Mastering Revit Keynotes!

[@adamhadji5488]

Thanks Gavin. Another excellent tutorial that solves the real issues a Revit user or BIM manager faces daily bases in office. I appreciate your time/effort, and please keep making these useful advance tutorials.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome Adam, glad it resonated with a fellow enthusiast of BIM!

[@jawidabdulrazzaq4598]

Thank you, Gavin, for another exceptional tutorial that addresses the practical challenges faced by Revit users and BIM managers on a daily basis in the office. I genuinely appreciate the time and effort you put into creating these advanced tutorials that are immensely useful. Your dedication to producing valuable content is commendable, and I encourage you to continue making these tutorials.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks for the kind words! More videos to come in future

[@justinsaker8038]

This is exceptionally helpful! Was first introduced to Keynotes in 2013, and I dismissed it as "too hard to manage" I cant believe I and all the teams I've worked on have NEVER seen the genius in this! ugh! all those lost hours... Will be building this out going forward.. Thanks SO SO much!

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome! They're certainly a tough nut to crack, but once you do it certainly makes the world of difference. Goodbye text notes.

[@jayadamski7131]

I have been struggling to nail down our keynotes file for MONTHS now - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Glad it helped you get to the bottom of this!

[@arkplato2186]

If you ever decide to teach in any revit school, let me know, would definitely join the class. You ære an excellent Guru

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Unlikely in the short term, although I will be making courses here eventually: courses.bimguru.education

[@hshhsjhahsvs7728]

Glad to have you back!

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks!

[@robertobaccioni]

Another tip about using EXCEL for keynotes: you can also use "copy and paste" from an Excel file to a txt file. It automatically formats the pasted text as a tab delimited text (always remember to remove the newline at the bottom). Pretty nice since you don't have to close the Excel file to import the txt in Revit, and it's way faster.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Yes paste in/out of excel is a great tip as well, and one not enough are aware of! I often use this in Dynamo workflows to copy a pasteable excel dump to clipboard vs having to write out a file.

[@robertobaccioni]

Excellent tutorial, thanks! As regards Excel conversion to a tab delimited txt, remember that Excel often places an undesired unformatted NEWLINE at the end of the file. Removing that from the tab delimited txt, makes it compatible with REVIT. Hope it helps.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

That it dpes, great tip! These days I tend to use notepad++ for keynote editing, but it doesn't quite have the same ease as excel for bulk edits.

[@marianaarodrigues1]

Hi Gavin! Thanks again for the tutorials. This one was very helpful as well to better understand the tool, although I am still struggling to integrate it in my company. They are transitioning from AutoCad and have some standards in place, so my first goal as their BIM Manager was to match those in Revit, but sometimes I wonder if the method they are using is the best or if I should propose a change. For instance for wall finishes they use a code (ex: W01, W02) and a very precise description (ex: Interior wall cladding with "bronze" glass mirror, 6mm thick, from the height of the furniture (0.76m) up to the height of 2.1m, glued on support, including hidden fixing elements, cutting, finishing and joints. Execution of painting scheme, from the floor level to the height of the furniture, in pure white color, with a matte finish, in the necessary coats in order to guarantee a good finish." Plus(!) every wall gets a different color depending on the finishing and that should be also in the legend. The reason behind this: they say at the construction site its easier to identify the different finishes... I have yet to figure out a good way to do this. Do you think Keynotes is the way to go for this situation?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome! Transitioning is always a challenge as companies try to make systems work that might not suit software platforms as well as the previous one. Keynotes are unfortunately not a great way to capture this, material tags may be more suited. The notes sound like they really belong in a specification instead of the model however, very detailed. By using a material keynote you may be able to connect the code/description and then colour etc is captured by the identify properties of the material itself.

[@Davids_Stalidzans]

I didn't even know Revit keynotes were this extensive, now I do.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Glad the video helped!

[@User_2026_]

Excellent Gavin thank you! could you please throw tutorial about creating family with lookup table?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

I have an older tutorial here covering this :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGPYgJiNotiShac

[@User_2026_]

@@AussieBIMGuru oops, my bad 😬 Thank you Boss

[@valeriepierre7297]

Very useful video! thanks for posting. It seems you can do the same thing with 'tag by category' by entering the information in the family itself. For system families - like walls - you can add this information within the type properties of the wall itself and create a tag that reads this information when you tag it. Also, in the past I was able to create a furniture schedule similar to the keynote legend used here, simply by adding this information to the family itself and creating a tag that reads that information, then used the schedule to create the legend. As I tagged my furniture the legend would update automatically. I feel like a lot of the things 'keynotes' do I can achieve with 'Tag by Category'. Can you tell me what the difference is between the two? and which would you recommend as best practice and when?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

The main advantages of keynotes are they are indexed from a fixed file (so people dont have to guess codes or make them up), and you can use keynote legends. They are also able to be applied to materials and tagged as such as well. Tag by category is fine as well but just means you rely on mutlicategory schedules not filtered by sheet for code legends, and also people can get codes wrong.

[@valeriepierre7297]

@@AussieBIMGuru Thanks for the input.

[@pediaditakisminos4745]

Thanks for your video. Quite informative and compact.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome!

[@memyadventures2730]

Thanks so much for this amazing video Gavin.😍😍😍😍✌🏻 I really love watching and learning more and more.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome!

[@Erazmataz]

Thanks Gavin. This was very interesting and very well-structured information on a difficult and somewhat not-sexy, yet critical topic. My question is: Imagine you work with interior design for a “joinery-company” dealing with design of fx bespoke kitchen-cabinets and/or retail-furniture. How would you recommend setting up a Keynote-structure, which makes sense for both designer/architect, CNC production/manufacturing and sale? Finally: Is Revit LT still a thing and if so, does Revit LT support the use of Shared Keynote-files with Revit? - I currently use Rhino 3D & AutoCAD 2D.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

I think the 'key' here (excuse the pun), would be to give all the objects you are tagging a relevant code as a keynote that makes sense for all the parties involved. Having a human readable system would be important, as well as a clear system for everyone to follow. I'd recommend actually just asking each party what works for them whenever you get a chance, then designing the system around this. Worse comes to worse you could use shared parameters to have access to more fields than just a keynote as well, although keynote legends are great to have in the first instance. Revit LT supports most features although the key omissions are worksharing, view filters and the use of add-ins. For commercial businesses I'd recommend against it, as these features are all quite important to have. Only the smallest of firms can get by on Revit LT these days, and with lots of workarounds involved.

[@dylanholmes3502]

Great video, thanks again. I have been mucking around with the Keynote legend and filters to try and create multiple legends based on particular catagories, say for example one for fixtures and one for wall finishes, rather than just the usual filter by sheet which just dumps them all on one list. I wanted to ask if there is a way filter by the chapter codes used in the keynote text file? Thanks again

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Not that i am aware of unfortunately - they are limiting in that regard. You may be better looking into multicategory systems for that type of approach.

[@muwazzamkhan5710]

Clear ,precise ....................................... Awesome

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks!

[@mauriciopalomares4010]

Great Stuff Guru! Thanks

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome!

[@Sy2023hk]

Thanks Gavin, it's really helped me out!

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome!

[@laneec.9824]

Thanks for the video. I typically only use keynoting for sheet notes and not so much for element or material keynoting. Any recommendations/thoughts on when you would use keynoting vs. typical tagging? My firm likes different shapes to delineate different elements being tagged, i.e. plumbing tag is an oval vs. equipment tag is an octagon.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome! Where possible I try to use Keynoting as the automated legend is too good to pass up in some scenarios. At the very least I use it in elevations for material tagging as it's too hard to capture finishes using material tags I find. The main scenario where I opt for category tags or multicategory tags is if the legend capturing the code needs to show more than code/description, for example a Room layout sheet with quantities by room also. For deliniated tags (by category etc.) this is viable, although it does rely on people using the right category and the correct tags. Nothing wrong with it though, just different to what I'm used to!

[@charlesball9522]

Yeah, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around why I would use a keynote by element as opposed to a category tag for something like equipment or furniture. I mean you could still pull the keynote number into a furniture or equipment schedule.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Yes but isolating these by sheet is much harder. A keynote legend literally only shows codes that appear on a sheet, so your elevation legend wouldn't contain furniture codes for example. The only way I've found that a multicategory schedule can be made specific to a room is by filtering items by room number (on a room layout sheet). 2 challenges this introduces vs keynote legends are; 1. If an items reporting point falls outside the room(s), it won't appear in the schedule 2. The schedule is specific to that room only. Every room would need a 1 off schedule Coding is more difficult to manage also, unlike keynotes there isn't a master txt file that the code/description comes from.

[@charlesball9522]

@@AussieBIMGuru So what information if any would you put in the type mark parameter as opposed to what you would put in the keynote parameter on say something like a chair? We keynotes like the following "N-08: Smooth, polish, and seal existing stone wall". We would maintain an excel file to house all of these keynotes. I see we can only add one keynote .txt file so would I need to maintain an excel file that had both these kinds of notes and information about the above chair?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

@@charlesball9522 typically I would store finish notes in an external schedule where the code is the thing that ties them together. So F.CHA-01 for example might be the standard code for a meeting room chair, but it's finish might vary on different projects, so the spec can capture this without needing a change in Revit coding. In my experience most project architects don't have the time (or often the ability) to access the Revit model or keynote files, so I have found it's safer to store the spec notes in the spec itself (or appending schedules). I rarely only use type marks for systems where the type relates to the specification and construction such as wall types. Type marks can be a problem as they trigger duplication warnings if not used correctly, and the value cannot be stored at a library level.

[@papazeeya5346]

OMG, this is so Worth it to learn, thanks a lot, and greetings from indonesia Gavin ... 👋

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Glad it was helpful, and cool to know there are viewers in Indonesia, Terima kasih!

[@alexandraashton1686]

Thanks Gavin, you are great at explaining things! I have followed everything you said and all seems perfect except for my keynote has a number not the key value... any idea what I have done wrong? A

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Hrm it's hard to say, but it's likely due to the layout of the keynote file. If a keynote is returning a number, then this must be its value it has stored. Try viewing the table in your keynote settings to see how it's structured in Revit itself - this might give some hints.

[@quatuormortis96]

Hi all, even though this tutorial might be a bit old. I am trying to find a workaround or something alike for updating the existing keynotes from the materials in your library when you have a new keynote list ? Thanks

[@AussieBIMGuru]

The only option is to get a list before and after and lookup the keynote values from one to change to the other next to it. Otherwise the keynotes wont know what the before/after needs to be. An excel file could be a good reference to use, then get the keynotes of the elements and get the index of its current keynote and replace with the new one in the same row.

[@victors.7717]

Hi Gavin! Thanks for the video! Are Keynotes less "stable" than tags? In my experience, I find that keynotes tend to "jump" more often and lose their host, especially when tagging/keynoting elements from links. Thanks, mate!

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Yes mainly linked elements dropping off is more common. I tend to set up model structures to avoid tagging links wherever possible for this and other reasons, and use linked/tagged views where feasible.

[@pavillon9365]

Hi Gavin. I have found your class very interesting. I usually prefer use Tag instead of Keynote. To solve multi element Tag I use Multi Category Tag. What do you think?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

For me it depends on the project and the team. Losing the dynamic keynote legends can be difficult so I usually prefer to connect the keynote parameter with a shared one via formula to get the best of both worlds.

[@limaesa]

Hi, Gavin. You have the best Revit channel. I am a big fan of keynotes, especially for the automatic filter in sheets. I have recently modelled a steel structure for the first time, and I noticed some elements do not behave like architectural elements in what concerns keynotes - some elements won't allow me to place element keynote. Furthermore, I was not able to place any kenynote (element, material, user) on parabolts. Do you happen to know if this is normal in steel structures or maybe it is just a newbie thing? Cheers!

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks! Yes I know some components in Revit do not support certain types of tags (often being keynote tags). The team is apparently working towards making more types of elements taggable, but make sure for nested components that they are set to 'Shared' in their properties also, this may prevent them from occurring in the project if not, and also prevent them being taggable.

[@danielsellam-kazoula9970]

Hi Gavin ! Thank you for this tutorial ! What about the use of pyRevit Keynote Manager ? Seems robust isn't it ?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Yes Pyrevit has some handy tools for sure! Keynotes amongst many other things.

[@ArchitectureSocial]

Welcome back 👌

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks!

[@ato165]

Impressive Coding Methods

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks!

[@ahmedmouafki2574]

as usual excellent tuto

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks!

[@charlesfield9286]

fantastic! thanks

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome!

[@robprice8729]

Great tutorial Gavin - have been thinking about implementing Keynotes into my standard construction details, however I am a little hesitant. As a manufacturer, who would like to share all my construction details with designers, I have been warned about using keynotes. Typically design firms would have their own keynoting structure and I may just cause more pain when they load my drafting views into their project. Any thoughts on this?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks Rob! Good question, if you're typically supplying objects or files to consultants for them to use then yes Keynotes are difficult - even if they can append yours to their file, chances are they often wont want to. Many of your notes I would guess are mentioning system specific criteria the consultants might not be calling out in the same level of detail as well, often we focus more on interface versus inter-system notes as architects, subbies usually refer to the tech specs for inter-system details. The only 'live' method from there I can think of is putting your notes in generic annotation families and using multi-line text fields at a type level to 'typify' your notes. Beyond that you'd be looking at text notes again most likely - it's not a major issue, just not as live in regards to note management/consistency when you begin generating lots of similar details with the same notes.

[@eastudio-K]

@@AussieBIMGuru I am an architect thinking of using keynotes, do you recommend using them or using other types of tags? also if using keynotes I dont know how to wrap text, which is a problem when putting details together. I suppose keynotes are meant to use the number callout.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

@@eastudio-K generally the core benefit to keynotes is the ability to keep codes in one place and use keynote legends that capture all tagged elements. Where i work we use them for most things except wall/floor/ceiling types and rooms/areas really. Text/tag wrap in revit is generally limited to the extent set in the tag family.

[@mdsydurrahman6759]

Thanks Man

[@AussieBIMGuru]

No problem!

[@guillaumeautret1242]

Thanks so much.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome!

[@parasbisht3375]

is there any topic covered abt difference b/w "material take off & schedule"

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Hrm not that I am aware of. Material takeoff mainly deals with surface area of objects so has limited use in my experience - I rarely use them.

[@drh490]

It would be nice to see element keynotes that are driven by an instance parameter.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Yes they'd be useful, although user keynotes can achieve similar outcomes I think.

[@drh490]

@@AussieBIMGuru thats what we settled with at work. Although its a wish list item!

[@dimib.5581]

Большое спасибо!!!

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Пожалуйста Pozhalusta!

[@Logos3432-t5n]

Why cant I filter by sheet my keynotes? The Filter by Sheet box is greyed out, in the filter.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Hrm very strange, not familiar with this issue - sounds like an upgrade induced bug. There are some suggestions here to try: forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-architecture-forum/keynotes-quot-filter-by-sheet-quot-not-working/td-p/7832840

[@SPOONKRUST]

Nice. For the algorithm

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks!

[@ahmedemad-kk5gs]

nice keep going

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Will do!

[@namulondosarah6191]

Thank you ,,

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You are welcome

[@aethelwolfe3539]

How do the smart keynotes work with nested links?

[@aethelwolfe3539]

Also the problem we have with this is the keynotes don’t look like AutoCad, so we end up just using little circles so it works the same way as AutoCad and have no smart keynotes.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Generally keynote tags can be edited graphically like any other annotation object. Keynoted objects in links can be tagged, and should also report to the keynote legends.

[@crankdogs]

cheers

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks!

[@ngocanhdo6388]

I tag drawings by all user keynotes, Can i change all the keynotes to elements keynote for management easily, pls?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Unfortunately they would need to be placed again as element keynotes. The revit API has very little access to keynoting as well.

[@asengemand121]

hahahaha I like your winking at 6.38, yes Gavin we know what you mean. This is a serious issue, winking back at you.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Haha yep it's an ongoing challenge for most firms!

[@Nicholas.Tsagkos]

Ι΄m working as a structural Revit technician for many years and i've never used keynotes, i see them more appropriate for architectural uses, but if anyone is using them in structural drawings let me know, i would like to start using them if they are more efficient than tags.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Yes I haven't seen engineers use them before either. Given the code of an object in structure tends to just be member sizes i guess a keynote legend isnt that necessary so theres less benefit. Maybe for general note management with user keynotes?

[@ArmandoMartinez-kl1pz]

HOW CAN I CORRECT THE SPELLING OF THE KEYNOTES? THE SPELLING ARE PLACED IN THE NOTE BLOCK BUT IT DOES NOT RESPECT THEM WHEN GENERATING THE KEYNOTE LEGEND

[@AussieBIMGuru]

I would run a spellcheck across the keynote file itself in the txt.

[@ArmandoMartinez-kl1pz]

@@AussieBIMGuru The spelling has already been checked in the keynote file but when it is loaded in revit it is changed "á" for this " ~". My keynote file is written in spanish.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

@@ArmandoMartinez-kl1pz ah yes many special characters aren't supported in keynote files to my knowledge, depends on if they hace unicode support I believe.

[@ArmandoMartinez-kl1pz]

@@AussieBIMGuru Yes, I found the unicode UTF-16 LE, for these characters. Thank you.

[@loyweiwin2961]

Awesome tutorial as always... laugh at Gavin when he said "dont make it XXX" hahaha... Brain down the drain

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Got to add those disclaimers for the literal thinkers haha.

[@mostafamagdy7995]

سso what is the difference between user keynote and noteblock

[@AussieBIMGuru]

A noteblock takes data that is contained within an annotation family. A user keynote simply takes a row from the keynote file and associates it with a user keynote tag. What it is tagging wont impact the data, unlike the symbols in a note block.

[@mostafamagdy7995]

@@AussieBIMGuru What do you mean by impacting the data in a note block, what i understand is in a matter of data the note block and user keynote can hold the same data and can be tagged by the same annotation family or am I wrong?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

@@mostafamagdy7995 a note block is quite different. I have a video showing how they work here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZq1moqQmr2Npbs

[@husqvarna17]

User keynotes are what I use. As a side note there is no good reason why a user keynote should need a host. What if I want to keynote something that doesn’t function as a host? You guessed it, you use something else for a host and that’s a bunch of garbage. I personally think the way Revit wants to provide everything a host is a flaw and not a feature.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

I agree, an 'orphaned keynote' annotation would be useful. I know some firms have a 'hotspot' detail item they use to host user keynotes to nothing essentially as a painful but effective workaround to this. User keynotes need to be used in moderation, as they do not rely on information actually being in elements. This means the data in the model can become quite null and void at the expense of drawing output. When these models go to Navisworks or IFC, they will not have all the data they need if users just used user keynotes. It can also be risky, as I can label anything as whatever I want essentially. I can call a concrete wall a brick wall, but in setout and size it may not be this. It can encourage and breed bad modelling practice if used to excess. Yes it's a good shortcut when you're in a pinch, but it should only be used when necessary I think.

[@husqvarna17]

@@AussieBIMGuru, I’ve done the same thing. It’s a pain to have to do that but I like using keynotes.