User’s Guide — Microsoft Office Importer for Revit

Chapter 1 — Overview

Features and Benefits

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit is a productivity tool that can paste large amounts of spreadsheet data and text from Microsoft Excel and Word files into Revit sheets with exceptional formatting and a link back to the source file so the data in the project can be automatically kept up to date.

There are many benefits, which include:

  • Eliminating the need for manual entry or manipulation of text in Revit that exists in Microsoft Excel and Word files.
  • Maintaining links to source documents with ability to update imported data automatically or on demand.
  • Saving time bringing PDF files into Revit (as linked or imported).
  • Splitting pastes into multiple columns in your Revit project easily to ensure the paste fits into your border without having to make unnecessary additional pastes.
  • See the extents of your paste live while making your paste.
  • Support for importing from and linking to Excel spreadsheets stored in BIM 360, SharePoint, OneDrive, a network share, or on your computer’s hard drive.
  • Maintaining formatting like italics, bold and underline.
  • Clean, predictable, presentation-quality output in Revit.
  • Importing large blocks of information with a single paste.
  • Exact mapping of Microsoft Excel/Word point size to Revit text size
  • Ability to use the {Browse} button to locate a missing source file and change a link to point to the source file at a new location.
  • Ability to store links to source documents as relative paths or as absolute paths.
  • Many settings and pasting options, which provide you the freedom to make a paste look exactly the way you want.
  • Ability to paste/import into a Revit sheet or into a drafting view.
  • Ability to spread multi-page pastes across multiple sheets or drafting views — without breaking their link to the source document or spreadsheet.

Note: See the “New Features and Fixes” section of this guide for a complete description of the latest improvements!

Microsoft Office Importer can be used with all kinds of data, such as equipment schedules, summaries, bills of material, quantity sheets, general notes and more.

Chapter 2 — Installation

Before you install

This chapter will walk you through a typical Axiom product installation. These instructions apply to Revit versions 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

To install and use this product, you need:

The setup/install program; and

A license file for the product you are about to install; and

  • Revit version 2017–2020 installed.
  • Please shut down all Revit sessions on your computer before continuing.
  • Installation steps
  • Double-click on the setup executable.
  • Press {Yes} in the following box (if it is displayed for you):
user-account-control (1)

Read this box and then press {Next >}.

import-spreadsheet

Choose your license file (axiom.lic), paste the contents of such a license file or enter the demo license password supplied by Axiom if you are evaluating a demonstration version. Then press {Next >}.

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  1. Please read the entire license agreement. If you then to the terms, please indicate so and then press {Next >}.
license (1)
  1. The version of the license agreement seen in this picture is for example purposes only. The license version shown in the actual installer may differ.

    Choose which components you wish to install. Then press {Next >}.

  2. You can install Microsoft Office Importer for Revit for any number of installed, supported versions of Revit, all in just one run of this installer. If you install a new, supported Revit version later, simply re-install Microsoft Office Importer for Revit to have it integrate with your new Revit version.
components (1)

In this example, Revit 2018 and 2019 are not installed on the computer, so their entries are disabled.

  1. Review your installation choices if you wish, then press {Install} to perform the installation.
install (1)
  1. Congratulations!
  2. That’s it! You have successfully completed the installation!
complete (1)

Chapter 3 — Uninstalling

How to Uninstall Microsoft Office Importer

To uninstall Microsoft Office Importer for Revit, choose Start Menu | All Programs | Axiom | Microsoft Office Importer for Revit | Uninstall Microsoft Office Importer for Revit and follow the simple on-screen instructions. It is very easy!

Chapter 4 — Quick Start

Live Quick Start Help!

We want to give you live, hands-on help to get you started with Microsoft Office Importer for Revit. For a quick walk-through with a real human, please email Support@AxiomInt.com or call 727-442-7774 and we’ll help you right away!

Chapter 5 — Using Microsoft Office Importer

Scope

This chapter is about importing Excel spreadsheets and Word documents with Microsoft Office Importer.

There is a separate chapter about inserting PDFs into Revit.

Starting Microsoft Office Importer

After installation, our “Axiom” ribbon tab displays automatically. It contains the “Microsoft Office Importer” button group.

Microsoft Office Importer’s Ribbon Buttons

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Microsoft Office Importer’s ribbon group has five buttons:

  1. Paste — Paste linked Excel or Word data into active sheet
  2. Manage Link — Manage link to source document
  3. Edit Source — Edit a linked source document
  4. List of Links — List all links in active project
  5. Settings — Open Microsoft Office Importer Settings box

The following sections describe each of these buttons.

Paste — Paste linked Excel or Word data into active sheet

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

When you press the {Paste} button, Microsoft Office Importer help you paste your copied Excel or Word data into a sheet in your Revit project as a linked schedule (Excel) or as linked detail groups (Word).

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

The title bar indicates whether you are pasting Excel data (“Paste Excel Data”) or Word data (“Paste Word Data”).

Manage Link — Manage link to source document

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Use this to open a box in which you can change some settings for a single paste, including the path to the linked source document, the linked cell range for spreadsheet pastes, and whether that paste is set to update automatically when you open that project (as needed). If you have more than one paste in your active sheet, you’ll need to click on it so Microsoft Office Importer knows which one you want to manage.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Edit Source — Edit a linked source document

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Use this to instantly edit the linked source file (Excel spreadsheet or Word document) in Excel or Word.

If there’s more than one paste in your current sheet, Microsoft Office Importer doesn’t know which one you want to edit the source document of. In that case, you’ll need to click on the sheet after pressing this button.

List of Links — List all links in active project

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

The {List of Links} button opens a box containing a list of all the Microsoft Office Importer links found in your open project. This includes pastes found in any of your project’s sheets, not just your active sheet.

You can interact with and manipulate the links in various ways from this box. You can select one or multiple links at one time and you can right-click on them or use the visible buttons along the bottom of the box.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Settings — Open Microsoft Office Importer Settings box

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

The {Settings} button will bring up the Microsoft Office Importer Settings box, which is described in a later section of this guide. Microsoft Office Importer has many settings that allow you to place documents with the symbology and other characteristics that you want.

Default location of Microsoft Office Importer’s INI file

Microsoft Office Importer’s settings are stored in an INI file, which will be saved in the following folder by default:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Axiom\Revitnnnn\OfficeRv.ini

Where “Revitnnnn” could be “Revit2017” or some other supported Revit version.

But Microsoft Office Importer lets you create and use INI files with any name in any folder. The path to the last-used INI file is stored in the following Windows registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Axiom\OfficeRv\Settings\Path

Text Size and Table Cell Size in Revit (for Excel and Word Imports)

Scale and Mapping

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Values shown in picture are for example purposes only.

Why use this?

Named entries you create in the Scale category are available from the “Paste scale:” pull-down list when you are creating a paste with Microsoft Office Importer. For example, observe that the two named scale entries from the Scale box above are shown in the Paste Excel Data box below during a paste.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

How to Set Up Scale and Mapping

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit gives you two ways to define the size of your imported text and they both work together:

  • Scaling all Excel/Word text by the same factor.
  • Mapping up to eight Excel/Word point sizes to any mm or inch values in Revit.
  • These two methods (scaling and mapping) can be used together to fine-tune the size of:
  • Imported text
  • Imported columns
  • Imported rows
  • The space between lines in paragraphs
  • The space between paragraphs
  • The space surrounding bullet/numbering symbols

Map points to inches/mm directly up to eight input (Excel/Word) text sizes if having just one scaling factor doesn’t give you enough control over text size.

Mapping

When you turn on the checkbox “[x] Map text sizes for the selected scale entry above.” we call that “mapping” your text sizes. This automatically places the words “See Map” in the Scale field for the active list entry.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

How It Works

By default, Microsoft Office Importer scales the text from Excel/Word points to Revit units (mm or inches) using the scale factor you choose in the “Scale” field. This, along with “Width Padding” and “Height Padding” values, determines the size of the “cells” created in your project. More on measurement units ahead.

Optionally, Microsoft Office Importer lets you choose specific text size mapping rules for your defined input text sizes, giving you precise text size control when you need it. When you use this optional mapping feature, the “Height Padding” and “Width Padding” features actually still apply. But note that they only apply to defining the space around the text — the “non-text” areas of your Excel and Word pastes.

Advanced Mapping Calculations: Behind the scenes, there’s still a “Scale” factor in play when you’re mapping specific text sizes. Because the ideal Scale factor depends on your mapping choices (so, for example, we don’t make your Excel cells too small to fit your text in Revit), Microsoft Office Importer calculates the Scale factor automatically when you enable “[x] Map text sizes for the selected scale entry above.”

The automatic Scale factor used by mapping rules is based on whichever of your mapping/override rules has the largest “Revit text size” value. That is, the implied Scale value here is that “Revit text size” (but in decimal) divided by that rule’s “Excel/Word text size” in points.

This implied Scale value is also used to determine the size of text whose size does not have a mapping rule defined.

Measurement Units

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit calculates text sizes in one of two measurement units depending on the unit settings of your Revit project:

  • Imperial project: Units are in inches.
  • Metric project: Units are in mm.

A scale of “1.0” means 1.0 points in Excel or Word equals 1.0mm (metric project) or 1.0 inches (imperial project) in pasted Excel or Word data. For example, a scale of 1.0 would bring 11.5-point text from Excel or Word in as 11.5mm or 11.5” (depending on whether your project was metric or imperial).

Display of Fractional Target Mapping Values (Inches, Millimeters)

When mapping text sizes:

  • Fractional inches are displayed as fractions. For example, “1 1/8” inches.
  • Fractional millimeters are displayed in decimal form. For example, “0.01” mm.

Is your project metric or imperial (English) units?

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit’s unit of measurement (mm or inches) depends on your Revit project file’s choice in Manage | Project Units | Length | Format | Units. If you make a metric Units choice there, Microsoft Office Importer measures in mm. If you make an imperial Units choice there, Microsoft Office Importer measures in inches. Here is Revit 2017’s Units pull-down:

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Default Scale Values

In metric projects, the default Microsoft Office Importer Scale value is 0.5. In imperial projects, the default Microsoft Office Importer Scale value is 0.02. These produce the same-sized text in real-world units. (0.5 mm is approximately 0.02 inches.) Of course, these are just defaults — you can use any text Scale factor you want.

Calculating Imported Text Scale

How does the Scale math work? Simply put, one point in Excel or Word equals one inch in imperial Revit projects and one millimeter in metric Revit projects. That’s it. The rest of this section is about how to use that simple ratio (one to one) to dial in the ideal text size settings for your situation.

A Scale value of 1.0 would mean ten-point text in Excel/Word would become 10-inch (or 10-millimeter) text in Revit. And 12-point text in Excel/Word would come in as 12-inch text in Revit. And 9-point text in Excel/Word would come in as 9-inch text in Revit. The pattern is pretty clear here, right?

A larger Scale value means larger text in Revit. A smaller Scale value means smaller text in Revit.

Here’s an example of this. You work it backwards to find the Scale value you need. What size do you want your imported text to be in Revit? Let’s say your goal is two-inch Revit text. That’s the target text size. How big is the text in Excel or Word? Let’s say it’s 12 points. That’s the input text size. You want 12-point Excel/Word text to become 2-inch text in Revit. To get the Scale value that will accomplish this, divide the target text size in inches by the input Excel/Word text size in points: 2 inches / 12 points = 0.1666667. 0.1666667 is your Scale value. Working this from Scale to Revit units, your Scale value 1.666667 times 12 points = 2-inch text in Revit.

Table of Scale Examples

Here are some example Scale calculations.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Getting Help

If you made it through this whole section on text scaling and mapping, congratulations! If you need any help whatsoever with this, please just give us a call at 727-442-7774 or email us at Support@AxiomInt.com. We can help you get your text sizes perfect in no time!

Chapter 6 — Insert PDF

Overview

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit version 5.3a introduces the new ability to bring PDF files into Revit (2020 and later).

Since Revit already has buttons called {Link PDF} and {Import PDF}, our button is called {Insert PDF}. However, our Insert PDF feature can bring PDFs in as imported or as linked!

Microsoft Office Importer saves you time bringing PDFs into Revit compared to using Revit’s {Link PDF} and {Import PDF} features — especially if you want to bring in more than one page of your PDF at a time.

Technical Details

Inserted PDF pages use Revit’s built-in support for PDF files.

Manage Links

PDF pages can be managed in Revit’s Manage Links | PDF dialog box after you insert them into Revit with Microsoft Office Importer.

Revit Versions

  • In Revit 2020–2021, Microsoft Office Importer can insert PDF pages as imported.
  • In Revit 2022 and later, Microsoft Office Importer can insert PDF pages as imported or as linked.

Import Targets/Locations

Microsoft Office Importer can import PDFs anywhere that Revit itself supports PDF importing or linking

Inserting PDFs into Revit

To insert a PDF into Revit with Microsoft Office Importer:

  1. Press {Insert PDF} in the Microsoft Office Importer group of the Axiom ribbon tab:
    Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide
  2. Browse to the PDF file.
  3. Select it and press {Open}.
  4. Make your choices in Microsoft Office Importer’s “Insert PDF” box:
    Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide
  5. Press {Pick Origin Point of PDF}.
  6. Click inside Revit to define the origin (top-left) for your PDF page or pages. If you picked “[x] Define by 2 points.” then choose both points.
  7. Press {Finish}. You’re done! That’s all there is to it!

Well done!

Now go check out Insert | Manage Links in Revit. Click on the PDF tab. You’ll see all of your inserted PDF pages in that list!

Chapter 7 — BIM 360 Support

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit supports BIM 360!

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit can import information into Revit from Excel spreadsheets and Word documents stored in BIM 360. This chapter tells you what you need to know.

Requirements for BIM 360 support

You need to have the following:

  • The Windows/desktop version of Microsoft Excel
  • The Windows/desktop version of Microsoft Word
  • Autodesk Desktop Connector. Download it here.
  • A BIM 360 account

PDF Note: Our BIM 360 support is for importing Excel spreadsheets and Word documents only. Our BIM 360 support does not apply to inserting PDFs into Revit — due to limitations in Revit itself.

Importing into Revit

Always import using Windows/desktop versions of Excel and Word, not web browser versions of these applications.

Details: Web browser versions of Excel and Word (both of which provide limited functionality) are not supported for importing into Revit. If you try to import from the web browser versions of Excel or Word, you will get a message from Microsoft Office Importer directing you to use the Windows/desktop version of that application.

To open your Excel spreadsheet or Word document so you can import from it into Revit, browse to it under “Autodesk Docs” using File Explorer. Double-click on your Excel spreadsheet or Word document to open it in the Windows/desktop version of Excel or Word.

Editing Excel spreadsheets and Word documents after importing from them

Even after Microsoft Office Importer imports information into Revit from an Excel spreadsheet or Word document stored in BIM 360, anyone on your team can still edit that linked source document in its original location.

There are three ways to open a BIM 360 source document for editing:

  • By pressing the {Edit Source} button in Microsoft Office Importer. Your linked source document will open in the Windows/desktop version of Excel or Word.

    This is usually the most convenient way to open the file for editing because you don’t have to leave Revit and you don’t have to browse to the location of the file because Microsoft Office Importer already knows where it is. This opening method requires a license of Microsoft Office Importer for Revit.

  • Through the BIM 360 web site. Your source document will open in the web browser version of Excel or Word. It is totally okay to edit it there. (It is only importing which requires the Windows/desktop version of Excel and Word.)
    Through File Explorer, under “Autodesk Docs”. This requires the installation and activation of Autodesk Desktop Connector. Your source document will open in the Windows/desktop version of Excel or Word.

Tip: Since Autodesk Desktop Connector must be installed for Microsoft Office Importer to perform an import from BIM 360 into Revit, you will probably already have Autodesk Desktop Connector installed once you are ready to edit the linked source document.

Updating Revit with changes made in Excel or Word

Anyone on your team can edit your Excel spreadsheets and Word documents. Microsoft Office Importer updates your Revit models with those changes effortlessly.

Microsoft Office Importer can update your linked information in Revit:

  • Whenever you open your Revit model.†
  • Whenever you want to by pressing {Update} in the Microsoft Office Importer “List of Links” box.

You can use either one of those update approaches, or both of them.
† To update your linked information automatically whenever a Revit model is opened:

  1. Ensure your linked data is set to “Update automatically when project opens.” This setting is available when you perform your import. You can also control this setting for an existing paste in the Microsoft Office Importer “Manage Link” box.
  2. Ensure Microsoft Office Importer is set to perform automatic updates. These settings are in Settings | Updating.

Chapter 8 — SharePoint and OneDrive Support

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit supports SharePoint and OneDrive!

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit can import information into Revit from Excel spreadsheets and Word documents stored in SharePoint and OneDrive. This chapter tells you what you need to know.

Requirements for SharePoint/OneDrive support

You need to have the following:

  • The Windows/desktop version of Microsoft Excel
  • The Windows/desktop version of Microsoft Word
  • A SharePoint or OneDrive account

Importing into Revit

Always import using Windows/desktop versions of Excel and Word, not web browser versions of these applications.

Details: Web browser versions of Excel and Word (both of which provide limited functionality) are not supported for importing into Revit. If you try to import from the web browser versions of Excel or Word, you will get a message from Microsoft Office Importer directing you to use the Windows/desktop version of that application.

To open your Excel spreadsheet or Word document so you can import from it into Revit:

  • Click on the source document on the SharePoint or OneDrive website, but ensure it gets opened in the desktop version of Excel or Word.
  • Browse to it in your local OneDrive sync folder and double-click on it. This will open it in the Windows/desktop version of Excel or Word, which is required for importing into Revit.

Microsoft Word — Desktop App

If SharePoint or OneDrive open your Word document in the web browser version of Word, look for an “Editing” pull-down menu and pick “Open in Desktop App”:

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Microsoft Excel — Desktop App

If SharePoint or OneDrive open your Excel spreadsheet in the web browser version of Excel, press the {Open in Desktop App} button:

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Editing Excel spreadsheets and Word documents after importing from them

Even after Microsoft Office Importer imports information into Revit from an Excel spreadsheet or Word document stored in SharePoint or OneDrive, anyone on your team can still edit that linked source document in its original location.

There are three ways to open a SharePoint or OneDrive source document for editing:

  • By pressing the {Edit Source} button in Microsoft Office Importer. Your linked source document will open in the Windows/desktop version of Excel or Word.

    This is usually the most convenient way to open the file for editing because you don’t have to leave Revit and you don’t have to browse to the location of the file because Microsoft Office Importer already knows where it is. This opening method requires a license of Microsoft Office Importer for Revit.

  • Through the SharePoint or OneDrive website. These websites may open your source document in the web version — or in the Windows/desktop version — of Excel or

    Word. Either version of Excel or Word is okay for editing your Excel spreadsheet or Word document. (It is only importing which requires the Windows/desktop version of Excel and Word.)

  • By double-clicking on the source document in your local OneDrive sync folder (if you locally sync your files with OneDrive, which is completely optional). Your source document will open in the Windows/desktop version of Excel or Word.

    Note: While Microsoft Office Importer does support source documents locally synced by OneDrive, we do not require you to use this OneDrive feature. Your SharePoint and OneDrive files can exist exclusively in the cloud if you wish, as long as you use the Windows/desktop versions of Excel and Word to perform your imports.

Updating Revit with changes made in Excel or Word

Anyone on your team can edit your Excel spreadsheets and Word documents. Microsoft Office Importer updates your Revit models with those changes effortlessly.

Microsoft Office Importer can update your linked information in Revit:

  • Whenever you open your Revit model.†
  • Whenever you want to by pressing {Update} in the Microsoft Office Importer “List of Links” box.

You can use either one of those update approaches, or both of them.† To update your linked information automatically whenever a Revit model is opened:

  1. Ensure your linked data is set to “Update automatically when project opens.” This setting is available when you perform your import. You can also control this setting for an existing paste in the Microsoft Office Importer “Manage Link” box.
  2. Ensure Microsoft Office Importer is set to perform automatic updates. These settings are in Settings | Updating.

Chapter 9 — Technical Details

Supported Revit Versions

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit is available for the following Revit versions.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

* If you want to use Microsoft Office Importer for Revit with an unsupported Revit version, we would love to hear from you! Please contact us at Support@AxiomInt.com or by calling us at 727-442-7774.

Supported Document Management Systems (Cloud Storage)

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit currently supports three document management (cloud storage) systems:

  • Autodesk BIM 360*
  • Microsoft SharePoint Online
  • Microsoft OneDrive

* Our BIM 360 support requires that you install and use Autodesk Desktop Connector.
We could add support for additional systems in the future and we have considerable experience in this area.

Since we don’t want to create document management system support that doesn’t get used, we need to hear from you about what document management system you really need support for. Please email us at Support@AxiomInt.com or call us at 727-442-7774 to let us know!

Because we like tables — and we think you might, too — here’s one with our supported document management systems along with a few examples of unsupported systems that we could likely add support for if enough clients needed it.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Supported Windows Versions

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit should work with any version of Windows that can handle the supported Revit versions listed in the table above.

But, just in case you need it, here are the Windows versions we have tested and certified it with.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Supported Languages (English, French, etc.)

Windows comes in different languages. Each language has its own Windows installer — it’s not something you can choose on the fly or when you boot up your computer.

Revit is more versatile. You can run Revit in any one of its supported languages without a language-specific installation or language add-on package.

Microsoft Office Importer should work fine with any Windows and Revit languages. But, just in case, here is a table of the languages we have already tested it with. In this table, the combinations of Windows and Revit languages are not important — Windows and Revit are independent and you can mix and match them as far as language goes.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

* If you’re running into any problem with Microsoft Office Importer, language-related or otherwise, please let us know by calling 727-442-7774 or emailing Support@AxiomInt.com.

Supported Source Applications (Excel, Word)

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit supports pasting from Excel spreadsheets and Word documents. Even Word tables are supported!

Here is a table of supported source applications and versions:

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

* Microsoft Office Importer for Revit works with locally installed versions of Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word. It does not work with Excel and Word versions that run via a web browser and it does not work with other source applications.

** Microsoft Office Importer for Revit needs Excel and Word — and Revit — to be installed and running on your local computer. Running Excel or Word on one computer and Revit on a different computer will not work, even if you are viewing the other computer through screen sharing software such as Remote Desktop.

Unsupported Source File Data

The following types of data are not supported when importing from Excel and Word:

  • Images
  • Excel charts (graphs)
  • Vector graphics (“AutoShapes”)

If you’d like us to add support for any of those, please email us at Support@AxiomInt.com!

Supported Revit Destinations for Excel/Word Imports

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit can import data from Excel and Word into

  • Sheets
  • Drafting Views
  • Legends
  • Floor Plans
  • Area Plans
  • Ceiling Plans
  • Engineering Plans

If you need the ability to import into any other part of a Revit project, please let us know by emailing us at Support@AxiomInt.com.

Supported Excel/Word Formatting

This table lists the primary formatting supported by Microsoft Office Importer for Revit. In a few cases, we demonstrate the specific formatting in the first column below (like making “Bold” look like “Bold”).

Formatting is honored when creating a paste and also whenever Microsoft Office Importer updates that paste later to bring your changes from Excel or Word into Revit.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Protected Excel Worksheets and Workbooks

Microsoft Office Importer can import text from protected Excel worksheets (“tabs”) and protected Excel workbooks (spreadsheets). See next heading for protected mode, which is something entirely different.

Spreadsheets and Documents Opened in Protected Mode

Protected mode is not the same as Excel’s ability to protect a worksheet (a “tab”) or a workbook (a whole spreadsheet).

To perform imports and updates, Microsoft Office Importer needs to communicate with Excel and Word. If the document is (or would be) opened in protected mode, this communication is usually impossible.

Be sure spreadsheets and Word documents are not opened in protected mode before pasting from them. When updating, ensure the linked (pasted from) Excel spreadsheet or Word document would not open in protected mode if you were to open it directly.

Supported Features

This table clarifies what input data some popular Microsoft Office Importer features support.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

† This column includes all Excel pastes — those done as schedule graphics and those done as text notes and lines.

Excel Input Ranges (Selected Cells)

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit allows you to copy/paste supported data from any selected Excel cells, as long as they’re not hidden. Here’s a teensy table on this for you table lovers:

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Adding or Removing Rows or Columns in Excel

Do you ever add rows or columns in Excel after pasting from that spreadsheet into Revit? Do you want the new rows or columns to show up in Revit, or do you want the cell range in Revit to remain the same as when you created that paste? There’s no single right answer here, so we support both.

What you select in Excel when creating your paste dictates what will happen in Revit when someone adds (or removes) rows or columns from that Excel spreadsheet later.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Named Cell Range Tip: To learn about named Excel cell ranges, see this web page: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Define-and-use-names-in-formulas-4d0f13ac-53b7-422e-afd2-abd7ff379c64#bmquickly_name_a_cell_or_range_of_cells

* More About Selecting “All” Cells in Excel

When you press {Ctrl-A} in Excel, it sometimes doesn’t select the whole worksheet, instead only selecting the current group of populated cells. Hitting {Ctrl-A} a second time when this happens will select the whole worksheet.
Or you can hit the (unnamed) Excel button above row 1 and to the left of column A to select the whole worksheet every time:

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Adding or Removing Text in Word Documents

Do you ever add new text in Word after pasting from that document into Revit? Do you want the new text to show up in Revit? Here’s what you need to know.

When you paste from a Word document into Revit, Microsoft Office Importer creates a bookmark around that copied text in your Word document. This way only the text you selected is linked to your Revit project file. You don’t have to paste the whole Word document into Revit, which is pretty awesome.

But Microsoft Office Importer updates the data in Revit with changes made in the source document. Will newly added text in the linked Word document come into Revit on the next update, or will it be omitted from Revit? The answer is: Whatever you type inside the bookmark range will come into Revit on the next update. Text outside the bookmark will not come into Revit.

Here is a good article about Microsoft Word bookmarks:

https://word.tips.net/T001014_Understanding_and_Using_Bookmarks.html

But when you make changes to the Word document later, what text will be inside that bookmark and what text will not? Here’s how this works:

  • Text you type inside the range of that bookmark after creating your paste in Revit will be brought into Revit during the next update linked to that particular bookmark by Microsoft Office Importer.
  • Text you type outside the range of that bookmark in the future will not come into Revit when Microsoft Office Importer updates the text linked to that Word bookmark in Revit.

Microsoft Office Importer names its bookmarks OLE_LINK1, OLE_LINK2 and so on.

What text you select and copy in Word when creating your paste dictates what will happen in Revit when someone adds (or removes) rows or columns from that Excel spreadsheet later.

After adding/removing data inside the scope of Microsoft Office Importer’s OLE_LINKn bookmark in your Word document and then updating the linked data in your Revit project, the range of the pasted Word data in your project pointing to that Word bookmark will grow/reduce automatically. Unlike Excel pastes, there are no exceptions to this as Microsoft Office Importer uses a Word bookmark to define its paste range.

This is also discussed in the Troubleshooting section of this guide.

What We Store in Revit (Output Formats)

Word Documents

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit always imports Word document data into Revit as text notes and lines in detail groups. (Its powerful, automatic linking features are described elsewhere in this guide.)

Excel Spreadsheets

You can import Excel spreadsheet data into Revit as either of the following:

  • Default: Schedule graphics (only available when importing into a sheet)
  • Text notes and lines in detail groups (available everywhere you can import Excel data)

If you import from Excel into a sheet, Microsoft Office Importer for Revit imports that (by default) as linked schedules. These schedules are then referenced into your chosen Revit sheet as “schedule graphics” automatically when your paste is created.

Settings | Pasting | Paste Excel files as:

If you want your Excel data imported as schedule graphics, it has to be imported into a sheet and Paste Excel files as: must be set to “Schedules (Fastest)” (the default).

If you want your Excel data imported into a sheet as text notes and lines in detail groups, change Settings | Pasting | Paste Excel files as: from “Schedules (Fastest)” to “Lines and Text”.

This setting

  • Only applies to Excel pastes into sheets. Excel pastes anywhere but sheets are always as text notes and lines in detail groups.
  • Has no impact on Word imports, which are always text notes and lines in detail groups.
  • Has no impact on linking.

Different Names for the Same Thing

Revit has multiple names for these references connecting schedule information to sheets. Here’s what we’ve seen them called:

  • Revit’s user interface calls these “schedule graphics” (so that’s what we call them).
  • Revit’s programming interface calls these “schedule sheet instances.”
  • Revit’s documentation calls these “schedule view instances.”

Take your pick!

Chapter 10 — Advanced Topics

Mapping Excel line weights and line styles to Revit weights and styles

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit creates its own line styles which are named as follows:

  • OFIMP_<StyleName> — for default lines.
  • OFIMP_<StyleName>_B — for bold lines.
  • OFIMP_<StyleName>_BB — for double-bold lines.

Excel only has those three bold line variants. <StyleName> can take one of the following values:

  • SOLID
  • DOT
  • DASH
  • DASH_SMALL
  • DOT_DASH
  • DOT_DOT_DASH

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Revit’s “Line Styles” box showing some examples of the line styles used by Microsoft Office Importer for Revit

Once created, those OFIMP_* styles are not modified by Microsoft Office Importer for Revit during future pastes and updates. So there are two approaches to choose from:

  1. Pre-create OFIMP styles in your project template file and assign your desired line weights to them. Or
  2. Paste an Excel file that contains various line weights and line styles. Then go to Manage | Settings | Additional Settings | Line Styles, find OFIMP_<StyleName> or OFIMP_<StyleName>_B or OFIMP_<StyleName>_BB line styles and assign your desired line weights and line styles there. That modification impacts all existing pastes and remains in force for all subsequent pastes/updates in that RVT file.

If you have any questions about this, please contact Axiom Support at 727-442-7774 or Support@AxiomInt.com. We are happy to help.

Word’s Paragraph Setting “Keep with next”

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit 5.1a adds support for Word’s paragraph setting “Keep with next”.

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Use the Word paragraph setting “Keep with next” to keep paragraphs and table rows together when using Microsoft Office Importer’s “Split paste into columns” feature.

Microsoft Excel does not have a “Keep with next” setting, so our “Keep with next” support applies only to imports from Microsoft Word documents.

Our “Keep with next” support works with text inside Word tables and text outside of Word tables.

Keeping Word document paragraphs together

If you set a paragraph to “Keep with next” in Word’s Paragraph” settings box, Microsoft Office Importer will keep that paragraph and the following paragraph together when you use our “Split paste into columns” feature.

Keeping Word document table rows together

Microsoft Office Importer’s “Split paste into columns” feature does not break individual Word table rows into multiple rows, even if a row contains multiple paragraphs.

In Word tables, set “Keep with next” on the first paragraph in any cell (any column) in a row to keep that whole row “glued” to the row below it. If you later remove the “Keep with next” property from that paragraph and update the paste from the source document, future updates to that paste will separate those rows as needed.

Note: It is not necessary to set “Keep with next” on all the paragraphs in a cell — setting it on the first paragraph of any cell in a given row is sufficient to “stick” that row to the row below it.

It is not necessary to set “Keep with next” on the first paragraph of more than one cell in a row — setting it on the first paragraph of any cell in that row is sufficient.

Vertically Merged Word Table Cells

Technical Deep Dive Warning: The following might be more detail than you want regarding this subject. Conversely, this might be all the detail you never knew you wanted!

Microsoft Word is slightly different from Microsoft Office Importer in that Microsoft Word requires you to set “Keep with next” on the first paragraph of the leftmost cell in a row if you want that row to be “stuck” to the row below it. That’s pretty good most of the time, but what if that cell is merged with the cell above it? In that case:

If you set “Keep with next” in the first paragraph of any cell in a Word table row that has any cells merged vertically into a row above them, our “Keep with next” for the row applies to the vertically merged rows above that row.

Our approach is the same as Word’s own behavior, with one very subtle improvement:

Word requires you to set “Keep with next” on the first paragraph of the first cell (leftmost column) in order to keep that row with the row below it. That’s fine, except when your first/leftmost cell in that row is vertically merged into the cell above it. In that case, Word will separate the merged rows across two pages, which we don’t think is excellent behavior. It’s not that big of a deal either.

This is a small improvement upon Word’s behavior with no discernible (to us) drawbacks. We hope you like it and we commend you for reading this far!

Chapter 11 — Troubleshooting

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit is missing a feature I need or want.

We want Microsoft Office Importer to be so good at helping you get Excel and Word data into Revit that you can’t imagine Revit life without it. If you need a new feature, need something changed, or if you are having any kind of difficulty, please contact us at Support@AxiomInt.com or by calling 727-442-7774.

Text in Revit is the wrong size (too big or too small).

We really want our Scale settings to give you the fine control you need to attain perfect text size. Please email Support@AxiomInt.com or call us at 727-442-7774 and we will be happy to help you get your text size settings perfect.

Fully-justified Word text imports and updates very slowly. But Word text with any other justification imports and updates fast!

The problem is a shortcoming in Revit that prevents us from speeding up the process of importing fully-justified text.

Because Revit doesn't have full justification as a property of text note objects, we have to break the text notes up into many smaller text notes (one text note per word) to fully justify them. This is very slow in Revit (which is actually another problem specific to Revit.) The same solution is fast in Microsoft Office Importer for MicroStation and unnecessary in Microsoft Office Importer for AutoCAD (since AutoCAD supports the notion of full justification in mtext).

Some pasted Excel text is incomplete in Revit and ends in three dots (“…”)

More search terms for this: ellipsis, ellipses, truncated, truncation, three dots, three periods, doesn’t fit, cut off, column, widen, width, wider, scale, size

This is how Revit handles text in a Microsoft Office Importer paste that is too wide for its column. To fix or avoid this, you have multiple options:

  • Open the linked spreadsheet in Excel and make this column wider. Then update the paste in Revit with Microsoft Office Importer. You do not have to re-create your paste for this one.
  • Open the linked spreadsheet in Excel and give this cell or its column the “Wrap Text” property. Then give it sufficient row height that the data fits when pasted into Revit. Update the paste in Revit with Microsoft Office Importer.
  • Re-create your paste with a higher “Width Padding” value to make all pasted columns (not just this column) wider.

Here are a few more options, but these are various degrees of “out there”:

  • Re-create your paste with a smaller absolute (mapped) text size setting but the same text scaling factor for this text’s input size in points (since the scale factor defines the column widths and row heights). If you need to nail an exact text size in Revit, don’t use this one.
  • Open the linked spreadsheet in Excel and make the text smaller in point size, without changing your scale settings in Microsoft Office Importer. If you need to nail an exact text size in Revit, don’t use this one.
  • Edit the text in Excel to fit when pasted into Revit. (This one is completely “out there.” We don’t recommend it.)

Word doc paste no longer linked, or update shows wrong data in Revit.

Be sure nobody turned off Settings | Linking | [x] Save Word documents after creating link:

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

If somebody turned that setting off, then it is possible you didn’t save your Word document after importing it into Revit with Microsoft Office Importer. This step is essential because the import action creates a bookmark in the Word document, which we link to. This requires the document to be saved after the paste is done, or else that bookmark is not available to use for future updates from that Word document.

Pinning Imported Data

If you place a pin on one or more pages of an Microsoft Office Importer for Revit paste, it will not prevent that paste from being updated with changes made to the source file and it will not prevent it from being deleted by the {Delete} button in the list of links box.

Updating a paste removes any pins.

If you would like Microsoft Office Importer to handle pins differently, please let us know at Support@AxiomInt.com.

Chapter 12 — We’ll Make (Almost) Any Enhancements You Want

We Welcome Your Suggestions

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit is a powerful program. Nonetheless, we realize that you, a skilled and creative BIM user, will think of ways in which it can be improved. We invite you to tell us your ideas.

For over thirty years we’ve listened to you, the skilled BIM or CAD professional, and have implemented the features you’ve requested. Every widely acclaimed product we’ve ever developed evolved in this manner.
We’d like to make Microsoft Office Importer perform every function you could ever imagine such a product being able to do. We intend to make you such a satisfied Microsoft Office Importer customer that you can’t wait for the next user group meeting so you can tell your friends and associates how much you like Microsoft Office Importer and how strongly you recommend it.

Your suggestions on how to improve Microsoft Office Importer are most welcome.

Chapter 13 — New Features and Fixes

Version 5.3a — 29 July 2021

New — PDF Support!

Added the {Insert PDF} feature! Now Microsoft Office Importer can bring PDFs into Revit!

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Improved

We improved our handling of pseudo-tables (text aligned using tabs) in Word documents, though we still strongly recommend using actual tables.

Fixed

Fixed a case where we would get a “Text too small for project” error during import of a specific Word document.

Version 5.2c — 16 July 2021

Fixed a case where a missing number bullet in a numbered list would result in that whole entry not being imported.

Version 5.2b — 25 June 2021

Fixed

  • The {Resize Column} button in the “Manage Microsoft Office Importer Links” box now limits you to resizing a column in the paste you are managing. 5.2a would let you pick a column in any paste to resize, which was unsafe.
  • Fixed a case where the list of links box would sometimes report that a new SharePoint paste was out of date due to a time zone difference between the SharePoint server and the local computer.
  • Fixed a settings file error that would prevent user from closing the Settings box.

Version 5.2a — 17 June 2021

New Document Management Systems Supported!

We added support for three new document management systems:

  • Added support for Autodesk BIM 360!
  • Added support for Microsoft SharePoint Online!
  • Added support for Microsoft OneDrive!

More New Features

Added the ability to interactively re-define the maximum height of a single column/page in existing (already created) Word and Excel pastes!

New setting: “Speed up import by left-aligning justified text.”

We added the ability to pre-define the width of columns/pages and the gaps between them:

Axiom's Microsoft Office Importer for Revit User's Guide

Improved

Numerous improvements to our handling of Excel and Word formatting.

Updates to Word document pastes are now substantially faster.

Minor usability improvements.

Version 5.1a — 27 January 2020

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit version 5.1 adds plenty of new features!

Added support for Revit 2020. Note: This has been available since soon after Revit 2020’s release as a production-ready build.

Until now, Microsoft Office Importer could only paste into sheets. We added support for pasting from Excel and Word into the following additional locations:

  • Drafting Views
  • Legends
  • Floor Plans
  • Area Plans
  • Ceiling Plans
  • Engineering Plans

We added a feature to auto-save Word documents when importing from them. This way the bookmark used to link Word to Revit will always get saved in the Word document during the import. This setting is on by default and named “[x] Save Word documents after creating link.”

Added the {Define Width of Paste} button during import. Previously, you did not have any options but the default page width.

There are two new features in the list of links box:

  • Added “Status” column. Now you can know how out of date your imported data is at a glance!
  • Added the ability to sort the list of links by clicking on any of its columns.

Added support for Word’s “Keep with next” paragraph property. This applies to text in and out of Word document tables.

Fixed

User-placed pins on imported data will no longer be lost when that import is updated.

Fixed occasional blank space at the beginning of some Word pastes.

Version 5.0b — 11 October 2018

Note: This is a recommended update for all users of Microsoft Office Importer for Revit 5.0a.

Added support for Revit 2019! Thus Microsoft Office Importer now supports Revit 2017, Revit 2018 and Revit 2019.

Huge improvements to our Microsoft Word support, including:

  • Massive speed increase for Word pastes! Approximately 10X faster now!
  • Added support for subscript and superscript in Word documents, including text in Word tables.
  • Added support for underlined text in Word, including text in Word tables.
  • Improved handling of numbered list and bulleted list indentation.
  • Improved indentation of Word tables.
  • Numerous other formatting improvements.

French-language improvements:

  • Added support for French versions of Windows.
  • Added support for Revit run in French-language mode.

Settings improvements:

  • Made text size mapping optional. Off by default (for now.)
  • Made various background improvements to Scale settings.
  • It is now possible to create a paste which is not linked to its source spreadsheet or document.

Made numerous subtle improvements across the program.

Version 5.0a — 26 April 2018

Initial release for Revit! Supports Revit 2017 and Revit 2018.

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit benefits from 22 years of constant refinement to its predecessors, Microsoft Office Importer for MicroStation and Microsoft Office Importer for AutoCAD, from which it is derived.