Best Of
Re: Bluebeam's New Podcast - Future Built Episode 1 is Live!
What a great story. I've been really thinking that we need to get more of these kind of stories into the podcast in the future, I like to hear people's "origin stories".
Also I was a bit worried that the mean tweets thing might come off as me not taking feedback seriously. My whole job is bascially listening to people complain about Bluebeam and I want them to know that it IS important to me to understand what's going on and to try to find solutions and fixes. But it was fun to just joke around with Luke, so I think it came off in a light hearted way.
Next episode is coming out soon, so stay tuned as they say!
Re: 🗓️ April 2025 Challenge - Spring Into Structure!
When I think of file organization I think of my old trading card organization. I had a shoe box with cardboard dividers and 3-ring binder with sheet protectors as dividers. The binder showcased how much of each set I had completed, while the box would contain duplicates, and special cards like 1st edition and signed versions. Those would be in hard cases that don't fit in the binder. Both would be sorted similarly. Other times I would just use one organizer for all cards. For instance, the box would allow for great levels of storage and some pretty basic sorting functionality, but it wasn't very attractive. The binder was limited in storage but made up for it with more complicated sorting options and a much more attractive look. This is why I have started using a dashboard for my project organization. The folders themselves are in a pretty basic format, but my dashboard gives me that much more customized look and workflow. I have a few dedicated buttons for some of my go-to documents and folders, while the other buttons are just in a grid format. I can go in and move the buttons around as I please, but ultimately it's just a bunch of basic links that lead to either the folder I want or another dashboard page that helps sort the subfolders how I like. Nobody else has to use my dashboard, and it's my default PDF when I open Bluebeam, so it's always very accessible while using the software.
Re: 🗓️ April 2025 Challenge - Spring Into Structure!
We are currently trying out Bluebeam SETS as our record set manager during construction contract administration (CCA). Some folks do not like the fact that only one person at a time can access that .bex file. During CCA, that issue has proven to be isolated. There is only one person per project performing CCA and opening a read-only is always an option.
I am wondering if anyone uses PROJECTS for organizing their CA record documents.
One of our more organized PMs has a Session going where she has developed and practices a naming convention that organizes the list of files in the session. This is nice, since we are still hoping the BB Developers will introduce folders to Sessions soon. She uses:
"0#_Ref - [FILENAME]" for reference materials
"19## - [FILENAME]" for Existing Building Documents
"YY-MMDD [FILENAME]" for progress drawings, and…
"Project # [PHASE FILENAME]" for drawings issued for review.
I am building on these naming conventions to come up with a file structure for our BB Projects. Taking each convention above and making a folder for them, I would add "CCA Record Set", "From Sessions", and "From Sets".
One thing I have noticed is that using numbers ahead of the folder names does not order them, like they would in File Explorer, like "01 First Folder," "02 Second Folder," and … "0n - nth folder". So I may have to switch to letters to order them.
Incidentally, who remembers Structure Clothing? I still have a couple of ties from there. Was sad when they, uh, folded.
Re: Add custom highlights to toolset
Are you highlighting original content in the pdf or markups that someone made?
Either way, I suggest setting up statuses for each of the disciplines/trades. That way, you can set the status of the highlight or other markup to "plumbing" or "OFOI" or "by others." These can then easily be filtered. You can even set colors for each status so it is visually obvious who is responsible.
Re: Add custom highlights to toolset
Currently the "copy highlighted text into markup list" is a computer/user specific setting that is not associated with the highlighter tool and is not a setting that can be saved in the toolbox. I think the ask here is to allow that setting to be associated with a tool on the toolbox, which would be a nice addition. I'm always struggling with turning that setting on/off, along with freehand vs text highlighting - so if you do it for copy text into markup, it would be nice to also allow the freehand vs text highlighting setting to also be associated.
Re: Office Add-ins not working on 21.5 and previous version
Hello Jes,
Yes, the administration tab has the plugins selected. I suspect the issue is related to the way our IT is deploying Bluebeam updates. When you look at the plugins in any of the Office programs, the add-ins do not display a proper path or file association.
I have tried to manually locate the correct dll files to add them from Word and Excel, and I'm not able to find them.
Re: ✴️ Feature Highlight: Quantity Link
Unfortunately Quantity Link doesn't work for me, so I use Power Query in Excel to use all the metadata available in the Markup List.
Quantity Link if great for using the summary measures for each item but being able to use all the other information being collected in the custom columns, etc really takes your workflow to another level.
It'll be great when Bluebeam create a link to Excel where the whole Markup List is exported on a live basis!
