Actually, there is a simple way now (since Revit v2013) where you can check to see if the view template is in use. Just go to View tab --> View Templates --> Manage View Templates. Once you are in the View Templates dialog box, select the one in questions. Notice on the upper right hand side of view properties, Revit tells you how many views have been assigned with that particular view template. In this case, if the one in questions is listed as 0 view, then you are in the clear and free to delete the type out of your model.
Although this may seem pretty labor intensive, it is really not a bad workflow to go through the list one after another. As a wish list item, I am hoping this is something that can be addressed by the factory or via API; maybe I will hear from Harry over the Boost Your BIM in the near future about his latest tool?
What if you did that and Revit tells you a number of views have been assigned to this unwanted view template? Well, you have another option. Go ahead and create a "View List", which is a type of schedule. View tab --> Schedules --> View List...
Again, since Revit v2013, a new field (parameter) called View Template was introduced into this schedule. By adding this field to the View List, Revit will list out the views (usually sort of family type) to show whether any View Template assigned to the views.
You can quickly see I have several interior elevations that have "none" view template associated with it. The good news is you can just click on the "cell" in this schedule and assign the appropriate view template to it. That way, managing the views with your company standard view templates made a lot easier to handle now.
There are so many good uses of the scheduling power in Revit, View List has become one of my favorites recently.
Damn... my BIM Manager just deleted the view template I was going to use for the key drawing!!!
ReplyDeletePhil,
ReplyDeleteInteresting thought. I guess I can see how templates could get a little out of hand, but I don't know how often it would be necessary. If you purge them out of your project template, then each project would start with the standards. then any view templates created from the next project should be necessary.... but I may be naive on that one.
I can see where it would be helpful at the end of the project, as an evaluation of what is useful, what is not, and what might need to be added to the project template.
I'll have to give that some more thought, but thanks for sharing.
Hi Darrell,
ReplyDeleteDid you mean to say in the comment about purging the view template out of the project template? The tip is mainly to show a quicker way to find out which View Templates are in use or not for projects; and to use this process to get rid of the ones that are not complied with the office standard. As my office as well as many offices have their own View Templates setup, it is important keep the ones from our standard organized. The tip I suggested would also come in handy for many different occasions. We have a few projects where they were put on shelf for years, by the time they becomes active again, we can utilize this process to migrate our current VT setup to replace the old ones and still stay organized.