As an electrician, your work demands precision and efficiency, especially when marking up electrical plans and blueprints. The Tool Chest in Bluebeam Revu can be your best ally, helping you streamline your markup process. This guide will show you how to leverage this powerful tool to enhance your productivity and accuracy.
Understanding the Tool Chest
The Tool Chest is designed to store and organize your frequently used markups, making them easily accessible whenever you need them. It automatically remembers your recent markups and can reapply them with their original properties or scale them to fit different drawings. This feature is especially useful for electricians, as it ensures that your tools are always at the right scale, saving you from the hassle of recreating them for each new project. And with the latest release of Revu 21.2, Tool Chest is even better, as users can now use search to quickly find and use markups based on Subject, Comment and Label search parameters (See more of what’s new in the latest release here).
Saving Markups to the Tool Chest
Saving a markup from a PDF to the Tool Chest is straightforward. Right-click the markup, go to “Add to Tool Chest,” and select the desired tool set. This way, your electrical symbols and notes are always ready for reuse.
Placing Markups on a PDF
When you need to place a markup on a PDF, select the tool from the Tool Chest and click on the document. This quick and easy access ensures that you can efficiently mark up your electrical plans.
Managing Tools within Tool Sets
Organizing your tools is crucial for maintaining efficiency. To copy a tool from one set to another, simply drag its icon. You can also reorder tools by dragging them to your desired location. Deleting a saved tool is easy:
– Click the tool and hit the delete icon on the toolbar.
– Select the tool and press the DELETE key.
Bluebeam Resource Hub
Browse case studies, watch webinars, and see what’s new with Bluebeam.– Right-click the tool icon and choose “Delete.”
If you need a duplicate tool or want to change its color, right-click the tool icon and select “Duplicate” or “Change Colors” to customize your toolkit.
Reusing Recent Tools
The Recent Tools set automatically records markups as they are added to your PDF. To reuse a tool, click its icon and place the markup on your document. This feature is particularly handy for repetitive tasks, such as marking circuit paths or labeling outlets.
When the number of saved tools exceeds the display capacity, an arrow appears on the right. Clicking this arrow reveals all your recent tools. You can configure the maximum number of tools stored in Recent Tools by clicking the properties gear and adjusting the “Maximum Recents” setting.
If you need to clear your recent tools before closing Bluebeam Revu, click the properties gear and select “Clear Recents.”
Permanently Saving a Tool to be Reused
To ensure a tool remains available after Revu is closed, you have a couple of options:
– Drag the tool’s icon from Recent Tools into another tool set.
– Right-click the tool icon in Recent Tools and select “Add Item to My Tools,” which saves it to the My Tools tool set. Use the drag-and-drop method to save it to a different set if needed.
To save a markup on the document as a reusable tool, right-click the markup, go to “Add to Tool Chest,” and select the desired tool set.
Special Properties of the My Tools Tool Set
The My Tools tool set is a customizable collection of frequently used tools, offering easy access and special properties. Tools in this set are assigned numeric hot keys for quick access, shown in the upper right corner of the icon. Changing a tool’s position in the set automatically updates its hot key.
The My Tools set is a permanent feature in Revu, available in all profiles by default. While it can be hidden, it cannot be completely removed. Tools in this set can toggle between Properties Mode and Drawing Mode for versatile use.
Properties Mode vs. Drawing Mode
Tools in My Tools, Recent Tools, and custom tool sets can operate in two modes: Drawing Mode and Properties Mode.
– Properties Mode: Adds a new markup with the same appearance properties as the saved markup, retaining properties like color and border, but not exact dimensions or text.
– Drawing Mode: Adds an exact duplicate of the saved markup, perfect for repetitive tasks where precision is key.
Switching modes is easy—double-click the tool or use the Toggle Mode icon on the Tool Chest toolbar. This flexibility allows you to choose the best mode for your needs.
Pinning, Scaling Tool Sets
For quick access, you can pin a tool set to any toolbar. Click the properties gear next to the section name, go to “Pin,” and select the specific toolbar.
Tool sets can also scale automatically when placed in a calibrated drawing, thanks to Revu’s Dynamic Tool Set Scaler. This feature is particularly useful for electricians, as it ensures your markups, like conduit paths or switch locations, are accurately scaled.
Generating a Markups Legend
Creating a Markups Legend based on a tool set is a powerful feature, enabling you to keep track of all your tools and their uses. Refer to the Markups Legend section in Revu for detailed instructions.
The Tool Chest in Bluebeam Revu is a game-changer for electricians and other construction workers looking to enhance their productivity. By efficiently organizing, saving and scaling your tools, workers can focus more on the critical aspects of their job and less on repetitive tasks. Explore these features to make the most of the document markup experience, ensuring electrical plans are always clear, precise and professional.
