Drawing list order

[rstiles]

My question deals with the Drawing Index that you typically see on
the cover sheet of any set of drawings. Usually, the index might consist
of a drawing list similar to below...

C1.1 Site Plan
C2.1 Grading Plan
A1.1 Floor Plan
A2.1 Elevation
............etc

Well as you know, Revit organizes it for you into a schedule, by placing
all your sheets in alphabetical order. My question is how do you get the
drawings to show up like I have it shown above if they are always in
alphabetical order? That would mean that all of my "C" (Civil) series
drawings would always be after the "A" series (Architectural). Basically
our drawings would never show up in the order that we want.

Hopefully this makes sense. Thanks for your time.

[Norton_cad]

Try altering your filter setting on your schedule thus...

[Dwane Lindsey]

rstiles....

Check out this post http://revit-archcenter.blogspot.com/2007/10/sheet-index-organization.html

I basically have custom parameters that allow you to organize your index the way you want.

[rstiles]

yeah the custom parameter worked great. just labeled the order of the sheets and then sorted by the custom parameter and then hide the column

thanks all
Russ

[patricks]

Try altering your filter setting on your schedule thus...

This makes the schedule blank, because there are no sheets that contain both A and C letters. I don't believe filtering can be used for this purpose. If it can, though, I'd love to hear it, because the Sort Order parameter for every sheet is a bit clunky and annoying to deal with IMHO.

[twiceroadsfool]

I dont vary a sheet sort order for EVERY sheet, but i have mine as follows:

I have a "discipline" parameter that it sorts by, THEN it sorts by sheet number.

I only have a few different disciplines, and theyre prefixed with numbers. For instance:

01 Genera Information
02 Structural
04 Architecture
06 mechanica
08 Electrical
10 Plumbing

In his case i would add one in between Arch and Struct, and they would move to the head of the arch pack. Its not ideal, but if were going to ask it to list them in a logical fashion, it has to have something to go on...

[patricks]

I dont vary a sheet sort order for EVERY sheet, but i have mine as follows:

I have a "discipline" parameter that it sorts by, THEN it sorts by sheet number.

I only have a few different disciplines, and theyre prefixed with numbers. For instance:

01 Genera Information
02 Structural
04 Architecture
06 mechanica
08 Electrical
10 Plumbing

In his case i would add one in between Arch and Struct, and they would move to the head of the arch pack. Its not ideal, but if were going to ask it to list them in a logical fashion, it has to have something to go on...

Yes, that's how we do it as well, but I just use an Integer field with a 1 for Civil, 2 for architectural, and so on. When I said it's clunky, I just meant it's a pain to have to enter the number for every new sheet you create. When you're entering them on the schedule, it can be hard to go through and add a number to a bunch of sheets quickly since it automatically sorts the sheet as soon as you add a number to it, and the cursor is always jumping around (you can't type a number, hit enter, type a number, etc.).

It would be nice if it could automatically sort C sheets before A sheets, even when you add new sheets.

[twiceroadsfool]

I do it in the project browser for that reason... Select ten sheets at once, go to the properties... The filed is editable with multiple sheets selected...

[patricks]

ah yes, I always forget about the old "select multiple sheets at once" trick. But, I still would like it to sort correctly automatically ;)

Because invariably, sheets are added as a project progresses, and invariably, someone always ends up printing a set including the title sheet without checking to see that the drawing list looks correct, and we always end up having to re-print the title sheet. Would save a foot or twenty of paper off of every 36" roll.

[twiceroadsfool]

I agree, but what does *sort correctly* mean? Thats what i meant about it having logic. So, we want them to go in order numerically, but WE think C should come before A. ive seen firms use G gor General information as well.

Plus, a lot of firms dont go in the same order of C/S/A/M/E/P, so how COULD it possibly do it automatically?

I suppose ONE way, is it could list them numerically in ascending orer by default, and we could manually move them in the list. But then that sheet would have to forever be disengaged from automation, for the system to work. Then we would have a MESS when people didnt check it at the end of the job.

It could automatically give us "Sheet selection groups," but thats really what weve done with added parameters.

Its my complaint about the term "workaround." In a ware that has to operate based on some sort of impled logic, what IS proper behavior,and what IS a workaround?

[sgoodmansen]

I am setting mine up this way as well, however I have a question. I set up a bunch of dummy sheets for the other disciplines in order to populate the drawing schedule, however how do you hide the dummy sheets in the Project Browser? In my case I want to only see the General and Architectural Disciplines. Since the filter is only an And filter and has no Or option I'm only able to filter between general or architectural and not both.

The only work around I can think of is to create a type property for General and a Seperate on for Architectural, but that is not ideal since you would have to change the property in order to switch between those sheet.

Why couldn't Autodesk give us an the ability to swicth between And and Or in the filters. Perplexing. If anybody has a solution I'd love to hear it.

-Steve

[twiceroadsfool]

sgood-

Do what i do... Make a seperate revit model with all the dummy sheets for MEP. Then in the drawing list, check the box for "show instances in linked files" (bottom left hand corner).

It wont be in the browser at all... Then to edit those sheets, go in the empty model :)

[sgoodmansen]

sgood-

Do what i do... Make a seperate revit model with all the dummy sheets for MEP. Then in the drawing list, check the box for "show instances in linked files" (bottom left hand corner).

It wont be in the browser at all... Then to edit those sheets, go in the empty model :)

thats a good solution. Thanks.

[patricks]

For consultants' sheets, I just enter those in a text box with the same formatting as the drawing sheet schedule. IMHO it's easier to just edit that than to have to mess with another linked file, dummy sheets, etc. etc. The line spacing between lines in the text box and lines in the schedule isn't EXACTLY the same, but really, it's something we just live with and move on. Contractors can still read the sheet index just the same.

As for the sort order, what I was saying before is that it would be nice if we could just specify a sort order within the drawing schedule itself, e.g. tell it to put C sheets first, then A, then F, then whatever, etc. and just have it set up that way in the template, and then all sheets would sort correctly whenever sheets are added.

Another approach I suppose would be to have separate drawing schedules for each discipline in the project, filtered by the sheet number, and not use a Sort Order field at all. Then just place them in the correct order on your title sheet. They will overlap as sheets are added, but you can just adjust the schedules down on the sheet as needed. That way you won't have to remember to enter a number or other parameter for the Sort Order every time you add a sheet.

[nancy.mcclure]

Drawing Lists DO allow you to include the sheets from linked Revit files - MEP and Structural, but it appears in 2010 that you cannot apply data to them to use your Shared Parameters (I use List Order and Discipline so I can organize my list and have a heading at each portion).

This is frustrating, to be able to pull in the linked sheets, but be locked out of organizing them with parameters from the project... back to dummy sheets or 'dumb' text blocks. Grrrrrr.

[chris.macko125036]

I am setting mine up this way as well, however I have a question. I set up a bunch of dummy sheets for the other disciplines in order to populate the drawing schedule, however how do you hide the dummy sheets in the Project Browser? In my case I want to only see the General and Architectural Disciplines. Since the filter is only an And filter and has no Or option I'm only able to filter between general or architectural and not both.

The only work around I can think of is to create a type property for General and a Seperate on for Architectural, but that is not ideal since you would have to change the property in order to switch between those sheet.

Why couldn't Autodesk give us an the ability to swicth between And and Or in the filters. Perplexing. If anybody has a solution I'd love to hear it.

-Steve

If you have a seperate discipline parameter for each sheet type you can sort the sheets in the brower by that parameter and then collapse whatever you don't want to see. They're not totally hidden, but they're out of the way of the sheets you actually do need to get to regularly. We actually go one step further and add a series number so we can have the breaks between plan sheets, elevation sheets, details, etc. Yeah, you have to remember to add the information each time you make a new sheet, but once it's there you can forget about it. You can also see at a glance what sheets don't have the parameters filled out because they'll be under the ???.

[Scott Womack]

Drawing Lists DO allow you to include the sheets from linked Revit files - MEP and Structural, but it appears in 2010 that you cannot apply data to them to use your Shared Parameters (I use List Order and Discipline so I can organize my list and have a heading at each portion).

This is frustrating, to be able to pull in the linked sheets, but be locked out of organizing them with parameters from the project... back to dummy sheets or 'dumb' text blocks. Grrrrrr.

In the Consultants Sheet file, I simply link in the regular main model, and then with the consultant's file open, I use transfer project standards (you can select the link to do this. I transfer the project parameters, make sure they are in the titleblock families, and then edit the sheets for what I need, Save, and reopen the main file again. I'll sometimes start a second session of Revit to open the consultants file and do a reload.

I currently have a University project where they require their own titleblock. I added our shared parameters to it. In the cusultant's file I just have our standard titleblock. Since the graphics never show, as long as the parameters match up, the graphics don't matter.

A Side benefit of the consultants file is that I don't have to completely remake all of the sheets for the next project. I copy it over to a new directory, and simply modify sheet names numbers in a schedule, and I'm good to go.