Revit OpEd: Projects with Shared Details

[Revit OpEd]

These projects typically have "standard/common/shared" details AND "specific/custom" details. It's a pretty common question, "How do I manage the shared details?". In an earlier post I wrote about the Insert Views from File tool that Revit added several years ago. The overall strategy I like boils down to this list:

• Do all the detailing that they share in "one" project
• Do all the detailing that is shared in Drafting Views, not model "live" views
• Use Insert Views from File to pass them to the other projects.
  • This allows for local view referencing of callouts/sections etc
• Do all shared detailing in the "master" project
• Only worry about keeping the sheet and detail numbering updated between all sheets
• Don't bother to update the details in each other project, the views could be blank for that matter (except for a piece of text, has to be something in the view)
• Print all shared details from the master
  • Strategically use a separate sheet numbering scheme for shared details so they don't compete with project specific details.
  • Only necessary to manage sheet reference and detail numbers during the course of the project and add new shared details if they arise.
  • Easiest when detailing is done in later stages of documentation naturally

I think that it's easy to miss that it isn't really necessary to put "finished" details in all the other project files to keep them "up-to-date". The only thing we need to keep "up-to-date" is the sheet number and detail numbers, assuming that detail sheets are printed from the master project instead of from each individual project. That's why I suggest a separate sheet numbering scheme for these shared details, so they don't compete with the rest of the set.

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