The Design Manager provides a comprehensive view of all parts in the model with their associated design files. The Design Manager grid is used to organize parts to easily perform bulk operations like setting design file associations, designing parts, reinforcing parts, and adding lifters.

Import and Export

Associations between parts in the Revit model and Eriksson design files are stored in Eriksson design manager files (*.edm). The default location of design manager files can be found in the File Locations section of the Settings page. All users working on a specific Revit model may not have the same design manager file location. In such cases it may be necessary to apply design file associations made by one user to another user’s design manager file. To do this, the Import and Export buttons are used.

Use the Export button to save the design manager file to any accessible folder. Then, the Import button can be used to read in that file by another user. The design manager file will be read and compared to the model open in Revit using the unique id given to each part by Revit. Then, each corresponding part will have its design file association updated to the one in the imported file.

Using the Grid

Grid Composition

The rows in the Design Manager grid each correspond to a part in the model. The columns provide relevant information about each part like the Mark #, Profile, Type, and Design File.

Grid Organization

The grid can be used to organize parts by a chosen column. A column header is dragged to the top of the grid to group rows according to that column. For example, dragging the Type column header to the top of the grid will group rows by Type so that all Beams will be grouped together, all Columns grouped together and all Walls grouped together. A second column header can be dragged to the top of the grid to group even further within the original grouping, and so on. This allows parts to be sorted to easily perform bulk operations like setting design files or reinforcing parts.

The column header can then be dragged from the top of the grid back down to the grid to remove the grouping. The column headers can also be dragged left and right to change the appearance of the grid.

Selection Highlighting

Selecting parts in the model will highlight those parts in the Design Manager grid and clicking on rows in the grid will highlight the corresponding parts in the model. This makes it easier to relate parts in the model with their information in Eriksson Sync.

By using the grid’s organizational and highlighting capabilities performing all of Sync’s functions becomes quick and easy.

Setting Designs

The Design Manager grid shows the design files associated with every part in the model. The design files can be set or changed by using the toolbar, the grid’s context menu or the drop-down menu in the Design column.

To set a design, the parts must be selected in the model or in the Design Manager. Parts in the grid can be grouped to select them easier. Once the parts are selected the designs can be set to a new design file, a design file on disk, or cleared to remove the design association. To be able to set a design file all selected parts must be of the same type. For example, walls can only be set to Eriksson Wall files (.ewf).

If multiple types of parts are selected then a design file will not be able to be set. The New and Open buttons in the toolbar will be disabled and the New, Open, and Existing menu items will be disabled in the grid context menu.

Setting to an Existing Design

A part’s design file can be set to a design file already associated with an existing part. This can be done to multiple parts with the grid context menu or to one part with the Design drop down box.

Bulk Operations

The strength of the Design Manager is in the ability to easily perform bulk operations. The difficulty of selecting multiple parts in the model is alleviated by grouping them in the grid.

Once the parts are selected a design file can be set, the parts can be reinforced or lifters can be added. Design files can be set from the toolbar or the grid context menu. Items may be disabled depending on if selected parts are all of the same type or not. Design Parts can be run to open design files in their corresponding Eriksson design software. The parts can be reinforced in bulk by clicking Reinforce Parts. Lifters can be added by clicking Add Lifters.