The August 6, 2018 BIM 360 Docs update includes many new capabilities and improvements, including:
- Document Set viewing and management (“Sets” view)
- Export PDF’s – with Markups – from Project Files folders
- Export previous versions of PDF’s – with markups – from Plans and Project Files folders
- Updated list view for both Plans and Project Files
- Delete Title Blocks
- Viewer navigation enhancements and many back-end improvements
- Search for custom attributes
- Updated BIM 360 iOS and Android apps
Manage Document Sets
The BIM 360 Document Management “Sets” feature makes it easier to organize and manage specific versions of documents into “Sets” (packages) that are issued for a specific purpose during the project life cycle.
In June, we released the first phase of the “Sets” feature, and we are pleased to announce the availability the next phase, which includes a completely new “Sets” view, the ability to add previously-uploaded documents to a Set, and the ability to create sets prior to uploading any documents.
View Sets
To see the new “Sets” view, click “Sets” in the the upper left corner. A Set can include documents from multiple folders. When you click on the Sets view, you will see, by default, the “Current Set” (the latest version of each document associated with a Set).
You can also view older Sets by selecting the Set name in the drop-down menu.
From the Sets view, you can view the documents and collaborate using the markup and issue management tools. You can also compare versions to see what has changed.
Manage Sets
You can now create sets by using the “Manage Sets” menu:
You can also add previously-uploaded documents to a Set from the Folder view, or edit the contents of a Set from the Folder or Sets view.
Here’s an overview video showing the Set Management feature:
PDF Management and Export
We have improved the PDF download/export experience in both “Plans” and “Project Files” folders. Note the we have also updated the terminology, so that “download” is the action for the source files, while “export” is the action for downloading a published PDF documents (with markups and hyperlinks).
PDF Documents in Plans folders:
In the Plans folders, you can now export previous versions of published documents (with the option to include markups and hyperlinks associated with that particular version).
PDF Documents in Project Files folders:
In the Project Files folders, we have added the ability to export a PDF with markups. This is available for the latest version (from List or Thumbnail view) or for previous versions (from the Version menu).
Usability Improvements
Updated List View – Plans and Project Files folders:
Based on customer feedback, we have updated the List view for both “Plans” and “Project Files” to prioritize the most relevant information in the first few columns:
Delete Title Blocks
Project Admins can now better manage the PDF publishing process with the ability to delete Title Blocks that are no longer needed on the project.
We have also improved the Viewer navigation experience. The active buttons in the viewer menu are now highlighted in blue, to make it easier to understand which controls are active.
Attribute (Metadata) Improvements
Search
We have improved the search feature to include searching for documents based on custom attributes (metadata). When you enter a search term, you will now see results matching document name, file name, and custom attributes.
Edit Attributes
We have also improved the ability to edit and apply attributes. From the List or Thumbnail view, select one or more documents and “edit attribute values” from the menu.
You can change the values of multiple attributes – on multiple documents – at the same time.
Mobile App Updates
There are new versions of the BIM 360 Docs iOS app, the BIM 360 iOS app, and the BIM 360 Android app. If your projects are hosted in the European data center, you need to update to the latest version.
- Update for European data center access. Required upgrade for projects hosted in the European data center.
- Added support for custom Field issue type and subtypes while viewing, editing, and creating issues.
- Added the ability to filter Field issues by type.
- Daily logs – added the ability to choose between Fahrenheit and Celsius, and Miles and Inches or Kilometers and Centimeters.
- Added support for Document Management and Project Management for accounts and projects managed in the BIM 360 European server environment.
- Added support for custom Field issue types and subtypes, which can be used while reviewing, editing, and creating issues.
- Added the ability to open attachments associated with an issue or an RFI from the activity tab.
- Added the ability to filter Field issues by type.
- Introduced quick search for a specific project by name.
- Added support for Document Management and Project Management for accounts and projects managed in the BIM 360 European server environment.
Version specific attributes are also a great new feature, especially that now we can search by attribute values as well. However, there is no way to access these earlier version attaributes. As I mentioned in my idea earlier this feature will be complete if there is a supporting UI element on a document level that shows version specific attributes as we choose to view the earlier version of a document. I believe the best place for that is the version history pane itself.
it will be a good option to re arrange attributes and leave the selected ones as default.
with his update we have the number first and at last i have description.
Hi Stephanie – thanks for the feedback! Are you requesting the ability to arrange the columns the way you want (and have that apply to everyone on the project)? We are planning that for a future update.
Best Regards,
Joan Allen
Autodesk BIM 360
On another note, now we can move existing documents to a a set but we can do that only with the current version of legacy uploads, we cannot modify the Set Assignment of an earlier version of a document. Can we?
Searching and filtering capabiltites are needed on Sets view as well.
Hi Arsen,
For now, we are supporting adding only the latest version to a set. We appreciate your feedback, and will take that into consideration.
Best Regards,
Joan Allen
Autodesk BIM 360
Also, we are planning to support sort/filtering in the Set view, and will also consider how we might support search in this view.
A lot of new features) But I am still moaning about “stateless” documents that cannot be workflowed as under review, submitted, approved etc. Also, the new greate feature that allows changing attributes of multiple files at the same time does not work on search results, which could be a cool feature allowing to easily search and isolate whatever documents you want to change then modify the attributes of those documents only – without the hassle of identifying a certain list of documents in a long list.
Hi Arsen,
Thanks for the feedback. Approval workflow is on our roadmap – and is currently under development. Also, we plan to update the search results page to align with the standard list view and actions.
Best Regards,
Joan Allen
Autodesk BIM 360
Why has the List View been updated so that the Description is now at the very end and truncated while the name box is way too long by default (it gets longer when you hide markups etc and even resizing resets when I move folder). I had all my files uploaded so the name was the file name (as per BIM Level 2 standard) and the description was for example Ground Floor Layout. This information was very relevant for our use. Why can’t we choose what to show ourselves and allow the admin to set this for all users. This is likely to be the change that finally convinces us to find a more usable platform. The constant forced changes are just getting confusing. Sets should be optional at admin level. We’ve set up a folder structure for a reason we don’t need it bypassed.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for the feedback. We’re sorry that the change is not aligned with how you are using the product. We do want to provide more flexibility to support the different approaches our customers take with managing project data, and providing a way to configure the column order is on the roadmap.
Best Regards,
Joan Allen
Autodesk BIM 360
Joan
Thanks for the reply. It would be nice if these changes were fully thought out before being roled out and the reconfigure option roled out at the same time rather than forcing a changes on users that affects our current workflow. I’ve had numerous users on our project emailing asking me to fix this change that they believe I as admin has made. Having to resize the columns every time you open the project to see basic information is seriously time consuming. I hope the reconfigure option is planned for the very near future.