LengthMEP: Measure and Tabulate the Lengths of MEP Elements

Overview

LengthMEP is a focused Autodesk Revit add-in from DQ Projects for measuring and tabulating the lengths of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing elements. Its documented capabilities combine length checks on preselected elements with the creation of category-specific and multicategory quantity schedules. The publisher also describes measurement in views and updating total values by diameter or size. Its primary purpose is quantity reporting rather than system design or engineering calculations.

Supported Revit Categories

• Electrical: conduits, wires, and cable trays.
• Mechanical: ducts and flex ducts.
• Plumbing and piping: pipes and flex pipes.

These are the seven categories explicitly identified in the Autodesk Marketplace description. Fittings, accessories, equipment, fabrication parts, and linked-model elements are not expressly identified as supported measurement categories. Their treatment should therefore be confirmed rather than assumed.

Principal Commands and Outputs

• LengthMEP command: creates quantity schedules for the supported categories, creates a multicategory schedule, and updates total values by diameter or size. This provides a reporting-oriented workflow for reviewing accumulated lengths rather than inspecting elements individually.
• Selection command: displays total length for supported elements that the user has already selected. Preselection is an explicit prerequisite in the publisher’s description, making this command suitable for focused checks of a chosen group of elements.

The two-command interface separates quick measurement from schedule-based reporting. However, the available description does not explain the schedule field layouts, sorting and filtering rules, treatment of mixed categories, or whether the reported results refresh automatically after model changes. Because an update function is explicitly mentioned, users should verify when it must be rerun.

BNotes: Advanced Keynote Manager

Overview

Bnotes—Advanced Keynote Manager is a Revit add-in from BREVIT LLC that provides a visual interface for searching, editing, organizing, and maintaining keynote text files. It retains Revit’s external .txt keynote-file workflow while reducing the need to maintain that file manually in a separate editor. Its main capabilities combine hierarchical browsing, usage indicators, inline editing, reference updates, file recovery, and coordination tools for cloud-hosted keynote files. 

Keynote Browsing and Editing

• Hierarchical tree view: Keynotes appear in a collapsible parent/child structure. The Marketplace listing identifies blue entries as used, red entries as unused, and black entries as parent or category headings. This makes project usage visible without reviewing a flat text file.
• Live search: Entering part of a keynote key or description filters the tree. The listing describes debounced searching intended to remain responsive with thousands of entries.
• Inline editing: Users select an entry and change its key or description in the detail panel. Changes can be written back to the keynote file and applied to Revit. The guide distinguishes Update Selected, Reload From File, Refresh, and Save & Apply to Revit controls.
• Adding and reorganizing notes: Users can add child or sibling entries, edit a parent key to move an entry within the hierarchy, and delete entries with confirmation. New keys are automatically numbered to follow the existing scheme, according to the listing.
• File-wide text-case tools: Descriptions can be converted to Title Case, UPPERCASE, or lowercase. These are broad standardization operations across the file, rather than selective editorial corrections.

Usage Checking and Reference Coordination

• Usage navigation: Users can click usage indicators to reach the sheets and views where a keynote is used. This provides a connection between library maintenance and placed documentation.
• Bulk reference updates: Renaming a keynote key updates placed references across sheets in one Revit transaction. The precise coverage of element assignments, annotations, and project-specific conditions should be verified in a trial.
• Orphan detection: Identification of missing-key references and entries no longer referenced. These conditions should be treated differently: an unused library note may be intentional, whereas a placed reference with a missing key requires investigation.
• Keynote types: The product page explicitly identifies element and user keynotes. The reviewed material does not clearly establish equivalent material-keynote support; firms requiring that workflow should confirm it directly.

Free ModelMedic: Model-Health Checks and Selective Remediation

Overview

ModelMedic is a model-health and QA/QC toolkit for Autodesk Revit published by ME Solutions, identified in its privacy policy as Mohamed Elzaiat. It brings six focused tools into one add-in: ModelCheck, LinkTrace, Warnalyzer, ModelMop, GridSync, and JoinMaster. Together they address repeatable model checks, link-coordinate investigation, selected warning fixes, targeted cleanup, element-to-grid alignment, and geometry join order. Its distinguishing proposition is the combination of inspection and remediation: users can identify selected problems and then address supported cases within Revit rather than collecting a report alone. The current marketplace lists the add-in as free. [1, 2]

ModelMedic - Main Window

1. ModelCheck — Repeatable Model-Health Reviews

ModelCheck lets teams set project thresholds, run health checks, review pass/fail results, share settings, and export reports to Excel (.xlsx). The developer describes a distributed workflow in which a BIM manager defines thresholds and exports settings, team members import them and run checks, and results return for review. This could support recurring coordination checks and pre-issue reviews using consistent criteria. However, the retrieved product material does not enumerate the complete metric library, threshold ranges, weighting, check-setting format, or report schema. It should not be assumed to validate arbitrary client requirements, every BIM execution plan provision, or all information-delivery standards. [1, 3]

ModelMedic - ModelCheck Settings

Product Roundup: Karo Modum

From the Karo Modum website:

Karo.ModelGuard

Prevents model degradation in real time — before bad changes reach central. Enforces modeling discipline across multidisciplinary teams with instant alerts and audit trails, without disrupting daily Revit drafting. | $99/mo or $990/yr

Karo.Segments

Parametric modeling and architectural detailing for flashings, trims, parapet copings, and facade panels. Transforms manual 2D line work into accurate, scheduled 3D elements snapped to host geometry. | $19/mo or $149/yr

Karo.WhatsChanged

Audits and tracks geometry shifts, coordinate changes, and parameter modifications whenever consultants reload linked models. Pinpoints exact additions, modifications, and deletions without cloud processing or file size limits. | $15/mo or $120/yr

Karo.WhyHidden

Instantly diagnoses why an element is invisible in your active view and guides you directly to the fix. Eliminates minutes of manual troubleshooting through nested visibility graphics, design options, and phase settings. | $9/mo or $69/yr

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Karo.Segments: Creating & Managing Architectural Segments as Plates on Host Geometry

Overview

Karo.Segments is a Revit add-in from Karo Modum for creating and managing user-defined architectural segments as plates on host geometry. Its advertised applications include flashings, trims, parapet copings, cover strips, drips, panels, cassettes, and sheet-material layouts. It combines face-and-edge-based placement, a mark-based catalog, dimensional editing, overlap controls, schedules, and display management. The central proposition is a connected modeling-and-documentation workflow for repeated envelope components, rather than a collection of separately modeled details. The vendor’s manual and demonstration are the principal evidence for this summary; they do not constitute independent testing. [1, 2]

Placement and Editing Workflow

1. Choose or define a segment: Select an existing catalog mark or enter type parameters. The placement form foregrounds type and length, with additional fields available in an expanded view.
2. Reference model geometry: Placement uses a selected planar face and reference edge. The manual describes magnetic snapping near segment ends and face corners, with other positions moving along the edge in 5 mm increments.
3. Set orientation: Rotation and mirroring controls support positioning relative to the host. The manual distinguishes the add-in’s rotation control from Revit’s native Rotate command, which it says is blocked for Karo plates.
4. Place and manage: The segment appears in the model and catalog as a Karo plate. Selecting a catalog row selects matching elements; selecting a plate highlights the corresponding catalog entry.
5. Edit dimensions and data: Parameters can be edited in the hub, Revit Properties, or native schedules using shared fields. The manual says invalid values are reverted with a notification.
6. Refine joints and documentation: Adjust overlap and side-offset settings, review geometry and appearance, and prepare schedules with profile illustrations. [1, 2]

Karo.ModelGuard: Enforce Selected BIM Standards While Users Work

Overview

Karo.ModelGuard is a team-oriented Revit add-in from Karo Modum that enforces selected BIM standards while users work. Rather than waiting for a scheduled model audit to report problems after they have entered the central model, ModelGuard intercepts configured actions at transaction time. Depending on policy, it can block the action, require a written justification, allow it, or record it. The vendor positions the product for protecting coordination references, datum elements, documentation integrity, and modeling standards across multidisciplinary teams. Its emphasis is prevention and traceability, not general-purpose model-health analysis.

Operating Model

1. Define policies: A BIM administrator configures a centralized policy matrix for the team’s protected Revit actions.
2. Assign an enforcement mode: Each rule can be configured to prevent an action, require an explanation, or permit it under the chosen governance model.
3. Distribute centrally: Policy files are stored in a shared on-premises network folder. The vendor states that connected users receive policy updates without a Revit restart and without a separate database server.
4. Intercept user actions: ModelGuard evaluates configured changes as users attempt them, before problematic edits reach the central model.
5. Respond in context: A user sees an immediate alert. A strict rule stops the action; a justification rule requires a reason before an exception proceeds.
6. Record the event: The shared audit trail captures details such as user identity, time, affected element IDs, action, and stated reason.
7. Monitor deployment: A workstation monitor reports connected clients and policy status across the team.

Karo.WhyHidden: A Visibility-Diagnostics Add-in

Overview

Karo.WhyHidden is a Revit visibility-diagnostics add-in from Karo Modum. It investigates why a known element does not appear in a particular view, bringing together checks that would otherwise require opening several Revit settings dialogs. The vendor describes 16 visibility checks covering direct hiding, graphics settings, spatial clipping, worksets, phasing, design options, linked-model display, and view-template control. Findings appear as diagnostic cards identifying relevant settings, filters, or worksets. Selected issues have one-click fixes; others receive guidance. The product is primarily a troubleshooting aid rather than a model-wide QA engine or an automatic redesign of view standards. [1-3]

Typical Workflow

1. Identify the element: Select it in a view where it is visible, or use its element ID. This is a targeted investigation of a known object, not a search for an unidentified missing object.
2. Activate the problem view: Switch to the plan, section, elevation, or 3D view where the element should appear.
3. Run Why Hidden: Launch the command from the Karo ribbon tab.
4. Review diagnostics: Read the cards identifying visibility blockers and the settings responsible. Multiple conditions may apply at the same time.
5. Resolve appropriate conditions: Use an available quick fix or follow the guidance, retaining control over office templates and shared standards.
6. Verify and communicate: Confirm the intended display and copy the formatted diagnostic report into a team chat or task tracker. [2]

Karo.WhatsChanged: A Local Change-Audit and Investigation Layer

Overview

Karo.WhatsChanged is a model-coordination add-in for Autodesk Revit that records a reference state and identifies what changed after linked consultant models are reloaded. It is designed to replace broad visual comparison with an element-level audit that surfaces additions, deletions, moved geometry, coordinate changes, and parameter modifications. The add-in keeps comparison data locally in SQLite rather than uploading project geometry to a cloud service. Its principal audience is BIM coordinators, architects, engineers, and multidisciplinary delivery teams that need to assess the impact of updated architectural, structural, or MEP links.

Core Workflow

1. Establish a baseline. The add-in records a personal reference state for the host model and its links on the user’s workstation.
2. Reload updated links. When a consultant model is refreshed, WhatsChanged compares the new state with the stored baseline.
3. Review detected changes. An audit grid groups and counts Added, Modified, and Deleted elements and supports filtering by change status, category, and source document.
4. Inspect the delta. Select an item to review before-and-after parameter values and geometry or coordinate differences.
5. Locate the affected area. Synchronize the selected result with the active Revit view or create a dedicated 3D view with an automatically framed section box.
6. Document the review. Export results to Excel or a formatted PDF for coordination meetings, issue logs, and follow-up.
7. Advance the reference state. After the update is reviewed and accepted, establish the appropriate new baseline for the next comparison cycle.

Product Roundup: Penguin Tools (PTP)

From the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace:

About

Hi there! We are a two-person team dedicated to building practical, time-saving plugins for Revit. After developing a range of internal automations to optimize our own projects, we decided to release them publicly to support fellow BIM managers, architects, and engineers.

Our goal is to keep over 90% of our add-ins completely free. The few exceptions involve tools with ongoing maintenance costs—such as cloud services and database hosting—which help support our infrastructure and keep the rest of our library free for everyone.

Community feedback drives our roadmap. If you have an idea for a plugin that would make your life easier, or feedback on our existing tools, don't hesitate to reach out!

Editor's Note: Ratings are static and accurate at press time. For up-to-date ratings, visit the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace.

Auto Sync Pro

Automate your Autodesk® Revit® workflow with timed background synchronization, scheduled saves, idle exit, and smart model maintenance to keep your team efficient. | Free

No ratings yet

Bulk Rename Pro

Batch rename Autodesk® Revit® Views, Sheets, Levels, Grids & Elements with powerful regex, casing, and rule presets. | Free

No ratings yet

Free View Duplicator Pro: Create Organized, Predictably Named Deliverables

Overview

View Duplicator Pro is a free Revit add-in from Penguin Tools for batch-producing views and sheets. It is aimed at BIM managers and architectural, structural, and MEP teams that repeatedly create similar floor plans, reflected ceiling plans, elevations, 3D views, dependent views, or complete sheet sets. The add-in consolidates source selection, duplication method, naming, view-property overrides, sheet creation, and viewport placement into a visual workflow. Its core value is not merely copying views; it is creating organized, predictably named deliverables while reducing repetitive Revit commands and avoidable naming errors.

Core Workflow

1. Select source content. Choose one or more existing views or sheets that will act as the basis for the new deliverables.
2. Choose a duplication mode. Create standard copies, copies with annotations, dependent views, or duplicated sheet sets.
3. Build target names. Apply prefixes, suffixes, or find-and-replace rules, then inspect the live preview before making changes to the model.
4. Resolve conflicts. Review collision warnings where a proposed name already exists and manually override individual names when exceptions are required.
5. Apply view settings. Assign or replace View Templates, Scope Boxes, and Phases for the copies.
6. Create sheets and place views. Where required, create new sheets with a selected title block and place the duplicated views automatically. When entire sheets are duplicated, preserve the relative viewport layout.
7. Review the result. Validate generated names, crop regions, templates, phases, sheet numbers, viewport placement, and annotation behavior before issue.

Version QR Codes: Drawing Version Control

Overview

Version QR Codes is a Revit add-in from Penguin Tools that connects issued or printed sheets to live digital information through unique QR codes. Its principal use is drawing version control: a person in the office or on site scans the code with a standard phone or tablet camera to reach the latest PDF, a common data environment (CDE) location, a project URL, or a 3D model, and can determine whether the physical drawing is current or superseded. The product is intended to close the information gap between paper deliverables and the project’s digital source of truth. Penguin Tools reports more than 19,000 active codes in use; this is a vendor claim rather than independently verified usage data.

How It Works

1. Define the identifier. By default, the add-in uses the Revit Sheet Number. Users can combine built-in parameters and custom shared parameters assigned to the Sheets category to form a drawing name or data payload.
2. Configure a profile. A profile controls appearance, data links, and title-block placement. Profiles can be created for purposes such as client issue or internal review, saved for reuse, and loaded from a central network location to support company standards.
3. Generate and place codes. The add-in can create one code or batch-generate many unique codes and place them on title blocks. The vendor advertises generation of up to 1,000 codes in one operation.
4. Publish the deliverable. Codes can be carried into PDF, DWG, or DXF output, or exported as standalone PNG/JPG images for reports, labels, or stickers.
5. Scan and verify. The recipient scans the code without a proprietary viewer. The linked destination provides access to current information so the recipient can check the drawing’s status before using it.

Orkestra Review: Distributing Tools—Dynamo or Grasshopper Scripts or OkPy Add-ins

Editor's Note: This is a sister article to OkPy Review: Create Fully Functional Revit Add-ins with Zero Coding, with Examples!

Orkestra can be used for a couple different things. One is developing Revit add-ins with OkPy, which we've already covered. The second is distributing customizations in a managed way, whether they are OkPy-authored add-ins or Dynamo or Grasshopper graphs. 

The first step is publishing. If it's an OkPy add-in, you'll need both OkPy Pro and Orkestra subscriptions. For Dynamo and Grasshopper, an Orkestra subscription will suffice. For our example, we're going to work with the Color Warnings add-in from our OkPy review.

From the OkPy for Revit window, with the OkPy file loaded, click the Publish button:

The Publish to Orkestra window opens. There's some work to be done in this dialog: there's the Description, which is also the tooltip in Revit, the Body, which is the text for a wiki entry (this is what the user will see if they click on More Info in the tooltip), and Keywords:

Revision Manager Pro: Make Revision Administration Faster and More Consistent

Executive Summary

Revision Manager Pro is a free Revit productivity and QA/QC add-in from Penguin Tools designed to simplify revision creation, editing, sheet assignment, removal, and reporting. It organizes the work into two main stages: first managing the project’s revision records, and then applying selected revisions to filtered groups of sheets. Its strongest value is scale: operations that normally require repeated dialog navigation and sheet-by-sheet checking can be carried out across hundreds of sheets through a reviewable interface.

Core Capabilities

• Two-step interface: Separates revision definition and maintenance from revision-to-sheet assignment, making the workflow easier to understand and audit.
• Revision creation: Creates new project revisions and supports quick templates for recurring descriptions such as Tender, Construction, or other office-standard issue stages.
• Description history: Reuses standard or previously entered descriptions to reduce retyping and improve consistency.
• Bulk editing: Updates descriptions or dates for multiple revision records at the same time.
• Bulk sheet assignment: Applies a selected revision to large numbers of sheets with a single action.
• Smart sheet filtering: Narrows the sheet list by sheet sets, disciplines, issued status, the presence of revision clouds, or particular revisions.
• Regular-expression search: Supports advanced pattern searches for both revisions and sheets, enabling precise matching of sheet numbers, names, prefixes, or other naming conventions.
• Date-format builder: Provides a visual drag-and-drop method for constructing revision date formats that align with office or client standards.
• Undo Last Set: Reverses the most recent revision-assignment operation, providing a safeguard against accidental bulk changes.
• Revision-log management: Removes revisions from selected sheets or deletes them more broadly from the project when appropriate.
• Excel matrix export: Produces a project revision matrix for external reporting, transmittal preparation, audit records, or coordination.

Opening Handing: Calculate, Review, and Record Door and Window Handing at Scale

Executive Summary

Opening Handing is a Revit automation and QA/QC add-in from Penguin Tools for calculating, reviewing, and recording door and window handing. It analyzes opening geometry, swing direction, wall insertion orientation, and adjacent room context to determine standard architectural handing values such as Left Hand (LH), Right Hand (RH), Left Hand Reverse (LHR), and Right Hand Reverse (RHR). The calculated result can then be mapped to a chosen Revit parameter for schedules, door and window data, hardware coordination, and model checking. Its primary value is replacing repetitive visual interpretation and manual parameter entry with a consistent, reviewable process.

Core Capabilities

• Automated handing calculation: Determines LH, RH, LHR, and RHR classifications from the modeled orientation and swing behavior of an opening.
• Inward/outward interpretation: Can identify whether an opening swings inward or outward, adding useful directional context beyond a simple left/right result.
• Geometry-based analysis: Evaluates swing geometry, insertion vectors, wall orientation, mirrored state, and room-bounding relationships rather than relying only on family names.
• Flexible parameter mapping: Writes calculated codes to existing shared parameters, project parameters, or custom instance/type parameters instead of forcing a single proprietary field.
• From Room/To Room context: Uses spatial relationships to interpret the transition direction between rooms or between interior and exterior space.
• Batch audit dashboard: Presents calculated results in a table for review before model parameters are updated.
• Flipped-opening detection: Identifies mirrored or flipped doors and windows that may create hardware, scheduling, or documentation discrepancies.
• Multi-category support: The Marketplace description identifies Doors, Windows, Curtain Wall Doors, and custom nested opening families as supported targets.
• Custom handing attributes: Penguin Tools describes an interface that lets users assign or configure handing attributes for door and window types.

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