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CAD/BIM Tips & Tricks

Revit Keynotes: How to Improve BIM Collaboration

9 September 2024

Modern technology isn’t supposed to drop us in the doo-doo, but occasionally it does. Revit®, for example, is one of the brightest stars of BIM, yet some users may describe certain aspects of its collaborative functionality as somewhat lacking. Maybe humans and modern technology are fundamentally similar — generally well-intentioned and amazingly capable but, regrettably, slightly flawed. However, before we get all existential on you, let’s look at how to up your collaboration game in Revit.

Keynotes can be used to improve the clarity and reliability of documentation, which makes them very useful.

First off, just so we’re all on the same page, we want to quickly define keynotes. In Revit, keynotes are tags or annotations that can be used to add information to element types, materials or individual elements within a project. Keynotes can be used to improve the clarity and reliability of documentation, which makes them very useful. So, what’s the problem?

Why not store your keynotes in the cloud, so your team can access them from anywhere?

The Problem

Traditionally, Revit stores keynote info in a simple text file. This works great as long as everyone’s in the same office. But things get messy when you’re dealing with different offices or teammates in far-flung geographical locations. Sharing keynotes becomes a real headache with emails flying back and forth with attached text files, or using services such as Dropbox which can easily get your data messed up as it’s vulnerable to overwriting. Services like Dropbox also don’t usually have the same path for every user, so users end up “fighting” over the path name causing even more headaches.

Autodesk tried to fix this with BIM 360™, which is great for Revit models. You can even store keynote text files there using Desktop Connector. But it’s still like using Dropbox with the associated vulnerabilities as outlined above — and it’s not really built for collaborative teamwork on keynotes. Fortunately, there is an answer to the global access problem.

The Solution

One excellent solution to the problem is Revolution Design’s Cloud Services for Keynote Manager. This service stores your keynotes in a cloud-based database, so your team can access them from anywhere, using the same path names. You can share your project’s keynotes with whomever you want, inside or outside your company, including teammates or collaborators in those far-flung places. Just add internal users to your Cloud Services account or invite external users to collaborate with you on specific projects. What’s more, you retain control of the permissions levels for outside users, which means that you have complete control over what they can do with your data.

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It's hard to beat cloud-connectivity for collaboration. That includes your Revit keynotes.

To discover more about this helpful service that boosts your collaboration, improves accuracy and saves your team time, visit Revolution Design.

Tools for Revit

Need even more time-saving tools for Revit? Want your Excel or Word imports to look just like the original document — flawlessly formatted, of course — with a link to the source doc for automatic updates? Check out Microsoft Office Importer™ for Revit.

How about greater ease (and time-savings) when working with Revit families and views? How about crystal-clear thumbnail images to speed up your searches? Discover the many ways Family and View Studio™ can help you get out of the office on time.

Got questions? Call 727-442-7774 to talk to a CAD/BIM Consultant or visit AxiomInt.com to chat with us online.

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