Handful of Questions

  • Handful of Questions

    Posted by Nic Bitting on March 15, 2023 at 6:24 pm

    So I’m 1.5 weeks into Bluebeam and progress has been steady. For every question that comes up I’ve tried to troubleshoot first by exploring around the program, then googling for an answer, usually I end up on a YouTube clip that doesn’t quite answer what I’m looking for. I’m so grateful this community is here for the more in-depth questions!

    Here’s a few things I’m currently trying to solve:

    • When using Polylength, once I’ve completed a line segment is there any way to “continue with” (similar to or “Resume Count”) using that same line segment? (I’ve already discovered that I can complete separate Polylength takeoffs then group them together, perhaps this is the best way to achieve the goal of multiple line segments creating a single takeoff, but I’m curious if there’s another approach)?

    • I’ve built my tools on layers, but when I use them in a new PDF the markups do not get assigned to any layer – why is this?
    • Is there any way to drag and drop items in Markups List? Sometimes I’d prefer to view it in a custom sorted order, while keeping everything organize within the Labels I’d already assigned.
    • Is there any way to drag and drop items on the Legend, so I can put them in a specific order?
    • Can I set a Preference for Measurements>Precision, so it will default to something different than ¼”? So I don’t have to set it for every PDF I open?

    Vince French replied 11 months, 3 weeks ago 7 Members · 18 Replies
  • 18 Replies
  • Doug McLean

    Member
    March 16, 2023 at 10:02 am
    Points: 12,387
    Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt II UC2 Brainery Blue Belt II

    Hey Nic, all great questions.

    #1 yes. Click on the end node to select the tool, Rt. Click (right click is your very best friend btw) and then click Resume.

    #2 Try applying your custom columns first. If that doesn’t work, check your tools to see if they have built in layers

    #3 You can change the column layout (pretty much works like Excel in dragging columns) and you can change the sort order, but that’s about it. You can also set custom filters if that works for you

    #4 Open the Legend Properties. You can do all of that there.

    #5 in a word no…but… you can apply the same scale to multiple pages at the same time.
    I have a trick for this to select them quickly. It should be under the Tips and Tricks forum.

    Hopefully I helped a little

    • Vince French

      Member
      March 16, 2023 at 2:36 pm
      Points: 11,808
      Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt I UC2 Brainery Blue Belt I

      Great reply @Doug McLean !

    • Nic Bitting

      Member
      March 16, 2023 at 3:21 pm
      Points: 933
      Rank: UC2 Brainery White Belt IIII UC2 Brainery White Belt IIII

      Thanks for the feedback Doug! A few thoughts in Bold below

      #1 yes. Click on the end node to select the tool, Rt. Click (right click is your very best friend btw) and then click Resume.
      That works great, thanks!

      #2 Try applying your custom columns first. If that doesn’t work, check your tools to see if they have built in layers
      Will try.

      #3 You can change the column layout (pretty much works like Excel in dragging columns) and you can change the sort order, but that’s about it. You can also set custom filters if that works for you
      Bummer, but no biggie.

      #4 Open the Legend Properties. You can do all of that there.
      Not so sure this solves my problem…I’m attempting to move individual lines further up in the Legend. Seems to me it always sorts alphabetically. Picture attached below shows what I’m trying to do.

      #5 in a word no…but… you can apply the same scale to multiple pages at the same time.
      I have a trick for this to select them quickly. It should be under the Tips and Tricks forum.
      Right on, I’ll look this one up.

      • Doug McLean

        Member
        March 17, 2023 at 9:23 am
        Points: 12,387
        Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt II UC2 Brainery Blue Belt II

        I was also thinking maybe multiple legends might be a solution.

    • Troy DeGroot

      Organizer
      March 17, 2023 at 8:43 am
      Points: 20,777
      Rank: UC2 Brainery Brown Belt UC2 Brainery Advanced Brown Belt Rank

      This is awesome Doug, Thanks for helping!

  • David Cutler

    Member
    March 16, 2023 at 10:17 pm
    Points: 23,145
    Rank: UC2 Brainery Brown Belt III UC2 Brainery Brown Belt III

    One thought for your order issue @Nic_Bitting would be to add a custom column with “sort order” values.

    Assuming they stay consistent between estimates you could have the sort order value pre-populated in your custom tools. If I was to do this I’d probably use a 4 digit number and then increment them by the “10” value so that you can add other items into the order later if needed.

    This would definitely give you an ability to sort in the markups list, but I’m not positive about the legend. I don’t use legends very often and lately I’ve found them to be very finicky…

    • Troy DeGroot

      Organizer
      March 17, 2023 at 8:42 am
      Points: 20,777
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      Sorting the legend would work the same as the Markups List. Great questions and solutions guys. I love learning from you all! I wish we could sort by a custom column and still hide the column (I’d have to test it, pretty sure we can’t)

    • Troy DeGroot

      Organizer
      March 17, 2023 at 8:52 am
      Points: 20,777
      Rank: UC2 Brainery Brown Belt UC2 Brainery Advanced Brown Belt Rank

      Great suggestion @David Cutler , definitely some experience built into that answer.

      @Nic_Bitting you could name it “Line Item” or something that would be helpful as a reference down the road on a call. I like the idea of building these into the tool so they always sort correctly. You could always tweak it from project to project if the standard doesn’t fit exactly.

      As for the Layer issue, make sure you add the layers to the markup before you save them to the Tool Chest. This is another reason why I build all my tools on a worksheet so I can go back, quickly update, and replace the toolsets. You’ll find something new every other day as you apply them to projects.

      Just a note of warning for everyone, Layers will NOT create if the drawing is in a Studio Session. That is a document level change, which Sessions don’t allow (only markups). To get around this, you have to load the Layers into the document before you upload them.

      • David Cutler

        Member
        March 17, 2023 at 9:56 am
        Points: 23,145
        Rank: UC2 Brainery Brown Belt III UC2 Brainery Brown Belt III

        Good thoughts there @troy-degroot . I need to make the time to update my tools worksheets as they have gotten out of date. I like them for building bulk new tools, but I tend to “add on the fly” and am not disciplined about adding them to my worksheets…

        One new discovery this week was the ability to add layers to tools that are currently in your toolbox by simply right clicking on the tool in the toolbox and selecting “layer”. They don’t provide a dropdown in this option so you have to ensure you get the spelling/capitalization correct, but it does save you scrolling through 100s of CAD layers if you are lucky enough to have them. @Vince you might find this helpful for re-establishing layers when they “disappear”…

        • Troy DeGroot

          Organizer
          March 17, 2023 at 10:14 am
          Points: 20,777
          Rank: UC2 Brainery Brown Belt UC2 Brainery Advanced Brown Belt Rank

          That is always a great option if you forget. But like you said you have to be disciplined to update your worksheet. Just my process, it’s not for everyone.

        • Vince French

          Member
          March 17, 2023 at 11:03 am
          Points: 11,808
          Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt I UC2 Brainery Blue Belt I

          @David Cutler – I did start using the method of adding the layers directly to the tools in the tool chests but have given up on that now as I know they will disappear the first time I use the tool.

          Hopefully Bluebeam’s fix will be released very soon!

  • Don Walke

    Member
    March 22, 2023 at 10:08 am
    Points: 4,860
    Rank: UC2 Brainery Orange Belt IIII UC2 Brainery Orange Belt IIII

    As far as sorting goes, I use a prefix number on my tool subject names so that when i sort by subject, the markups will be in a specific order and not alphabetical.

    • David Cutler

      Member
      March 22, 2023 at 2:18 pm
      Points: 23,145
      Rank: UC2 Brainery Brown Belt III UC2 Brainery Brown Belt III

      Mine are setup similarly @dhwalkellc using the “Activity ID” from our estimating software. I get a 2 for 1 out of using this system….

    • Nic Bitting

      Member
      March 23, 2023 at 9:16 am
      Points: 933
      Rank: UC2 Brainery White Belt IIII UC2 Brainery White Belt IIII

      Thanks! That makes good sense.

  • Nic Bitting

    Member
    April 10, 2023 at 10:03 pm
    Points: 933
    Rank: UC2 Brainery White Belt IIII UC2 Brainery White Belt IIII

    Thanks for all the feedback so far, I truly appreciate the help I’m finding here. I’m going to keep this thread open by asking a few more follow up questions I’ve run into over the past couple weeks.

    • When I create a custom column, (for example a specific Part Number) can I then assign that text to show up as a Caption on my takeoff? Right now when I enable Show Caption and click Edit the only options I see are Label, Length, Depth, Wall Area, Rise/Drop – can I add any other values to this pickable list?
    • Several times after completing my color coded takeoff and printing to a color PDF in Bluebeam when I open the resulting file it shows up as Greyscale in Bluebeam, but in other PDF readers it shows up color as expected. Any thoughts on why this is happening?
    • Liz Larsen

      Member
      April 12, 2023 at 8:55 am
      Points: 4,630
      Rank: UC2 Brainery Orange Belt IIII UC2 Brainery Orange Belt IIII

      I’m gonna tag @Doug McLean and @Vince because I feel like they’re the most likely to have run into these before.

    • Doug McLean

      Member
      April 12, 2023 at 5:58 pm
      Points: 12,387
      Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt II UC2 Brainery Blue Belt II

      When I create a custom column, (for example a specific Part Number) can I then assign that text to show up as a Caption on my takeoff? Right now when I enable Show Caption and click Edit the only options I see are Label, Length, Depth, Wall Area, Rise/Drop – can I add any other values to this pickable list? – Most likely not. These are embedded tools in Revu, I don’t see a way to add them. Maybe a feature suggestion?

      Several times after completing my color coded takeoff and printing to a color PDF in Bluebeam when I open the resulting file it shows up as Greyscale in Bluebeam, but in other PDF readers it shows up color as expected. Any thoughts on why this is happening? –

      Why are you printing to PDF after you’ve done your markups? It’s not necessary.

    • Vince French

      Member
      April 13, 2023 at 12:35 am
      Points: 11,808
      Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt I UC2 Brainery Blue Belt I

      I agree with @Doug on both fronts.

      The in-built menu doesn’t allow any flexibility to add the details from custom columns unfortunately.

      And I’ve never had the need to print to PDF after completing my markups. I sometimes save a new version of a drawing with flattened markups to send to a client but that is it.

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