[David Cutler]

Alright, the suspense is killing me, who’s got some “new tricks” learned from XCON to share?

[David Cutler]

I was hoping to make it to at least a few sessions today, but it’s a bit crazy around here…

Looking forward to hearing everything that everyone is taking away!

[David Cutler]

Interesting question Vince. My first thought was that the new columns wouldn’t apply to old markups because of formulas and such, but that doesn’t make sense since the formulas are column based, not tool based.

I’ve had a similar issue where I’ve opened a takeoff file that was created by one of my coworkers with a different profile and an older version of Revu. When I add new a new markup my custom columns populate, but they don’t for the previously applied markups.

Perhaps there is a “refresh markups” or “recalculate columns” command that we haven’t seen yet? If there isn’t, perhaps this is something to add to the “feature request list”.

[David Cutler]

After getting a glimpse of your spreadsheet I could see how you could overload Power Query @vince !

[David Cutler]

Your macro setup is great Rob! I perform my takeoff in a very similar fashion, and then reduce my data in a .CSV export. I perform the same sort of data reduction in Excel, but I go through the steps every time.

Looks like I need to learn about macros!

Thank you for sharing.

Dave

[David Cutler]

Interesting approach Brett. I haven’t used a “mail merge” for years. On a quick google search I found something that looks promising, but I haven’t explored it:

https://support.bluebeam.com/online-help/revu20/Content/RevuHelp/Menus/Tools/Form/Data/Data.htm

As a different approach have you tried using Revu to save the PDF as either a Word document or an Excel file? In Word you could then setup a similar merge to what you are using in Adobe. If you are able to save it into Excel format you might just be able to work with simple formulas.

[David Cutler]

Interesting to know that there is a function in Adobe Pro that allows you to pull the data in.

A couple of follow up questions about your current process:

1. What is the name of the function in Adobe Pro?

2. Does the functionality read/match the bid form or do you have to ensure that the data is in the correct order in your Excel file?

3. Is the bid form consistent with regards to the location of the fields that you need to fill? Is the item description limited to 2 lines or do they sometimes stretch to 3 lines?

4. For large bids are pages 2, 3, 4 etc. consistent with regards to the number of items on each page?

As with most estimating tasks the time you invest in the begging to set up your estimate format greatly reduces bid day stress. You might be able to use a procedure similar to what I outlined above to set your “initial” bid at bid time – 60 minutes and then make the final adjustments on the items that have last minute changes with simple text boxes with white backgrounds that sit on top of the original numbers. As a final check have your total locations setup with text boxes ready to be entered at the time you close your bid.

One word of caution – ensure that you flatten your bid document before you submit it. This should eliminate the risk of someone accidently moving some of your data after you have submitted it.

Bonus thought – for your last minute changes you could create a custom tool with two text boxes pre-sized and formatted to drop in to post your final adjustments.

Interested to see what others recommend…

[David Cutler]

When you look at Brett’s form below @troydegroot is there a way to pull data from Excel into Revu using auto created fields as you suggest above? Would this be some sort of “reversed” quantity link?

[David Cutler]

That’s what I found with this drawing set Vince – too much information on one sheet. I’ve always struggled with deciphering the layer names that the designers use. Using the Isolate tool I will be able to clearly see what is on each layer. I might even re-name some of them so that I don’t have to keep guessing.

[David Cutler]

Now you have kicked in my FOMO… Just tried registering but my discount code isn’t working… Best laid procrastination plan isn’t working out…

Looking forward to hearing what everyone picked up.

[David Cutler]

I hear what you are saying @troydegroot but my way is sooo much more efficient than those other people! 🤣

[David Cutler]

That’s a good question Vince.

The standard “Snip & Sketch” captures does work well for photos and does save the step of printing the photo to a PDF. The challenge becomes when working with text or linework “Snip & Sketch” also captures the background. As a result, in this example “Snip & Sketch” would generate a block of white, in addition to the text. The Revu Snapshot tool only captures the text from the PDF (assuming you have the gridlines turned off in Excel when you print to PDF).

As a side note, for more complicated forms, I’ve considered making an Excel grid template with cell names in each cell (A1, A2, A3) and then printing that to a PDF. Using the Snapshot tool I could then paste that grid over another PDF and use the grid to “map” the form that I’m looking to fill out. I’d then write a series of formulas in Excel to place my data where it needs to be to be pasted into the form.

[David Cutler]

This is another case where the Revu Snapshot tool’s ability to only capture the “linework” without the background color provides better functionality than the default Windows “Snip & Sketch”.

[David Cutler]

Now you have my curiosity up Doug…. I was a bit surprised by your original question as I thought it was as simple as combining files, but now I see that there is more to it…

[David Cutler]

Thank you for sharing these Andrew!