RushForth Tools for Revit: Release Notes

2024-04-17:

• RF Tools for Revit 2025 released last week
• RF Tools Updates Checker
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause the machine to restart when downloading updates.
• RF Automator
• New Display Clashes option to schedule printing of clash reports and sheets with clashes visible and colored.
• Supports overriding of more error types without pausing for user input when opening projects and performing automations
• UNC Pathing: Network paths now default to UNC paths instead of drive letter mapping to enable files to be found even when the user is logged off and drive mapping isn't active
• Run C# Code
• New example code 'Override CAD Layer Styles' that can override linked or imported CAD layer colors, line weights, and patterns for the entire project based on rules
• Model Manager/Parameter Transformer
• Updated Excel behavior for additional compatibility with MS OneDrive locking and syncing
• In the Parameter Transformer tool, you can now export Sheet Name for all views which is now editable in Excel
• Property.Mirrored is no longer read only so mirroring can be controlled from Excel
• Circuit elements can now have their panel and circuit number changed in Excel similar to how other elements can have their circuits changed and set in Excel
• Project Setup
• Insert views/Details now supports schedules, legends, and renders
• Insert views/Details now supports importing sheets with multiple drafting views, legends, and schedules.    Unsupported 3D views and floor plans have been removed.
• Updated Excel behavior for additional compatibility with MS OneDrive locking and syncing
• Parameter Scheduler
• Revit 2022: Added support for additional parameter types that were missing in this version
• Revit 2022-2024 added backwards compatibility for new parameter group naming convention of Revit 2025
• When exporting shared parameters, it now defaults to the currently set shared parameter file folder
• DraftXL
• Updated Excel behavior for additional compatibility with MS OneDrive locking and syncing
• Display Clashes
• New option to print sheets to PDF directly from the clash report viewer when clashing/reporting more than one sheet (Revit 2022+).

2023-11-05:

• RF Automator
• New Display Clashes option to schedule printing of clash reports and sheets with clashes visible and colored
• Important: If you have pinned the RF Automator to your taskbar for use outside of Revit, you will still need to click the RF Automator button in Revit at least once in one version of Revit to see the updated version.
• Model Manager/Parameter Transformer
• Excel now closes after import to avoid Microsoft Onedrive sync locking the file
• Display Clashes
• New option to print sheets to PDF directly from the clash report viewer (Revit 2022+)

2023-09-23:

• RF Automator
• Fixed issue where Revit would stay open on some machines even after completing tasks instead of closing.
• Creating .bat files now uses generic %userprofile% path for the application path so that a .bat file created by one user can be used by other users without having to edit the path inside the .bat file
• New print option to place files in dated subfolder so that you have the option to have recurring PDF prints to not overwrite previous prints
• Printing linked model sheets no longer skips PDFs if the link has placeholder sheets
• Important: If you have pinned the RF Automator to your taskbar for use outside of Revit, you will still need to click the RF Automator button in Revit at least once in one version of Revit to see the updated version.
• Model Manager/Parameter Transformer
• Circuit.Frame property added as an available parameter
• Fixed issue where some type parameters may not show up in selection option if the element type only exists in a linked model and not the current model
• Parameter Linker
• Assembly sheets now show under their own category in the selection viewer for easier filtering and editing of Assembly parameters
• Fixed issue when some system families would not show available parameters when selecting types in the model treeview
• Circuit.Frame property added as an available parameter
• Project Setup
• Data grids now have alternating colored rows for easier navigation
• View lists now have view name column frozen so it stays visible
• Viewport coordinate calculations are much faster in Revit 2023, 2024.  Slightly faster in Revit 2021, 2022.
• View template names in selectors of final view creation list are now sorted like those in the template lists
• Viewport coordinates: You can now select which viewport origin coordinates you would like to modify so you can align to middle of viewport, top right, top left, etc.
• Create Views tab now has adjustable layout and size grips to enlarge sections of the tab to make tables larger for editing
• DraftXL
• Notes added in the options tab to indicate how to adjust the scale of imports as needed
• Display Clashes
• Report now displays user names of those who created the clashing elements

2023-07-06:

• RF Automator
• Fixed an issue that prevented some Revit 2020 and Revit 2021 automations from being scheduled.

2023-06-30:

• Customize Ribbon
• Options for excluding RF Automator and Run C# added to the customize dialog
• RF Automator
• New Feature: Automate printing of sheets from multiple models and links, including multiple options for saving and naming of files
• New Feature: Create .bat files for convenient starting of automations (Example: instead of scheduling sheet prints at a certain time, you can wait until your team is ready and just start the automation at that time)
• Changed folder browser in RVT/NWC Export options to allow for better pasting of network paths
• Automation task start time added to log entries
• Now prevents windows scheduler tasks from creating a duplicate identical tasks in the same queue
• To avoid central file performance issue, when opening a model that is hosted on a local network, the tool will now create a local copy linked to the central instead of opening the central directly
• Fixed directory selector button in schedule settings, also can paste paths directly from windows explorer

• Parameter Linker
• Fixed issue when rooms in a non-workshared link may not get tagged using the room tag options
• Parameter Scheduler
• When converting family parameters to shared parameters, the user modifiable property now always defaults to user modifiable=1
• DraftXL
• New option to open files read-only to allow you to import files that are opened by another user without any warnings

2023-04-07:

• New Tool: RF Automator
• This tool allows you to initiate tasks from outside of Revit and schedule recurring Revit tasks on multiple models
• Allows you to open a model while suppressing all warnings to avoid interruptions to the open process
• You can schedule a large model to open the next morning before you start work so it is ready for you when you start your day
• The RVT/NWC exporter tool is integrated into the RF Automator so you can schedule recurring backup downloads of your BIM360 projects and linked models to your network folders
• Run your own custom C# code on multiple models to automate any kind of task you can imagine and code
• Further features and tool integration into this platform is in progress
• New Tool: Run C# Code
• Run C# code directly in your model without having to compile or distribute your solution
• Allows for easy testing and changing of code
• Includes multiple C# code examples for performing tasks such as filtering for elements, exporting parameter values to a text file, deleting elements, and selecting elements
• Includes a link on the form for “Automate this!” which will allow you to create a preset for use in scheduling this task in the new RF Automator tool for one or multiple models
• Model Manager/Parameter Transformer
• Better support for excel files stored on Microsoft OneDrive without getting locked by OneDrive
• Parameter Linker
• Significant performance improvements for filtering categories and parameters
• Location values no longer show as discrepancies if close enough (within 1/10000 of an inch)
• One to Many links: Added the ability for the matching tools to identify more than one available link to make per source element.  This was previously possible only with saved rules.
• Project Setup
• Significant speed increases for projects using complex settings templates
• Added link with instructions on how to create phased spaces from phased rooms
• 2022 and later: View Title offsets now react to the option of computing with annotations off
• Better support for excel files stored on Microsoft OneDrive without getting locked by OneDrive
• RVT/NWC Export
• Added a link on the form for “Automate this!” which will allow you to create a preset for use in scheduling this task in the new RF Automator tool
• Element Tagger
• Tagging elements in linked model will no longer create tags for elements that are not visible in the view being tagged
• DraftXL
• Fixed an issue that could make the tool appear to be frozen when excel was waiting for a dialog box to be closed.
• Better support for excel files stored on Microsoft OneDrive without getting locked by OneDrive
• Display Clashes
• Fixed issue where dependent view clash results wouldn't always be cleared properly
• Added ElementID information to the clash report

2022-04-20:

• DraftXL
• The user notification of files to update on project-open is now an optional notification in the lower right corner instead of pausing and requiring the user to respond to the pop-up

2022-04-06:

• NEW TOOL: Display Clashes
• New button on toolbar that allows you to display all clashes that affect the elements in your current view
• A report is generated showing the number and types of each clash (which categories are clashing)
• You can select any number of sheets or views to display clashes for easy coordination
• After displaying clashes on all your sheets, you could print out the report and a review set of drawings for others to review as well
• Model Manager/Parameter Transformer
• When exporting room properties for an element, if there are rooms from multiple phases, it defaults first to the phase of the current element.
• For panel schedule graphics elements, you can now export the panel name of the equipment scheduled as this can be different than the panel schedule name.
• Spare electrical circuits can now export, edit, and import the circuit rating property
• Exporting multiple schedules at the same time now creates a separate Excel or CSV export for each schedule instead of combining them in a single file.
• View Reference Sheet Number property now exports the sheet number properly
• Parameter Linker
• Saved rules will no longer create new links if the elements are already linked in reverse.
• Project Setup
• New columns in the Manage Viewports tab to control the Viewport Title Line Length, Offset X, and Offset Y (Revit 2022 and later)
• Space renaming tool from linked room names: if there are rooms from multiple phases, it defaults first to the phase of the current space.
• Fixed some display issues that could appear for users that have scaling turned on in their windows resolution settings.
• Can now purge orphaned room tags
• Can now use "Tag all not tagged" when creating room tags for linked rooms in your views
• Insert Views tool now caches the view previews locally so that it doesn't have to recompute the visual preview for details each time you choose to see the view previews.  It will recompute them if the source model gets updated after the cached preview was made.
• Parameter Scheduler
• Added support for controlling the UserModifieable property of shared parameters
• New warnings if replacing shared parameters that are different but have the same name.
• RVT/NWC Export
• Fixed issue where one corrupted model could prevent all other models from exporting.
• Added check-all and check-none buttons to the NWC view list
• New option to export using internal coordinates if desired
• New link in tool to get the Autodesk NWC Export Utility
• Element Tagger
• Property.Mirrored is now available for use in filtering when to tag an element
• DraftXL
• New Feature: Users are notified when opening a project if there are excel files that have been changed since the last import/update and given the option to review/update.
• Removed Named ranges that are hidden system ranges from showing on the selection list.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the process to give an error if a named range in excel had become corrupt.
• Fixed error that could occur when accessing a write-protected folder

2021-09-28:

• Model Manager/Parameter Transformer
• Selecting multiple Revit schedule for export in the Excel tab now exports each schedule as a separate Excel or .csv file instead of combined in a single file.
• Resolved some rare issues when Excel would automatically format parameter values as exponential numbers
• Added Property.Mirrored as an available field to export and filter by
• Reduced dependency on Microsoft Excel Interops that can be corrupted by Microsoft updates or Autodesk installs which might require a repair of Microsoft Excel.
• 3D Sections
• 3D levels and grids are now hidden by default
• Project Setup
• Reduced dependency on Microsoft Excel Interops that can be corrupted by Microsoft updates or Autodesk installs which might require a repair of Microsoft Excel.
• Parameter Scheduler
• Significant speed improvements when adding a large number of parameters to a project or assigning to a large number of categories

2021-04-17:

• Project Setup
• Reset View Title Position now reads the user selected option of whether to calculate position with annotations off or on.
• Users can now select whether the Level name is concatenated at the beginning or end of Sheet and View names when creating per level
• Added assembly sheet parameters to be available in the parameter selection on the manage sheets tab for inclusion on the table
• Fixed issue that could cause some links not to show up in the link selection box.
• Model Manager/Parameter Transformer
• You can now use a previous export to set the Revit element selection by using the “Existing Template” options then clicking the button the “Use Template Elements as Selection Set”
• The Location.Z parameter is now editable for tags in elevation and section views.
• Added support for the creation of new elements from more categories including system families using the Excel import function
• Fixed issue that could cause some BIM360 links not to show up in the link selection box.
• Parameter Linker
• Added support for some additional electrical circuiting parameters
• Added support for linking to shared coordinate values
• Element Tagger
• Added support for controlling tag placement coordinates on section and elevation views.
• Various other minor tool enhancements

2021-04-01:

• Version Revit 2022 released.

2020-07-29:

• RVT/NWC Export
• New tool
• Easily back up your BIM360 project with all of its linked Revit models to your local drive
• Batch convert your model and all selected links to Navisworks NWC files
• Project Setup
• Space creation has new option to only create spaces from rooms of the current phase
• Model Manager/Parameter Transformer
• The Excel tab now supports exporting to and importing from .csv text files for greater compatibility with external software including Google sheets or machines without Microsoft Office.
• The Get elements from html report button now supports additional types of warning reports from Revit exported reports.
• The Excel/CSV import can create many new elements by inputting <New> as the ElementID and providing creation data.
• The “Family” property is now editable in the Excel export to enable renaming families in a project.
• Updates
• Users can now choose to skip feature updates to stop receiving update reminders.

2020-04-14:

• Model Manager/Parameter Transformer
• Resolved issue where exporting large amounts of data from multiple linked models at the same time could skip elements if they had the same ElementID as an element in another linked model in the same export
• Project Setup
• Resolved issue where an Autodesk update disabled the ability to copy true north from linked models.
• DraftXL
• Now have the option to remove the view from the Revit project when the DraftXL link is removed
• Can now type directly in the history list to edit file paths, ranges to import, Revit view name to use, and graphical override settings
• New Excel border types supported (Total of 4: Thin, Medium, Thick/Wide, and Double line)
• Import options for font, lines, and scaling are saved with each import and can be modified for each import separately as desired
• Import remembers the settings it was originally imported with so can be updated by another user without needing identical settings (Also allows updating with corrected settings after importing)
• Other minor user experience changes