no kidding.

That would make things really cool

I wish we had more options other than Subject to apply “items”

I am.
I noticed the import issue before that though.

It won’t let you import multiple Items.

I knew you could create the duplicates, but I haven’t tried the import. Are you, by chance, creating multiple defaults like I showed you?

I haven’t tried @Doug McLean , but I can certainly see where it would be frustrating!

Hey have you guys noticed this?

I can manually enter something into a Choice column multiple times, but if I try to import multiple Items, it errors out and tells me that only the first item will be imported.

I’m thinking this is a bug, but its making my build of a new Profile and new Custom Columns painfully slow

you should see the pile of Acacia 12/4 live edge slabs we have left over from a project

I briefly worked at a woodshop and regularly found some pretty cool scraps in the dumpster. Yeah, I said it. 🤣

we try not to let it pile up… lol

Makes perfect sense @Doug McLean

So, do you folks have piles of window cutout scrap all over the place? As a Dad I can never get rid of a cutoff as I’m sure I will find a use for it some day! 😎

If you have trim around said window I’d assume that you take that off independently.

Short answer, I ignore them.

Long answer, it depends.

If the opening is significant, then I just won’t even mark them up, but even that depends.

In Millwork, in something like Wall paneling, depending on how the grain sequencing and matching is specified, I may have to take off the full panel regardless. In those cases the customer is PAYING for…

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I actually have two separate data files.
One that has my ‘punch list’ items (my scope list symbols) and then there is another with all my markups.

I eventually bring these together later however

The one headache I see to this Vince is on projects where we’re not allowed to use AI on.

Our company policy is that we’re not permitted to use AI agents on projects that we’re under an NDA on, which leaves out one of our largest contracts.

People are still going to need to know how to actually do something when the AI goes all awry

Tried the relatively new “Smart Overlay” tool today. Historically I have used the “Overlay” and “Batch Overlay” tools to perform this task.

A few thoughts and notes:

1. I don’t see any added value in the “Bluebeam on the web” report. Seems to add another step when I have to download the report from the web interface – though it does put all…

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he told me this morning, its pretty cool

Always fun juggling the smallest of variables.

Sounds as if the only thing that is consistent is the inconsistency @Vince ! 😎

I fill them individually with a click each time as I fill different openings with different markup tools.
There are different options of door openings as some may have returned internal reveals, some may need dummy frames whilst other use formers, etc..
Then the windows are allocated to ground floor, first floor, eaves level, etc. as they may…

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Good use for those cutout measurements. Do you hold the Shift Key to fill them all with one click?

Sorry to hear about that @rakel1969

I have had problems at times when I have multiple PDFs open with split screen views where my monitors start displaying similar behavior as in your screen shot.

Typically, if I shut everything down and restart my computer the issue clears up with no long term impact to my markups.

Have you tried restarting?

I’ll measure the elevations to a building and then do cut outs for the window & door openings.
I then use new markup tools to fill in the cut outs. The area of a window or door obviously isn’t of much use if you’re a bricklayer, cladder, etc. but you can then use these markups to automatically generate information such as the number of…

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The only thing that explains a “stroke” like this is that either you need to update, or you have bugs in the latest update. You could try a reset to see if it cleans anything up; just make sure you save and back up all your Profiles, Tool Sets, and Preferences.

Bluebeam Revu x64 Max, Version 21.11

I hear this one a lot, and I think it’s one of the most relatable frustrations in wall and finish takeoffs. You measure the elevation, you feel good, and then a little voice in the back of your head asks, “Did I take out every opening?” With three windows, it’s easy. With sixty across four elevations, you start wondering if the number on…

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Wow, a stroke is an understatement. I’ve never heard or seen anything like this one. What version are you using?

I have been working in a bluebeam session reviewing construction documents. Somewhere along the way, either the file got corrupted or bluebeam is having a stroke. Items I highlighted as reviewed are not all over the document, see the screenshot attachment. As part of this files “stroke” arrows have disappeared from leaders, I can not…

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Looking forward to seeing what you put together @Vince ! 🍿

I am the same as @DavidCutler – everything in one master Bluebeam file.

Then export out to a csv file and dragged into Excel via Power Query. However, this process is in the midst of being changed now – more on this to come!!!

Yes @troy-degroot – I have custom columns to match the import values required in B2W. Each custom tool includes values in these required columns.

The “cleaning” in PowerQuery is mainly subtotaling process. Once I change the source location and select “close and load” PowerQuery runs through a series of steps to subtotal my markup quantities…

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So I assume you built your custom columns in Bluebeam to match the format in B2W, so the import matched up automatically? What do you mean when you say “cleaning” in PowerQuery? Are you converting data, reformatting, cleaning up blank cells, or something else?

The process works pretty well @troy-degroot !

We use an estimating software by the name of “B2W” – formerly known as “Bid 2 Win”.

Sounds like it’s time-tested and humming like a bird. Thanks for the breakdown. What is the estimating software you import into again?

At this point we work in one master PDF file. Any sheet that we have applied takeoff markups is in that “single point of truth” file. We use a coversheet with “standard” items that establishes our custom columns and we then use our custom tools to ensure that the collected data populates the correct columns.

Once we have our takeoff complete…

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Here’s a question I love asking, because I never get the same answer twice.

You’ve got a whole set of PDFs, maybe a full drawing package, and every sheet has markups on it. You need one clean list of everything. How do you get there?

I’ve seen people combine the set first so there’s only one Markups List to work from. I’ve seen others keep…

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I’ve been pretty impressed, but I have found a few things that I need to watch out for with the “Offset As” feature. Specifically I have custom tools that are set to provide results in Square Yards (SY). What I found is that if I use my custom tool that measures in Square Yards to offset a poly line the custom tool reverts to Square Feet…

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@DavidCutler – I think I might blow your mind very soon!

I’m using a bit of both @Vince

Not getting into the Claude – or other – AI interfaces at this point.

But putting the new “Offset” and “Duplicate As” through their paces! 😎

Are you using the right click menu or the CTRL and CTRL + ALT method?
Offset is another one that I use regularly.
Not sure how the Smart Review and Smart Overlay work as I can’t use those with our drawings.
Claude and Revu are beginning to be a whole new world at the moment – some of the stuff it can do is pretty amazing!

Activated out 15 day trial of Max today! So far I’ve been using the “Change To”, “Duplicate As” and “Split Markup” tools.

What else should I be sure to try over the next 15 days?

In the process of downloading it now @DavidCutler .
I watched the launch webinar yesterday and things didn’t go to plan with regards the new headers and footers. However, the new functionality for splitting areas, combining areas, etc. looks like it could be really handy – so I thought I’d test that out.

Bluebeam released Revu 21.11.0 this week. Has anyone made the move yet? Anyone having any issues? I’m hanging back on 21.10 Complete at this point. Still need to try out Max – waiting for a new project to try it out on…

This is great; it’s a huge advantage when an estimator has constructability knowledge. I like how you use the “Location” column when you have, I assume, utilities and things that don’t fit completely inside a “Space”. And the “Lift” column is great for many reasons, I would assume. I built a very similar idea with a lumber yard where we…

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@troy-degroot all of my workflows have something built in for collecting data for use at valuation time.

For drainage, I use a “Location” column to allocate markups to plots or groups of plots. The lasso tool gets used for the allocation part. Once the csv gets imported into my spreadsheet using Power Query then all of the measures are…

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I never went any further with the 50 Shades @DavidCutler but this one may be worth a revisit at some point – I’m sure it can be improved upon.

I always tell my students, as estimators, they are actually data collectors; it benefits everyone if you can pass the baton to the next person downstream rather than have them learn everything again, or worse yet, miss it.

Great topic @troy-degroot !

A few of our Superintendents and Foreman use our marked up takeoff sets for reference, but I don’t think they are using them for progress tracking.

Our Project Manager definitely uses the takeoff sheets to understand the project/see how we developed the quantities, but again, I’m not sure how he is using them…

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Nobody talks about this enough: the follow-up measuring on payment applications.

The first takeoff on a job gets all the attention. Tool Chest built, colors set, everything organized. Then the project starts moving, and every billing period you’re back in that file trying to figure out what actually got done since last time,…

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Full credit to @isaac-harned on that part. I know when to bring in the right people!