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Thursday, October 29, 2026

ProjectManager: Project Cleanup with Context Attached

Overview

ProjectManager is an Autodesk Revit add-in from underbim, a Portugal-based BIM consultancy with experience in BIM, Revit training, consulting, and software development since 2001. It is one of eight add-ins in ub.Suite Edition 1, released in late October 2026, and can be purchased individually or as part of the suite. underbim summarizes its purpose as “Know what is in the project. Decide what stays.” The add-in audits recurring Revit project resources—V/G filters, scope boxes, view templates, and views—classifies them as used, unused, or unreferenced, shows their dependencies, and supports batch view management and controlled cleanup. Its defining principle is “audit first, change second”: discovery and filtering are kept separate from destructive operations, every change can be previewed before it is applied, and an applied operation retains a single Revit Undo path.

This summary is based primarily on the text of the official ProjectManager product page, supplemented by underbim’s website, suite overview, and announcement. The product page is marketing material: the Views workflow and delete behavior are described in detail, while some feature areas are summarized briefly. No user guide, independent review, or hands-on testing was available, so the remaining gaps are listed as open questions rather than filled with assumptions.

Core Concept: Audit First, Change Second

ProjectManager brings recurring project-management operations into one place, so the target set can be understood before anything is renamed, detached, or deleted. The product page frames this in four stages:

  • Find: search, filters, and project content.
  • Classify: used, unused, and unreferenced.
  • Review: dependencies, protection, and preview.
  • Act: batch changes, delete, and Undo.

Six-Step Workflow

underbim describes the workflow as “Find the target set. Understand it before acting.” Discovery and filtering are separated from destructive operations so that project cleanup remains an explicit user decision:

  1. Audit: read the current project content across the supported resource areas and views.
  2. Filter: reduce the list by usage, search criteria, or native Revit view properties.
  3. Understand: review usage counts, dependencies, sheet placement, references, and protected conditions.
  4. Select: build the working set manually or from the current filtered result.
  5. Preview: see what will be deleted, skipped, or detached before the Revit document is modified.
  6. Apply: commit the selected operation, review the result, and retain a single Revit Undo path.

Feature Explorer: Project Cleanup with Context Attached

Selection, classification, and destructive actions are kept separate so that the user understands the target set before modifying the model. The page names eight feature areas: Resources, Used / Unused, Dependencies, Views, Batch View Actions, Preview, Safe / Force Delete, and Results & Undo.

Resources: One Audit Surface

  • One audit surface: V/G filters, scope boxes, view templates, and views are handled in one place instead of across separate Revit dialogs.
  • Search: locate resources by name or Element ID without manually scanning long lists.
  • Scope: analysis is performed against the current, active Revit document.
  • Separation: filtering and selection are kept apart from destructive actions.

The page’s project-control graphic shows the audit classifying sample items as Used (a coordination filter), Unused (an old scope box), Protected (a working plan), and Unreferenced (an old GA plan), followed by the sequence Filter → Review → Preview → Apply.

Views: Filter the Project Browser Without Scanning It

Views have the deepest workflow in ProjectManager. Name-based criteria are combined with native Revit properties to build precise working sets for review and batch actions:

  • Name filters: Six case-insensitive operators for building view-name criteria. The specific operators are not listed.
  • Revit properties: Cumulative filtering by Discipline, View Type, View Template, Phase, Phase Filter, and Relationship, combined with name criteria.
  • Project state: Not on Sheets and Unreferenced conditions, so the target set reflects project relationships instead of relying on naming alone.
  • Batch actions: Prefix, Suffix, Replace, and Rename applied to the reviewed, highlighted set rather than to views one by one.

The page’s illustration shows sample views tagged Unreferenced, Not on sheet, Referenced, and Protected. “Relationship” likely refers to primary and dependent view relationships, and “Unreferenced” likely means views not referenced by other views, such as through section, elevation, or callout tags. Both are interpretations; the page does not define them.

V/G Filters, Scope Boxes, and View Templates

The same audit-first model covers recurring project resources that otherwise live in separate Revit dialogs:

  • V/G filters: list, search, and classify Visibility/Graphics filters as All, Used, or Unused before selecting cleanup actions.
  • Scope boxes: review scope boxes with their current usage so unused or redundant project extents can be identified deliberately.
  • View templates: distinguish used and unused templates and inspect their current project relationships before removal.

Safe Delete, Force Delete, Preview, and Undo

underbim summarizes the delete model as “Delete with context. Finish with a readable result.” Cleanup remains an explicit operation with conservative and forced paths:

  • Safe Delete: For supported resources, items that are still used are skipped and kept out of the destructive path.
  • Force Delete: When explicitly chosen, known dependencies are detached before the selected resource is removed.
  • Preview: Each planned operation appears in Results as DELETE, DETACH + DELETE, or SKIP before the Revit document is modified.
  • Results & Undo: After Apply, the analyzed project state is refreshed for review, and the operation retains a single Revit Undo path.
  • Protection: Active and primary view conditions remain outside the delete path.

Compatibility and Licensing

  • Supported content: V/G filters, scope boxes, view templates, and views. underbim describes the current scope as intentionally focused.
  • Protection: safeguards for active and primary views keep protected view conditions outside the delete path.
  • License model: perpetual by Edition. Edition updates are included; major Edition upgrades are optional.
  • Checkout: secure checkout via Freemius.
  • Documentation: the product page links to setup and documentation resources.

Workflow Value for BIM Coordinators

The following are interpretations of the published capabilities, not verified performance claims:

  • Safer cleanup: preview-first deletion, Safe mode, and active and primary view protection reduce the risk of removing content still in use.
  • Faster view housekeeping: filters such as Not on Sheets and Unreferenced, combined with batch renaming, can turn a manual Project Browser review into a filtered, repeatable operation.
  • Naming standards: batch Prefix, Suffix, Replace, and Rename support bringing inherited or legacy views into line with office naming conventions.
  • Model health and handover: removing unused filters, scope boxes, templates, and views can simplify a project before issue, archiving, or handover.
  • Easy recovery: a single Undo path after Apply makes a large batch operation reversible in one step.
  • Caution: Force Delete deliberately detaches dependencies, so its preview should be reviewed carefully. Because results are not described as exportable, teams that need an audit record may have to document cleanup separately.

Remaining Open Questions

  • Classification rules: what exactly counts as “used” for each resource type—for example, a filter applied only within a view template, or a scope box assigned to datums but not views—and how is “Unreferenced” defined for views?
  • Force Delete detachments: which dependencies are detached for each resource type, such as removing a template assignment from views or a filter from views and templates?
  • View deletion safeguards: beyond active and primary views, how are views placed on sheets, dependent views, and views referenced by other views handled during deletion?
  • Name operators: which six case-insensitive name operators are available, and how do Replace and Rename handle duplicate-name conflicts?
  • Batch actions for other resources: are rename operations available for V/G filters, scope boxes, and view templates, or only for views?
  • Reporting: can audit results be exported, saved as a .ubr, or handed to ModelData? No connected workflow is described.
  • Scope expansion: are other resource types, such as line patterns, fill patterns, materials, or families, planned for later Editions?
  • Worksharing: how are elements owned by other users handled during batch renaming and deletion?
  • Commercial terms: whether activations are per machine or per user, license transfer, and offline activation.

Suggested Trial Evaluation

  • Use a copy of a representative project with an accumulated history of filters, scope boxes, templates, and views.
  • Run the audit and spot-check the Used, Unused, and Unreferenced classifications against the project, including edge cases such as filters used only within view templates.
  • Combine view-name criteria with Discipline, View Type, Phase, and Not on Sheets filters, and confirm that the resulting working set is correct.
  • Apply Prefix, Suffix, Replace, and Rename to a small set of views, including a case that would create a duplicate name.
  • Preview a Safe Delete on a mixed selection and confirm that used items are marked SKIP.
  • Preview a Force Delete and record exactly which dependencies are marked DETACH + DELETE before applying it.
  • After applying a batch operation, use Revit Undo once and confirm that the full operation is reversed.
  • Attempt to delete the active view and primary views with dependents to confirm the protection behavior.
  • Compare the results with Revit’s native Purge Unused and manual Project Browser cleanup.
  • Test in a workshared model if that is normal production practice.

Overall Assessment

ProjectManager is a focused, cleanup and view-management add-in. Its strength is control rather than breadth: it audits only V/G filters, scope boxes, view templates, and views, but classifies their usage, exposes dependencies and protected conditions, previews each operation as DELETE, DETACH + DELETE, or SKIP, and retains a single Revit Undo path after Apply. The Views workflow—cumulative filtering by name and native properties, including Not on Sheets and Unreferenced, together with batch Prefix, Suffix, Replace, and Rename—addresses a common source of Project Browser clutter. It suits BIM coordinators responsible for project health and model handovers. Its limited resource scope, the lack of any described export or suite handoff, and undocumented classification and detachment rules should be checked during the 30-day trial.

Sources




ProjectManager is brought to you by underbim. It's priced at €100, or €750 for the complete 8-tool ub.Suite 1. A 30-day free trial is available.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2025-2027.

There's more information available on the underbim website »



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