Sheet Notes in Revit using Keynotes

It has been some time since my last post. 2012 has been extremely busy for me and with the release of the 2013 Autodesk products I haven't had much time to expound on the blog topics that have been collecting in my to do list! To quote Randy Quaid. I'm Back!

A common dilemma for Revit users is how to most effectively use the documentation tools available in Revit to apply note bubbles and a schedule of those notes on their sheet views. I believe and hope to convince you that the Keynote tools in Revit can be adapted to this purpose very effectively.

First create a keynote legend to use on the sheet views in your project. The beauty of using a keynote legend is that you only have to create one. In the filter tab of the Keynote Legend Properties dialog select the Filter by sheet option to allow this legend to display only those bubbles and notes placed on the sheet.

Next we will modify the Keynote text file to include project specific notes for documenting the sheets. Here I have added Division 00 - Project Keynotes to one of the standard keynote files provided with Revit. I then began adding custom project notes below the last division entry with a simple numerical sequence and corresponding note and a division reference.

Be sure to separate these entries with TABS in the text file for proper formatting.

You can edit this text file while simultaneously working on the model in Revit. When you make changes to the text file use the Reload button in the Keynote Settings dialog box to refresh the project. You can even use the View button to preview the update prior to closing this dialog. When you close the dialog box the Revit model will respond to any changes or additions you may have made.

Apply the new Sheet Note entries to project views. The keynote tags will not display numbers at this point because We chose the By Sheet numbering method from the Keynote Settings dialog box.

Place the annotated views onto a sheet along with a keynote legend to complete your documentation. The legend will display a complete list of all keynote tags found in the views placed on the sheet in a sequential list and place corresponding bubble numbers into the views.

Comments

[nmulder]

I too am a proponent of using User Keynotes in Revit. The ability to have the software automatically number and keep track of notes being used on a sheet/view is a beautiful thing. The .txt file and syntax is a bit clunky and not the most user friendly. Still the best choice however compared to the alternatives.

One quirk that has come up recently though in a large project (12 dependent views * MEP = hundreds of sheets) is that some of the keynote numbers are not populating and/or showing questions marks, even though the legend is on the sheet and other keynotes using the same keyed note do display. Occasionally even copying a keynote that is displaying properly doesn't work. I haven't completely tracked down the cause, but replacing the legend on the sheet and/or deleting and replacing all the offending keynotes has so far fixed the problem.

Any suggestions?

[nmulder]

Just an update to what I posted earlier. I think I have pretty well narrowed down the cause of our problem: views that overlap. It is a large building segmented into 12 units...not all of them nice squares or rectangles so overlapping views is unavoidable. If you place a note that falls in more than one view Revit has trouble determining which view it corresponds with and therefore leaves the keynote empty or in some cases enters the note in schedule on the sheet but the keynote is not visible. This is unfortunate but the only workaround I have found so far is to place the keynote and select the note in an area of the view that does not overlap and then move the keynote to where you need it.

[Chuck Jolin]

I can see that possibly causing an issue. Does this behaviour happen if you place the keynotes in the View or Sheet View?

[nmulder]

It occurs in both the view and sheet view unfortunately.

[Shannon]

What do you do when you make a revision and it eliminates one of the "by sheet" keynotes thereby renumbering all the keynotes on the sheet. It's not practical to cloud all the changed notes when issuing the revision. I've searched AUGI and a lot of blogs and no one seems to have a good solution for this.

[Charles Jolin]

This is an excellent question and I would like to ask our readers to weigh in on the subject. How would you handle revision tracking in this scenario?

I think the typical procedure would be to cloud the keynote legend on the sheet, but not the individual bubbles.

Alternatively you could set the keynote legend to display by project as opposed to by sheet, but this would result in gaps in numbering of various pages throughout the project.

[Jeremy]

I would just leave that keynote value bank yet leave the keynote value. In the keynote legend/schedule on the drawing sheet I would cloud the blank entry in the note legend and hide the application keynote bubble

[Charles Jolin]

Thanks Jeremy!

[Shannon]

When using Keynote by sheet it automatically renumbers the remaining keynotes when one is removed. I can't leave the keynote value blank. When the element that the keynote references is removed from the model Revit automatically renumbers the remaining keynotes in the order you placed the notes originally. What you are suggesting might work if it were a keynote "by user" then I could just reference a "not used" keynote. But these are keynote "by element". Using user keynotes isn't practical because then you lose the smart reference inherent in the by element keynote.

[Scott Hinshaw]

Does anyone have any suggestions to fix Keynotes in Revit'15? "If you place a note that falls in more than one view Revit has trouble determining which view it corresponds with and enters the note in the schedule and on the sheet but the keynote is not visible". I am open to suggestions on how to handle this.