BIMSearch was originally created in order to make BIM data easily accessible. Since then BIMSearch has advanced, but this original purpose – search BIM models – remains the cornerstone. Here is how to do it – no previous experience with BIM necessary!

Choose a template

The BIMSearch team has created pre-defined search templates in accordance with popular searches. These are saved in the “default” template folder.

You can press the ? to get an overview of the elements in the model. To load the template, click “Load”:

After selecting the desired template, BIMSearch will automatically create a report based on the data in the model. The report appears in the bottom half of the browser.

To learn about the report, refer to “Understanding the report“

Customize search settings

Our search templates include specific search definitions.  These searches can be adjusted by editing the “Category”, “Table parameters”, and “Organize by” settings. In this way, users can edit their search and control what will appear in the report.

Category

Use this to select which Revit Category you want the table to present (for more information see Select Revit Category). When you select categories, a pop-up with the most common categories will appear. You can search all categories or click to see them all displayed. 

Note: if the model view you are searching does not have a particular element, that category will not appear in the category search parameter options.

Table parameters

Select the parameters for the table. This search setting enables you to choose which information you want to see in the report. 

Please note that without selecting a category, you cannot select table parameters. This is because there will be no information for the table to show.

Organize by...

Once you have selected your category and table parameters, you can further edit your search by selecting the parameters with which to group elements and organize your report. In the example below, “base constraint” and “type name” were selected, and you can see that once the report is created, all elements with the same base constraint and type name are grouped together and arranged in the first column of the report, in the order in which they were selected.