Family or group or other--Text blocks

[dalewww]

I am into my first project in Revit, a 30,000 square foot school. I am looking at adding text to the plans, sections, and elevations.

It is rather simple to add just a basic note to the project. Not a problem. However, I want to create notes that can be used accoss all projects; like a block in Autocad. I have search the forum and help files but have not found what seems to be the right thing to use for it.

I also want to create general notes specific to floor plans, framing plans, etc. along with the typical notes used for building sections, elevations, wall sections, and details.

I have looked into keynotes, note blocks, etc. but they just don't seem to be the right fit. What is the best way to save these notes to be used across all projects? Could it be a general annotation family or a group? Please let me know the most effecient way of doing this.

Thanks,

[luigi]

One option, I think there are a few, is to make a generic annotation and insert it in your projects as a symbol.

[ejburrell67787]

We use a keynote family with multiple types so you can load it into any project. We insert the keynote types on the drawings as and when we need them - they show as a ref number and a brief note. Then we schedule the keynotes as we need them by sheet and insert the schedule onto the sheet. The schedules include the ref number, the brief note and the full description.

We have also put 1-off note blocks on drawings occasionally, but now that our keynote family is fleshed out we don't really need to any more.

Hope this helps.
Elrond

[dalewww]

I was wondering about the symbol idea. I think that seems to be the best one for our office. The lead architects do not like the keynotes that refer to a list of notes.

I have since tried the general annotation idea and have found that it places the family under annotation symbols in the project browser. This is perfect. However, I can see that I am going to get a very large list here if I start saving all of my typical notes this way and loading them into the project. Is there a way to group similar notes, like all the notes that would go on an elevation, or as wall section grouped into their own subcategory ( just like making a new folder in explorer within a folder). I read some threads about this creating a shared parameter, but that was back in 6. I was hoping this has been improved on. Does Revit 8 have this option now? I do not see it anywhere.

Thanks,

[J. Grouchy]

We use a keynote family with multiple types so you can load it into any project. We insert the keynote types on the drawings as and when we need them - they show as a ref number and a brief note. Then we schedule the keynotes as we need them by sheet and insert the schedule onto the sheet. The schedules include the ref number, the brief note and the full description.

We have also put 1-off note blocks on drawings occasionally, but now that our keynote family is fleshed out we don't really need to any more.

Hope this helps.
Elrond

We do the same...the only problem I have with schedules is editing the text, particularly when you have a lot of text and can only see a little bit at a time in the schedule view. I would like the ability to view all of the text within a cell at once or edit the text directly within the schedule placed on a sheet.

[ejburrell67787]

We do the same...the only problem I have with schedules is editing the text, particularly when you have a lot of text and can only see a little bit at a time in the schedule view. I would like the ability to view all of the text within a cell at once or edit the text directly within the schedule placed on a sheet.
Yeah having cells wrap text in the schedules would be a big help or editing on the sheet as you say. I usually cut/paste the text out from the Element Properties dialogue box to Word and cut/paste it back once it is corrected. There is no CTRL-A available though, you have to start at the left, hold shift and hit END to select all the text.

Elrond

[luigi]

I was wondering about the symbol idea. I think that seems to be the best one for our office. The lead architects do not like the keynotes that refer to a list of notes.


I have since tried the general annotation idea and have found that it places the family under annotation symbols in the project browser. This is perfect. However, I can see that I am going to get a very large list here if I start saving all of my typical notes this way and loading them into the project. Is there a way to group similar notes, like all the notes that would go on an elevation, or as wall section grouped into their own subcategory ( just like making a new folder in explorer within a folder). I read some threads about this creating a shared parameter, but that was back in 6. I was hoping this has been improved on. Does Revit 8 have this option now? I do not see it anywhere.

Thanks,
Dale, one thing you can try is create one family which contains all of your notes (I have no imagination on how many you might have) and type them all in the same file....then by selecting the text that belongs to one type of notes you can give it a parameter that would be Yes/No....make sure it is an instance, for if it is a type you will still have all of the multiple families in the file. Do you follow me....
Of course as I think this out there may be some annoyances....just let me know if this will work for you or if it was a waste of reading time...:)

Peace,