, I am a structural engineer and I have beam conditions that is flush or dropped. Now when I am tagging the beam I want to show if its dropped below ceiling or flush. I edited structural framing tag family and in the existing label I inserted new parameter "Comment" in addition to existing parameter and on far right there is a break checkbox (If you keep this unchecked both parameters will appear in same line). So this way when I tag the beam and if I put comment as instance "Dropped" or "Flush" it will appear. if I dont put any comment it will just put main framing tag and there will not be any question mark.

Hope this helps.

[phyllisr]

...use only one label and insert multiple parameters....

What you suggest does work but it is also beside the point. It requires extra steps, additional effort and larger families. There are other problems related to visibility parameters in simlar tags tha preclude using your solution. My original problem is that yet again, something that worked just fine in previous versions becomes "broken" in subsequent versions. Witness the material editor debacle in Revit 2013 that is not much better in 2014... I can usually find work-arounds as you suggest but my problem is being forced to do so in the first place. But thanks for trying!

[mwarwick]

I also had this problem and found that if the nested annotation family is 'shared' then the question marks do not show.