[David Cutler]

Welcome @Bruce_218 to the Brainery! With members from around the world the sun never sets on the Brainery Party!

[David Cutler]

I also exported all of my toolboxes to a network directory. Too much time invested in them to not have them saved someplace remote…

[David Cutler]

One option @ChrisRiley is to print the file to a new PDF from Bluebeam. That should eliminate any layers.

Is there a reason why you want to remove the layers? Other than trying to figure out the designers “code” in their layer names I find it quite handy to be able to toggle the layers on and off.

[David Cutler]

Welcome to the Brainery @korup73

Great question. I’ve considered doing something similar with my next generation of tools, but haven’t got there yet so I’m curious to see where this leads for you.

The way I handle this type of situation now for paving as an example is to measure the area of the first step in the paving process, finegrade subgrade. Next I find the paving cross section and make a series of “0” SY takeoffs for my 6” stone base, 6” base paving, 3” Binder, Tack and 1.5” Top. (I set the scale on the detail sheet as 1 inch = 1 Foot on this sheet so a small square measures 0 SY)

Next I export my markups in a .CSV file and “wash” the data in Excel prior to uploading the “clean” items and quantities into our estimating software, B2W. Part of this washing process is copying the original fine grade quantity into the above referenced “0 SY” items.

I’ve started to streamline the washing process using Power Query (thank you @Doug McLean and @Vince !), but I have a ways to go….

[David Cutler]

This post by @troy-degroot might give you the answer that you’re looking for @Nic_Bitting

https://uchapter2.com/managing-custom-columns/

I also have had this issue from time to time. I posted a similar question at one point:

https://uchapter2.com/brainery/general-questions/forum/topic/conflicting-custom-columns/

Hope this helps!

[David Cutler]

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…

[David Cutler]

(Adding a new comment to bring this to the top of the page.)

If you haven’t already registered for today’s free live event there is still time to do so!

The event goes live at 2 PM eastern time (US).

@lizlarsen is sure to have a few tricks up her sleeve that you can use to improve your workflows.

[David Cutler]

That makes sense why you would want to get the hatch out of your way @dhwalkellc

If you wanted to preserve the hatch, but not accidentally select it you couldn’t you just turn the layer off? I’m hesitant to delete information permanently if I can avoid doing so.

[David Cutler]

Thank you for the suggestions @Doug McLean

I hadn’t thought about my custom stamps.

Good to know about the preferences too!

[David Cutler]

I wonder if @Vince has seen the news, downloaded the update and tested it out yet????

Thank you for posting @lizlarsen !

[David Cutler]

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

[David Cutler]

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”…

[David Cutler]

For this one @Nic_Bitting I’d suggest making custom tools for each role modifying the “subject” field for each role. I tried this out by making a “PM CLOUD+” tool. When I did this the markup list shows the Cloud+ symbol followed by “PM CLOUD+”.

You could have a toolbox for each role with those standard tools ready to go for the reviewer to use. With this method you could establish a color code – Estimator with orange, PM with green, etc.

[David Cutler]

I remembered the thought process as to why I duplicated the “Subject” and “Label” values. It has to do with how the values are displayed in the Toolbox and on the PDF.

Having full data in the Subject field helps me to find the tool in my toolbox even when the toolbox pane is “narrow” to maximize space on the screen for my drawing.

Having the full data repeated in the Label field allows me to display the data on the marked up sheet.

As a bonus, when you have the information in both fields if you turn off the “Show Caption” option you can still see the information in the “Label” field when you hover over the markup.

[David Cutler]

You had my hopes up for a minute there @Vince !

I’m hoping that that improved functionality for “Cloud” comes along soon. I really like what I’ve seen demonstrated regarding geolocation of photos. One of these days I’ll get a chance to explore that functionality.

Unfortunately @lizlarsen I don’t get out from behind my desk very often and we have a hard enough time getting our field folks to take/send in photos from their phones so I don’t see a big digital program involving our field crews any time soon…