disappearing dimensions

[archlight52]

I opened my Revit file today and all my dimensions were gone. Not just one view but throughout the entire file. I know when I saved to central at the end of the day yesterday they were still there since I PDFd the entire set right before closing out and all the PDFs have dimensions. Could this be attributable to something I did? Is it possible to somehow delete every dimension with a couple unintentional keystrokes? Or is it possible that Revit glitched and dumped all of them during the save? Has anyone else had problems like this? I also know I was the only person working on the file so it couldn't be someone else.

Fortunately I had backups so it wasn't catastrophic. All the same, I'd really like to know how something like this happened and if I had something to do with it, avoid doing so in the future. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[iankids]

Although it may not relate to your issue, I had a situation where I wanted to copy all the text on one sheet & then paste on to subsequent sheets.

I used the "select all" method and when I went to paste, I found that there was all this other text which pasted into the new sheet. It had me puzzled until one of the legends here noted that "selecting all" selects every instance of that type throughout every view & not just the sheet I was in at the time.

It may be possible that you "selected all" when selecting a couple of errant dimensions in one view which you wanted to delete, and inadvertently deleted every dimension.

Just a guess.

Cheers,

Ian

[patricks]

That's a good theory. Also note that using "Select All Instances" does NOT select instances of an item in Legend views, which is quite annoying when you DO want to change all instances of an element globally.

[archlight52]

hmmm.... good to know. thanks.

[nrubens_99]

We just had this happen to us as well. I don't think this is a "select all" issue. You would have to do this in every view. I do think it is a bug, although,I can't confirm.

[Rick Houle]

..."Select All Instances" definitely transcends the single view to include "ALL INSTANCES" inside the dbase... (other than the legend views, apparently)

...another action that can strip away dimensions is the "Detach" option inside Move...
When you "Detach" something it also detaches from its own dimensions... orphaning the dimensions and thus deleting them...

...when you mirror something and do not select the dimensions as well, you can lose those dimensions...

These actions were true in 2008. I have not checked in 2009...

[patricks]

I don't think this is a "select all" issue. You would have to do this in every view.

No, Select All Instance is project-wide (except for legend views), NOT view specific.

I have often wished for a secondary Select All function such as Select All Instances In View or something like that.

[david.fannon]

if you are curious, it's pretty easy to find a select all in the journal file (SEL_ALL I believe) then you know who and when.

[david.fannon]

If you are curious, it's pretty easy to find a select all in the journal file (SEL_ALL I believe) then you know who and when. Also, that will show you a VERY long list of each item being selected before it's deleted. I find reviewing the journal file with a user and having them scroll through a few screens of element ID's being deleted is a pretty good lesson in how universal Select All Instances really is. And once you see that journal, you never make that mistake again!

[STHRevit]

Were the dimensions refering to a linked model by chance?.
If the linked model is unloaded or the link is terminated, the dims become orphaned and will vanish.

Just a thought.

[archlight52]

Yes if you select all in one view it selects every dimension throughout... annoying. Thanks for the info.

[bhanna173409]

We've been experiencing this problem as well with 2010. It is happening in a model that has a linked file, however, that linked file has not been altered, or detached/reattached. seems to happen after a "sync with central" when the file is opened up the following day. No major elements (column grids, etc.) have been altered, or deleted and reattached. Dimensions are simply being blown away for the entire model, multiple floors - gone.

Is this a bug, or are there other issues that we need to be aware of?

[cliff collins]

Make sure the Linked File is on a separate workset, and use the workset to turn the link on//off, not Manage Links.

This will avoid the "disappearing dimensions" problem when links get unloaded.

cheers.

[bhanna173409]

Thanks Cliff,

As it turns out, that's exactly how we manage the linked files. They have their own worksets. What is frustrating in this instance is that they have not been touched.

[walbridge.d]

We are having some trouble with disappearing dimensions too. (We're using 2009.) To try to fix this, I've been telling people not to unload or detach a link through manage links. Also we're keeping links on their own worksets and 'turning off' the links using the Visibility Graphics or 'VV.' Still once in a while dimsensions will disappear.

My hunch is the objects in the linked files were erased and remade, which detatches the dimensions.