Easily editing multi-line text in Revit with Revit.XT

I had a question from a customer this morning who is using multiple lines of text in some of their parameters. In Revit, when need a parameter to have more than one line of text, you can type SHIFT+ENTER into the keyboard and Revit will start a new line (for us oldies, this was once referred to as a carriage return in the days of typewriters) and you can happily type away.

So the issue was (is) that this text displays as you would expect in the sheet view but when you want to go in to edit the schedule, anything beyond the first line of text is hidden. That makes editing a bit fiddly and technology is after-all meant to be about making things easier.

On the left we see the way that Revit displays in the sheet view and on the right, the way you see it when editing the schedule – messy.

So Revit.XT to the rescue, again and in particular, BIMQuery. If you select the item in question or make up a preset category to select in BIMQuery you can get Revit.XT to display all the available properties of the item (or items) and viola – the multi-line parameters all appear as you expect and allow you to adjust them accordingly. Once done you can hit the apply button and the field or fields are updated.

I came up with this solution simultaneously this morning with the client as it happens. It’s amazing how we keep finding new and powerful uses for the suite of tools in Revit.XT.

P.S. There is another feature in Revit 2016 that allows you do something similar to the above. When you create a new shared parameter you can elect to make it “multi-line text” rather than the more traditional “text” option. Note that this does allow you to edit text in a dialogue that pops up but it does not work for out of the box parameters (i.e. you can only use it for new custom parameters). So if you are making a new parameter in the future, this might be something  to consider.

Revit.XT is a free subscription bonus to all Cadgroup customers that own a copy of Revit as a standalone or as part of a Suite or Industry Collection. Please contact your account manager for more details or phone us on 1300 765 654 if you would like to talk to us.