ZEN Help
One section per command on the ZEN ribbon tab. Each section opens directly from Revit.
BIM management for Autodesk Revit
Introduction
ZEN is a Revit plug-in suite built for BIM Management at production scale. It automates the recurring, error-prone parts of running large federated Revit projects — coordinate setup, sheet and schedule exchange with Excel, workset and link management, parameter and keynote assignment, model QA, family library management, and Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) batch operations — including project-wide batch cloud linking governed by a central Model Registry and Link Matrix, rather than manual, model-by-model link setup.
ZEN is organized as a single “ZEN” tab on the Revit ribbon, divided into four panels: Federation, Data & Health, Project Standards and Families. Each panel groups related commands; most commands open a dialog, run against the active model, and report results in a summary window. Where a workflow applies to many models at once, ZEN provides a batch/registry-driven counterpart that runs unattended against a list of files.
ZEN separates BIM governance from any individual Revit model. Project standards and relationships — worksets, sheet naming, materials, and more — can be maintained in external CSV and Excel files, then executed consistently across one model or an entire project. That keeps the governance itself Revit-version-agnostic (a standard captured in a spreadsheet doesn't care whether the model is on Revit 2024 or 2027) and, in some cases, even software-agnostic — sheet lists or certain parameters captured this way can carry over to CAD or Inventor workflows too. It's also editable with everyday Excel skills rather than Revit expertise, and durable enough to live in a firm's BIM Standards Vault as an external record of a project's standards over time.
Before You Begin
ZEN runs inside Autodesk Revit and operates on the active Revit document, unless a command is specifically identified below as a batch operation. Some commands require a workshared model, an Autodesk Construction Cloud model, a Model Registry, a Link Matrix, a CSV/Excel input file, or Autodesk Platform Services access — each command section below identifies these requirements where they apply.
Because several ZEN commands can modify many models in a single operation, it's worth validating a Model Registry or CSV/Excel input against a small model set before running it project-wide.
Installation. ZEN is distributed as an Autodesk app bundle through the Autodesk App Store. Revit loads it automatically at startup and shows it as the “ZEN” tab on the ribbon. The first time Revit starts with ZEN installed, it may ask whether to load it — choose Always Load. ZEN works with Autodesk Construction Cloud through your own Revit sign-in. Autodesk Platform Services (APS) credentials are optional: only Refresh Sizes needs them (and Test APS Token, which checks them) — see APS Settings.
Before you start: set the Model Key. ZEN identifies each model by its Model Key, taken from Project Information → Building Name. Set Building Name in every model before you build a Model Registry with Cloud GUIDs — Link from Registry, Repair Links, the Cloud Link Matrix and ACC Gate all find a model by this key. Step-by-step setup, including the optional APS part: Customer Setup Guide.
Panels on the ZEN tab:
Federation — ACC Gate, cloud linking, the Model Registry and the Cloud Link Matrix
Data & Health — model health, coordination audits, sizes, schedule data for reporting, PDFs
Project Standards — worksets, sheets, coordinates, schedules and view-template standards
Families — loading and swapping families, materials, type marks
Federation
ACC Gate is ZEN's batch-processing hub for Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) models. It drives a registry-based workflow: you maintain a CSV (or Excel) “Model Registry” listing every model in a project — its Region, ProjectGuid, and ModelGuid — and ACC Gate uses that registry to open, process, and report on any number of models unattended, one action (or several, in sequence) at a time.
Why this matters: two files govern an entire project
At project setup, every cloud model's GUIDs are mapped once into a single Model Registry. Those GUIDs don't change for the life of the project, so once the registry exists, every ACC Gate batch command can simply ask for it — no clicking through ACC project folders model by model, ever again.
The Link Matrix is built from that same registry, generated automatically rather than assembled by hand. Together, these two files — the Model Registry and the Link Matrix — are the governing foundation for every batch command and every link-related task on this panel.
ACC Gate
ZEN tab, Federation panel
The main batch command. Loads a Model Registry CSV, lets you pick which models to include and which actions to run against them, then executes each selected action across every selected model and writes a combined run log.
Unlike almost every other ZEN command, this one works with no document open at all — it's deliberately set to always be available, rather than requiring an active Revit document. You can launch Revit, go straight to ACC Gate from the Home screen's ribbon, and start a batch run before opening any model yourself.
Workflow:
Select a Model Registry CSV when prompted.
Pick which models from the registry to include, in a model picker dialog.
Pick which batch action(s) to run, in an action selector dialog. Multiple actions run in sequence against the same model set.
Depending on which actions you picked, ZEN asks for any inputs they need — a linking Excel workbook, an ACCDocs/Desktop Connector root, a source schedules RVT, a family/library folder, a Coordinate Authority CSV, or the folder holding the models' Print Intel workbooks.
Choose an output folder for reports — recently-used folders are offered as one-click options, so you don't have to re-browse to the same location every run.
ZEN opens each model, runs the selected action(s), and closes it before moving to the next. A model that fails to open is recorded in the log and the run continues with the next one.
A master run log (.txt) is written to the output folder, and Revit dialogs encountered mid-run are recorded and auto-handled where possible so the batch doesn't stall waiting for a click.
Available batch actions:
Ping Only — open the model just to confirm access, then close. A connectivity check.
Model Health Check — run ZEN's model health routine and export a CSV.
Export Schedules — export one or more schedules to CSV.
Family Size Report — the same measurement as the Families & Library panel's own Family Size Report, run here across the batch (one row per family, with file size).
Create Worksets from Registry — create worksets in each model from a workbook sheet named WorksetRegistry or Worksets. ZEN asks for that workbook when the run starts.
Create Links from Registry — create Revit links using Desktop Connector paths from the registry.
Import Standard Schedules — import ZEN's standard schedules/note blocks into the model.
Load Families from Folder — load families from a shared library folder into each model.
Load Single Family — load one specified family file into every selected model.
Import Sheets from CSV — import/update sheets (number/name) into each model. Shares the same column-order expectation as Import Sheets/Batch Import on the Sheets panel — see the setup note there for details.
Import Materials from CSV — import/update materials into each model, using the exact same import engine as the interactive Import Materials command (Parameters & Keynotes panel): matches by name; updates class, keynote, description, RGB color, transparency, and appearance-asset binding wherever the CSV has a value. The dialog's own checkbox label undersells this as “Name + Keynote + Description” only — the real behavior is the full field set.
Create Cloud Links From Registry — create Revit cloud links (ACC cloud models) using Region/ProjectGuid/ModelGuid and the Link Matrix. Unlike Create Links from Registry above, this needs no Desktop Connector at all — it works entirely from cloud GUIDs.
Repair Cloud Links from Registry — re-establish broken cloud links, matching existing links by GUID first, then by name.
Acquire Shared Coordinates — apply a Coordinate Authority CSV directly to every selected model via SetProjectPosition. Deliberately involves no Revit link at all — this runs before linking happens, not through one; run it on a batch of hosts to bring them all onto the same coordinate system ahead of a subsequent linking pass. See Coordinate Authority (Project Standards panel) for how that CSV is produced — Export and Apply Authority CSV are under Coordinates ▾.
PBP + Worksets Report — reports project base point coordinates and worksets for each model and all its links, opened straight from the registry's cloud GUIDs (no Desktop Connector), and writes one combined workbook for the whole batch, ZEN_Batch_PbpAllLinksAndWorksets.xlsx, with one sheet per model. The ACC Gate counterpart of Batch PBP on the Worksets & Links panel.
Print PDFs from Print Intel workbooks — runs Print PDF (Sheets panel) on every selected model. You pick one folder holding each model's <ModelName>_PrintIntel.xlsx; ZEN matches each model to its own workbook by cloud GUID (by file name for workbooks exported before the GUID stamp existed), exports every PrintJobs row, and writes the PDFs to a PDF subfolder of the output folder, plus one combined report, ZEN_Batch_PrintPdf.xlsx. For this action only, each model opens with all worksets open, so nothing on a closed workset is left out. Links that are unloaded in a model stay unloaded and don't print.
Example: a PBP + Worksets Report run across a 21-model ACC project, from output folder to result.
Worked example: running Import Standard Schedules with no document open
See ZEN in action — tiveritllc.com/zen---running-federation.html
Worked example: running Export Schedules across a batch
Export Schedules is a lighter path than Import Standard Schedules above — it needs no extra source file, so after picking models and the action, ZEN goes straight to the output folder prompt.
The output folder afterward: one INSTANCE PARAMETERS, PROJECT-INFO, QAQC, and SHEET LIST CSV per model, plus a timestamped run log — exactly the same four-file set Export Schedules produces for a single model (see the Schedules & Excel panel), just repeated once per model in the batch.
Link from Registry
ZEN tab, Federation panel
Adds one or more specific cloud links to the active host, fully governed by the Link Matrix for settings — the targeted counterpart to ACC Gate's cloud-linking batch action, which establishes every matrix-documented link for a host in one pass. Cloud-GUID only — no Desktop Connector involved anywhere in this workflow.
Workflow:
Pick a Model Registry CSV — remembered from last time; hold Ctrl while clicking to pick a different one.
ZEN checks that the active host is in the registry and warns if it isn't — continue or cancel.
Pick the Link Matrix workbook — always asked for, never silently reused (the dialog opens in the last folder), since it's the governing document and there may be several (see Edit Cloud Link Matrix). If the matrix doesn't govern the active host, ZEN says so and lists the hosts it does govern.
A checklist lists every model in the registry except the active host, with the registry and matrix in use shown in its header — check one or more to link in.
Only the models you checked that also have a matching Host+Link row in the matrix get linked, each with that row's settings — placed by shared coordinates where UseSharedCoordinates is TRUE. Anything checked but undocumented is reported, not linked with a guessed setting.
Cloud identity for each link comes straight from that model's own registry row (Region/ProjectGuid/ModelGuid) — no local file path involved anywhere.
A summary reports links created, already-linked models skipped (no duplicate instances), undocumented selections, and any errors.
Repair Links
ZEN tab, Federation panel
Reconciles the active model's cloud links against a Cloud Link Matrix workbook. Where Link from Registry adds selected links, Repair Links brings all of a host's links in line with the matrix. It is the single-model counterpart to ACC Gate's “Repair Cloud Links from Registry” batch action and uses the same reconciliation logic.
Workflow:
Pick the Cloud Link Matrix workbook (ModelRegistry + CloudLinkMatrix sheets).
The active model's identity is resolved the same way as Link from Registry (Project Information → “Building Name”, falling back to matching the document title against ModelName/FriendlyName).
Each matrix row for this host is reconciled against the model's actual links: links that already match are left alone, workset differences are corrected in place, links pointing at a stale path are reloaded from the correct cloud model, and missing links are created with the row's settings — placed by shared coordinates where UseSharedCoordinates is TRUE.
Placement is checked by where each link actually sits, not by its Shared Site label. A link that doesn't sit where the matrix says (by shared coordinates, or origin to origin) is listed under “Needs attention (placement)” with the reason. ZEN reports it but doesn't move the link: re-place it in Revit, or check the model's coordinates against the Coordinate Authority.
A summary reports counts for matched, fixed in place (workset), needs attention (placement), reloaded, created, bad GUIDs and other errors, plus a list of any links in the document that aren't in the matrix at all (left untouched).
Link instances are assigned to whatever workset is specified for that row in the matrix — created automatically if it doesn't already exist — so worksets are set up hands-off as links are created or repaired, without a separate workset-creation step. Link types themselves (as opposed to instances) go on a dedicated “XX_LINKTYPES” workset, the same one Link from Registry uses.
Export Cloud Link Matrix
ZEN tab, Federation panel
Generates a fresh ZEN_LINK_MATRIX.xlsx workbook from a Model Registry CSV — a full reset of the link matrix, with one row per host/link model combination, default workset names, and link settings ready to be customized. The workbook includes both the source ModelRegistry data and the generated CloudLinkMatrix sheet, validated against the registry's ProjectGuid/ModelGuid columns before writing.
The Link Matrix maps a project's entire link structure and related parameters into one Excel file — every host/link relationship in one place, reviewable and comparable against something like a project's MIDP. Because it's a plain, machine-readable file, it can also serve later as documentation of how a project's link structure evolved over time: what files related to what, and when.
Important: only files with accessible GUIDs can be mapped this way. In a shared-folder (non-ACC) environment, a common pattern is to create a container file, link all of a discipline's shared files into that container, and then use the container's own GUIDs to bring that whole discipline into the matrix as one entry. For example, if a structural consultant publishes files to a shared ACC folder, those files can be linked into a container file as an attachment, and the container itself then linked into the project via the Model Registry and Link Matrix like any other model.
Each host also gets one “self row” in the output — HostModelKey left blank, LinkModelKey set to the host’s own key, with that host’s Region/GUIDs and default workset name populated alongside it. This is deliberate, not a leftover row: it keeps a consistent, parseable slot per host — ahead of that host’s own host→link rows — for a later manual workset-configuration pass. A registry of 20 models accordingly produces 400 rows: one self row per host, plus every host-to-link combination (20 × 19).
Edit Cloud Link Matrix
ZEN tab, Federation panel
Despite the name, this doesn't open a previously-saved Cloud Link Matrix workbook for editing — it generates one fresh, the same way Export Cloud Link Matrix does, but through an interactive grid where every row's settings can be reviewed and hand-adjusted before saving, rather than saving straight away with default values.
Workflow:
Pick a Model Registry CSV — needs at least two valid models (ModelKey plus both GUIDs).
Check which models to include from the registry list.
Click Generate: every possible host→link pair among the checked models is built (excluding a model linking to itself), each with sensible defaults — LinkType “Overlay,” LoadOnOpen and UseSharedCoordinates on, RoomBounding off.
Edit any row directly in the grid: LinkNameOverride, LinkType (Overlay/Attachment dropdown), WorksetName, RoomBounding, LoadOnOpen, UseSharedCoordinates, and whether the row is Enabled at all.
Adding more models and clicking Generate again keeps your edits on rows already generated — only genuinely new host/link pairs get default values — so it's safe to grow the model selection without losing work already done.
Save to Excel writes the same two-sheet structure (ModelRegistry + CloudLinkMatrix) that Export Cloud Link Matrix and the other Link Matrix-reading commands expect.
Nothing requires a project to have only one Cloud Link Matrix — multiple matrices can coexist for the same project, useful for handling different subsets of models or project-specific link requirements separately. Link relationships in ZEN are customizable by design, not a single fixed structure every project must conform to.
The saved result — note the “-02” in the filename: nothing stops a project from having several Cloud Link Matrices side by side for different model subsets or needs, exactly as described above:
Cloud GUIDs
ZEN tab, Federation panel
Reads the active cloud model's ProjectGuid and ModelGuid and appends a Model-Registry-formatted row to a CSV you choose — the quickest way to add a new model to your registry without hunting for its GUIDs manually. Requires the active document to be an ACC/BIM 360 cloud model. No APS credentials needed — the GUIDs and the region come from the open model.
Typically used at project setup, or whenever a new file enters an existing project. Projects often start with a relatively small set of files and grow — doubling or tripling in file count by the end of a phase, partly to keep individual file sizes manageable. That growth is exactly when this command earns its keep: add the new file's GUIDs to the registry, then regenerate the Link Matrix from the updated registry to bring it in line.
The registry this builds carries more than just the GUIDs used for linking — columns for FolderPath, Desktop Connector path, Discipline, Model Role, Phase, StorageSize, VersionId, last health-check/schedule-export dates, and free-text notes are all part of the same file, giving every ACC Gate batch command a single, complete picture of each model to work from:
Find DC Paths
ZEN tab, Federation panel
Fills in the DesktopConnectorPath column of a Model Registry, which File Sizes (DC) and Link from Registry rely on. Revit has no way to tell ZEN where Desktop Connector keeps another model's local copy, so this command searches a folder you choose instead.
- Pick the Model Registry CSV.
- Pick the folder to search — your Desktop Connector sync root, or any folder that contains the synced
.rvtfiles. ZEN searches it including all subfolders. - ZEN matches each
.rvtfile by its name (without extension) to a registry row’s ModelName, FriendlyName or ModelKey, ignoring upper/lower case. - The result is written next to your registry as
<name>_Updated.csv; your original file stays unchanged. A summary lists matched, unmatched and ambiguous rows.
APS Settings
ZEN tab, Federation panel
Enter your own Autodesk Platform Services (APS) app credentials, registered as a Custom Integration on your own ACC account, so ZEN can request access tokens on your behalf. Optional: only Refresh Sizes uses them. ACC Gate, Link from Registry, Repair Links, Cloud GUIDs and the Cloud Link Matrix work through your Revit sign-in without APS, and File Sizes (DC) reads model sizes without APS. Full setup steps, including the APS Developer Hub that Autodesk now requires for every APS app: Customer Setup Guide.
Every customer registers and owns their own APS app; nothing is shared across customers and nothing is shipped inside the ZEN installer. Credentials entered here are saved under your own Windows user profile (%AppData%\ZEN\ZenSettings.ini) and used only by ZEN running as you.
Workflow:
Create an APS app (Server-to-Server) in your team’s APS Developer Hub and register its Client ID as a Custom Integration on your ACC account, if you haven’t already — the Customer Setup Guide has the steps.
Paste the resulting Client ID and Client Secret into the two fields. “Show secret” reveals the Client Secret field for proofreading; it’s masked by default.
Save. The dialog reports whether credentials are configured; Clear removes them from this machine.
Run Test APS Token (below) afterward to confirm the saved credentials actually work before relying on Refresh Sizes.
Test APS Token
ZEN tab, Federation panel
A one-click connectivity check: requests an Autodesk Platform Services (APS) access token and reports success or failure. Useful for confirming your APS credentials are configured correctly before relying on Refresh Sizes. A successful token confirms the credentials only; Refresh Sizes also needs the ACC Custom Integration with Document Management access.
Worth knowing: ZEN only reads data through APS, a few requests per model. Autodesk offers APS with a Free tier that has monthly usage limits.
Data & Health
A broad health snapshot of a model's condition, for one model or a whole batch. (The print-setup export that used to live here, Export Print Intel, is now on the Sheets panel next to Print PDF.)
Model Health Check
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
Runs a broad, read-only audit of the active model and writes a single Field/Value CSV covering warnings, view and sheet counts, unplaced rooms/areas, CAD and Revit link status, in-place families, groups, levels, grids, raster images, and design options — a quick snapshot of a model's overall condition.
Workflow:
Run with no setup — always writes to Documents\ZEN_ModelHealth (not user-selectable; the one export command on this panel with a fixed location).
ZEN reads warnings, views (split into total, templates, and not-yet-placed-on-a-sheet), sheets, unplaced rooms/areas (no location, or effectively zero area), CAD imports vs. links, the Revit links placed directly in the model with a breakdown by status (Loaded, Unloaded, In Closed Workset, etc.) and nested links counted separately, in-place families, model and detail groups (counted separately), levels, grids, raster images, and design options.
The five most frequent warning messages are included by text and count, not just a total — useful for spotting a systemic issue rather than just knowing “something's wrong.”
Writes “<Model> HEALTH CHECK.csv” and reports the output path.
File Size is read from the model's file on disk, so it's reported for models opened from a local file. For a cloud model, or a model that has never been saved, it reads “n/a” with the reason. For cloud file sizes, use Refresh Sizes and ACC Gate's Model Health Check action.
Batch Model Health
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
Runs a health check across many local .rvt files at once — but with an important difference from the single-model version: it uses its own, independent data-collection logic, producing a differently-shaped CSV rather than the same Field/Value format repeated per file.
There are two distinct ways to run a batch health check across a project: this command, against local files, or ACC Gate's “Model Health Check” batch action, against cloud models via the Model Registry. This section covers the local version.
Workflow:
Pick Revit files — the same repeatable multi-folder picker used elsewhere in ZEN.
Choose the output folder when prompted.
For each file: reuses the active document if it matches, otherwise opens it detached and workset-light, with all Revit links unloaded first to keep the run fast.
Each model's CSV is named “<stem>_HEALTH CHECK.csv” (stripping a trailing “_detached” suffix or timestamp from the filename first) and is always overwritten on re-run — a deliberately stable filename, since a Power BI report reading these files needs a consistent target, not a new file every time.
A summary lists how many models were processed, every CSV written, and any per-file errors.
PBP Links + WS
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
Why this matters: the PBP as a coordination audit signal
On a well-run federated project, a single coordination/survey file establishes one fixed Project Base Point — often placed at the intersection of two gridlines — and every discipline model is expected to inherit that exact PBP from the coordination file, rather than each discipline placing its own independently.
This matters beyond coordinates: Levels commonly reference the PBP’s elevation to display height above the project’s ground-floor datum. A file whose PBP was never correctly inherited, or has since drifted, doesn’t just have a coordinate mismatch — every Level in that file can be reading its displayed elevation relative to the wrong reference point.
That’s what this tool is for. Once every file in a project has inherited the same fixed PBP, the per-file PBP readout becomes a one-click audit of that practice: run PBP Links + WS (or its batch/ACC Gate counterparts below) and compare the reported PBP position across files. Any file that doesn’t match the rest of the project is a file where something local happened — the PBP was moved, re-placed, or never properly inherited from the coordination file in the first place — and is worth investigating before trusting that file’s Levels.
Despite the name, this doesn't place or move project base points — it's a read-only reporting tool. “PBP” refers to what it reports on: the project base point coordinates (North/South, East/West, Elevation, Angle) of the host model and every linked model, alongside each link's title, path, type (ACC Cloud / Desktop Connector / Local File), cloud GUIDs where available, and which workset it's on. It's a quick, one-click check for BIM Coordinators or Managers to audit a model's links without opening each one individually.
Workflow:
Run with no setup needed — it reads the active model and every Revit link in it, loaded or not.
Save the resulting CSV (“ZEN_Link_Intel.csv” by default) wherever you like.
One row per document: the host, then one row for each link, each with its own base point coordinates and identifying info. The first four columns (Host_Title, Host_ProjectGUID, …) describe the document of that row — the host on the first row, the linked model on the rows after it.
Further columns: Link_Status (Loaded / Unloaded), Placement, Origin_NorthSouth_mm / EastWest / Elevation / Angle and Origin_MatchesHost. Unloaded links keep their title, path and GUIDs; their positions read N/A, since they can only be measured when loaded.
Batch PBP
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
The same link-intelligence report across many files at once, combined into one CSV.
Workflow:
Pick Revit files — same repeatable multi-folder picker as Batch Export Schedules: select files, then choose whether to add more from another folder.
For each file: opens detached and workset-light, records the host's base point plus one row per link (title, path, workset, base point coordinates), then closes.
All rows from every file are combined into the one CSV in the chosen output folder, overwriting any previous run's file there.
Refresh Sizes
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
Refreshes the StorageSizeBytes and VersionId columns in a Model Registry CSV using ACC/APS metadata, and writes the result to a new *_Updated.csv file alongside the original (the source file is never overwritten). Useful for keeping the registry's size/version columns current without re-running a full batch.
File Sizes (DC)
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
A lighter-weight companion to Refresh Sizes: reads file sizes directly from each model's Desktop Connector path on disk, without opening any cloud model or requiring an APS token. Prompts for a registry, lets you pick which models to include, and writes a CSV with each model's file size in bytes and MB.
Useful for spotting families that are quietly bloating a file — heavily detailed families and their instances often cause a sudden jump in file size, dragging out loading and processing time well past what the model actually needs. Running this regularly lets a BIM Coordinator monitor and document those jumps as they happen. Once a bloated file is identified, the Family Size export tool (Families & Library panel) is the next step — it shows exactly which families are responsible.
ℹ SETUP REQUIREMENT — needs DesktopConnectorPath on every row too Same underlying pattern as Refresh Sizes above: this command filters the registry down to rows that have a DesktopConnectorPath value, and if none do — as with a registry built purely via Cloud GUIDs — it stops immediately with nothing to process. DesktopConnectorPath isn't populated by Cloud GUIDs either; it needs to be added to the registry by hand (the local Desktop Connector path to each model's file on disk). |
The same registry gap, this time for File Sizes (DC)
Family Size Report
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
Measures the actual on-disk size of every loadable Model-category family in the active project — the natural follow-up to File Sizes (DC) on the same panel: that command flags which whole files are bloated, this one shows which families inside a given file are responsible.
In practice, this tool earns its keep right after File Sizes (DC) has already flagged a sudden jump in a file's size. That kind of bloat is often traceable to a single cause: someone inserted a highly detailed family, frequently one with unnecessary LOD or CAD geometry imported directly into the family itself. Family Size Report lets a BIM Coordinator quickly spot the outsized family responsible and take the needed step — rather than guessing at what's dragging a model down.
Workflow:
Choose where to save the CSV (defaults to “<Model>_FamilySizes.csv”).
Only loadable and in-place families in the Model category are measured — annotation, title block, and detail families are skipped entirely.
For each loadable family, ZEN opens it as a family document, saves it to a temporary .rfa to measure its real file size, then discards the temp file — in-place families are listed but can't be measured this way (no standalone file exists) and are reported as size 0.
Writes FamilyName, IsInPlace, FilePath (or a note if measurement failed), SizeBytes, SizeKB, and SizeMB per family.
A summary reports total families found, how many were successfully measured, how many are in-place, and how many failed to measure.
The resulting CSV, including a real failed-to-measure row (“Circular Mullion”) alongside normally-measured families:
Export Schedules (RVT)
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
Exports QAQC, INSTANCE PARAMETERS, and SHEET LIST — whichever exist in the active model — to individual CSVs, plus a PROJECT-INFO.csv listing every parameter on the model's Project Information element.
Workflow:
Choose an export folder (defaults to the model's own folder).
Each found schedule is exported as displayed — header, body, footer — with the schedule's own filters applied (an “Equal” filter on a field hides non-matching rows in the export too, matching what you'd see in Revit).
A PROJECT-INFO.csv is always written alongside the schedules, listing every Project Information parameter and its value.
A summary lists what was exported and flags any of the three schedule names not found in the model.
Batch Export (RVT)
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
Runs the same three-schedule-plus-project-info export across many .rvt files at once, letting you build the file list from multiple folders in one run.
This tool is for local networks only — the file picker browses local .rvt files, with no cloud model picker. Cloud batch exports of these same schedules are handled through ACC Gate's “Export Schedules” batch action instead.
Workflow:
Pick Revit files to export — after each selection, ZEN asks whether to add more files from another folder, so the target list can span multiple locations before moving on.
Choose one output folder for all the CSVs.
For each file: reuses the active document if it matches, otherwise opens it workset-light; runs the same export as Export Schedules; then strips any completely blank data rows from each resulting CSV (keeping the header) before moving to the next file.
A combined summary lists every file exported, any schedule names missing across the set, and any per-file errors.
Export Print Intel
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
Exports one Excel workbook describing the active model's print setup — the starting point for Print PDF below. Four sheets are reference data read from the model; one, PrintJobs, is where you define the PDFs to produce.
Workflow:
Choose an output folder.
ZEN writes <Model>_PrintIntel.xlsx with five sheets:
Worksets — every user workset, by ID, name and kind.
Links — every Revit link instance: its name, type, workset, whether it's loaded, and its path.
PrintSets — every print set with its sheet count and sheet numbers, including Revit's built-in All Sheets set.
PrintJobs — the one sheet you fill in, one row per PDF (see Print PDF below).
ModelInfo — the model's title and cloud identity (project and model GUIDs), which ACC Gate uses to match each model to its own workbook. Reference only; leave it as is.
A summary reports how many worksets, links and print sets were found.
Print PDF
ZEN tab, Data & Health panel
Exports PDFs from the active model, driven by the PrintJobs sheet of its Print Intel workbook (see Export Print Intel above) — repeatable, with no print dialogs and no PDF printer to install. ZEN uses Revit's own PDF export.
Workflow:
Fill in the PrintJobs sheet — one row per PDF. PrintSetName is required: copy it from the PrintSets sheet. PdfSetupName and BaseFileName are optional.
Run Print PDF, select the workbook, and pick one output folder — it applies to every job in the run.
ZEN exports every filled-in row — each print set as one combined PDF, named <ModelTitle>_<PrintSetName> unless BaseFileName gives a name — and reports the PDFs written, with any notes.
The ZEN default PDF profile: with PdfSetupName left blank, ZEN uses its built-in profile — each sheet at its own paper size (a set mixing sheet sizes comes out right), 100% zoom, vector output, colour, with crop boundaries, scope boxes, reference planes and unreferenced view tags hidden. Sheets appear in sheet-number order (A9 before A10). Nothing has to be set up in the model, which is what lets the same approach run across many models in ACC Gate.
To use a different setup, enter the name of a PDF export setup saved in the model in PdfSetupName. If the model doesn't have a setup of that name, the job still runs with the ZEN default and the summary says so.
A PDF counts as written only once ZEN has found it on disk. The output shows what the model shows: elements on worksets that are closed in your session aren't printed. To be sure everything prints, open all worksets first — or use ACC Gate's Print PDFs action, which does this automatically.
Project Standards
This panel holds ZEN's project-setup tools: Export Standards, which captures what a template actually contains, and the two Coordinate Authority tools, which put every model of a project on one shared coordinate system. It is the natural starting point for a new project.
Exchanges sheet lists (sheet number + sheet name) between Revit and Excel/CSV — for pulling a sheet list out for review, or pushing a planned sheet set into one or many models at once — and prints sheets to PDF from a governing Print Intel workbook.
Why this matters: consistent naming across disciplines
On a multi-discipline project, the SHEET LIST workflow is what lets a team keep sheet naming and numbering consistent across every discipline's model. A single naming standard is built once — the same sheet organization and numbering pattern repeated per discipline, with only the discipline code changing — so that, for example, the Architectural floor plan for Level 1 (A101) and the Structural floor plan for the same level (S101) follow identical naming logic. A team member moving between discipline models finds the same sheet in the same place, numbered the same way, every time.
In practice, this is what the three Sheets commands are for together: build and refine the naming standard once (as a SHEET LIST schedule in a template or reference model), export it with Export Sheets, then push that exact standard into every discipline-specific model with Import Sheets (one model at a time) or Batch Import (many models at once) — rather than each discipline lead inventing their own numbering scheme.
This CSV round-trip also opens the sheet list up to people who don't work in Revit at all. Once exported, the sheet list is just a spreadsheet — project discipline leads, who are often not Revit-savvy but still need to review and approve the sheet set, can open, comment on, and edit it directly in Excel. Their edits then come back into every model the same way they went out: via Import Sheets or Batch Import. Revit modeling skill is no longer a prerequisite for sheet-list sign-off.
It's also the mechanism behind two other common scenarios: bringing a discipline-specific set of sheets into a new model without copying and cleaning up an entire source file (worth weighing against a full-file copy, which also brings over views, their placement, and annotations — sheets-only import is leaner but leaves that supporting content behind), and handling sheet renumbering, renaming, or reordering when a PM or client requests changes partway through a project — update the standard once, then re-push it everywhere it applies.
Worked example: extending the standard to a new discipline
Starting from the live SHEET LIST schedule in the Architectural model:
The Architectural block of rows is duplicated in Excel as the starting point for a new discipline's sheet list — reusing the same sheet-type pattern (Floor Plans, Details, Building Elevations, Building Sections, Enlarged Views, Schedules) rather than starting from a blank sheet:
The Sheet Name column is then updated to the new discipline (here, Structural), while the underlying sheet-type pattern stays identical to the Architectural original. The Sheet Number column is updated separately to the discipline's own number prefix (S1xx, matching the S101/S102 already used for Structural Plans) before importing back into the Structural model via Import Sheets or Batch Import:
Also worth knowing: only Sheet Number and Sheet Name are read by the importers — any other columns in a SHEET LIST-derived CSV (Scale, Current Revision, Current Revision Date, Current Revision Description) are silently ignored. They won't cause an error if left in the file, but nothing beyond Number and Name is ever applied to the sheet. If your SHEET LIST tracks revision data, that stays a manual, Revit-side step.
Two related but distinct jobs live on this panel: standardizing worksets across models (Export Worksets, Import Worksets), and creating or repairing Revit links from a project-wide registry (Link from Registry, Repair Links). PBP Links + WS and Batch PBP sit alongside both as diagnostic reporting tools.
Why this matters: any well-organized model can be the worksets template
Export Worksets simply dumps whatever user worksets currently exist in the active model — there's nothing schedule- or template-specific about it. That means any model with a clean, well-organized workset structure can serve as the de facto standard: export its worksets once, and Import Worksets will recreate that exact set in any other model, matching by name and skipping whatever already exists.
Worksets governance can start from an Excel file alone. Once a company or project standard for worksets has been established, that spreadsheet becomes the governing reference — it's AI-readable, editable with ordinary Excel skills, and can be updated and redistributed without touching Revit at all. Because the standard lives outside any single model, it's also Revit-version-agnostic, and can sit in a firm's BIM Standards Vault as a durable, external record — the same pattern the sheet-naming standard follows above.
Moves ZEN's three standard schedules — QAQC, INSTANCE PARAMETERS, and SHEET LIST — between models, out to CSV, and through a governing Excel workbook. ZEN recognizes these three schedule names exactly; anything else in the model is left alone.
Import Schedules (RVT) and Batch Import (RVT) work differently from the Sheets panel's CSV-driven commands: there's no CSV involved at all. These copy the actual Revit schedule views (and their view templates) directly from a source .rvt into the target model(s) — a model-to-model schedule transplant, not a data import.
Every button on this panel is labelled by its source: (RVT) tools work from a Revit file; (WB) tools work from the governing Excel workbook, with no source file needed. Export Schedules (RVT) exports the schedules' data; Export Schedule Definitions (WB) exports how they're built.
Why this matters: QAQC as visible model certification
ZEN QAQC is not an issue tracker, and it is not the same thing as a Model Health Check. A Model Health Check measures the technical condition of a model at a point in time — warnings, links, file size, groups, unplaced rooms, in-place families, and other measurable indicators. It answers: what condition is this model in right now?
QAQC answers a different management question: has this model been reviewed, when, by whom, and is it considered current and ready for use? Before a BIM Coordinator adds a QAQC checkmark, they perform the normal model review — which may include Model Health results, warnings, links, worksets, coordinates, shared parameters, model setup, or any other project-specific checks. The QAQC mark does not replace those checks; it is the visible human sign-off that they were performed and that the model was judged acceptable at that time.
The startup view is therefore important. The latest QAQC mark should be immediately visible when a user or BIM Manager opens the file, without needing to open a schedule or dashboard first — acting as a quick model certificate, as shown below:
QAQC also records major model-governance events
The QAQC schedule is not limited to weekly health reviews. It can also serve as a compact model-history log for significant changes that may not appear in a conventional health check — for example:
Survey / shared coordinates updated
Project Base Point or datum verified
Link Matrix revised and revalidated
Shared-parameter standard changed
Template or workset standard updated
Major cleanup completed
Milestone review completed
A model may appear technically healthy before and after one of these changes. Unless the health routine specifically extracts and compares that particular state, the change may be invisible in ordinary health metrics — QAQC records the fact that the model has been reviewed against the current project state.
Project-wide management view
Because every model uses the same governed QAQC structure, ZEN can extract those records across the project and compare them against a defined review requirement — for example, a list of models that must be checked every week. This is illustrative of what the extracted data could drive downstream (via Power BI or similar), not a built ZEN feature or screenshot:
Model Last QAQC Reviewer Status
ARCH-01 2 days ago GS Current
STR-01 11 days ago AB Overdue
MEP-01 Today CD Current
ELEC-01 Never — Not checked
Models expected this week: 42 • Models reviewed: 37 • Overdue: 4 • Never reviewed: 1 • QAQC compliance: 88%
The same view can sit beside Model Health and parameter-compliance data, giving BIM Management two different kinds of evidence at once: automated evidence of model condition, and human evidence that the model is being actively reviewed and managed:
Model QAQC Status Warnings Broken Links Parameter Compliance
ARCH-01 Current 42 0 98%
STR-01 Overdue 188 1 91%
MEP-01 Current 63 0 96%
Model Health is about condition. QAQC is about stewardship. The QAQC mark is a visible certification that the model has been reviewed against the current project state and is considered ready for use. Project-wide QAQC extraction lets BIM Management verify not only whether models are healthy, but whether the required review process is actually happening.
And the same data, visible immediately on the model's starting view via a Generic Annotation family tag reading those same shared parameters — no need to open the QAQC schedule itself to see the review status:
Why this matters: INSTANCE PARAMETERS as a compliance-tracking net
INSTANCE PARAMETERS works like a fishing net for a defined set of shared parameters: once it's set up with the parameters that matter, it reads their existence and value across the project and schedules them — making it possible to track completion of LION requirements model by model.
Exported and fed into Power BI, this becomes a reliable monitoring tool for how far a project has progressed against its LION requirements — without anyone needing to open Revit. That matters most for project managers, who typically don't work inside Revit directly but still need to know project status without having to ask a BIM Manager to check for them each time. The exported data feeds weekly BIM meetings, team follow-ups, and the compliance record itself.
LION compliance claims need more than an internal progress summary — clients ask for actual proof, not just a completion percentage. The exported Instance Parameter Schedule is that proof directly: every instance, every required parameter, and its actual value, laid out row by row. That lets both the team and the client verify LION completion against the real data rather than a summary of it, and identify exactly which elements or parameters still have gaps.
A note on SHEET LIST in this panel
SHEET LIST is the third of the three standard schedules, but it's covered in depth in the Sheets panel above (Export Sheets, Import Sheets, Batch Import) alongside its multi-discipline naming convention and Excel round-trip. Here on the Schedules & Excel panel, SHEET LIST is handled the same way as QAQC and INSTANCE PARAMETERS — as a whole schedule view copied model-to-model or exported to CSV — rather than the row-by-row CSV editing the Sheets panel's commands do.
Export Worksets
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Exports every current user workset (excluding the built-in “Workset1” and “Shared Levels and Grids”) to a two-column CSV: WorksetId and WorksetName.
Workflow:
Choose an export folder.
ZEN writes a CSV listing every user workset's ID and name, and reports how many were exported.
The resulting CSV is the same one shown above in “Why this matters” — WorksetId and WorksetName for every user workset in the model.
Import Worksets
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Reads a workset CSV and creates any workset name that doesn't already exist in the active model. Only requires a model to be workshared — nothing else about the source model needs to match.
Workflow:
Requires the active model to be workshared — worksets can't exist otherwise, and ZEN checks and tells you if not.
Pick the CSV file (matched by the “WorksetName” column header, not by position — so column order doesn't matter here, unlike some of the Sheets panel's CSV commands).
WorksetId is read from the CSV but never used — only names matter. Revit assigns fresh IDs to whatever it creates.
Any name already present in the model (case-insensitive) is skipped; everything else is created.
A summary lists what was created, what already existed, and anything that failed (invalid name or similar).
Confirmed in Revit's own Worksets dialog (Collaborate → Worksets) — the newly created worksets show up Editable and owned by the current user, while the skipped duplicates remain untouched (not editable, no owner, exactly as they were before this run):
Export Sheets
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Exports the model's sheet list to CSV — but not by directly reading Revit's sheet elements. Instead it looks for a schedule named exactly “SHEET LIST” (case-insensitive) in the project, and exports that schedule's table exactly as it appears — header, body, and footer rows — including any formatting or column choices already built into it.
Workflow:
Requires a schedule literally named “SHEET LIST” to already exist in the model — if none is found, ZEN tells you and stops.
Choose an export folder (defaults to the model's own folder).
ZEN writes “<Project> - SHEET LIST.csv” and confirms with a summary dialog.
Because it exports the schedule as displayed, this respects whatever sorting, grouping, or filtering has already been set up on the SHEET LIST schedule — useful if that schedule already reflects your firm's preferred sheet organization.
Import Sheets
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
The interactive counterpart: reads a two-column CSV and creates or updates sheets in the active model to match. Expects column A = Sheet Number, column B = Sheet Name — so a SHEET LIST schedule assembled with that field order (see the setup note above) exports directly into the right shape for this command with no extra editing.
Workflow:
Pick a title block type from a dropdown of every title block family/type loaded in the project — new sheets are created with this title block.
Pick the CSV file (a header row is auto-detected and skipped, provided the columns are in the expected order — see the setup note above).
For each row: if a sheet with that number already exists, its name is updated only if different; otherwise a new sheet is created.
A summary reports how many sheets were created, renamed, or left unchanged, plus a per-row detail log and a warning if the CSV contains duplicate sheet numbers.
Tip: close the CSV in Excel before running Import Sheets. If it's still open, Windows keeps the file locked and the read fails outright — this is standard OS file-locking behavior, not a ZEN-specific issue, but it's an easy trap to fall into right after editing the sheet list.
Here is a correctly-ordered CSV — Sheet Number in column A, Sheet Name in column B, matching what a properly-assembled SHEET LIST schedule exports directly:
Importing this produces the expected result — Sheet Number and Sheet Name correctly paired throughout:
Batch Import Sheets
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Applies the same CSV-driven sheet creation/renaming across many target .rvt files at once, without needing each one open in Revit first. Expects the same column order as Import Sheets (A = Sheet Number, B = Sheet Name), and the same rule about closing the CSV in Excel before running it applies here too.
This command targets local .rvt files only — the target picker is a standard Windows file browser, with no cloud model picker. For batch-importing sheets into ACC cloud models, use ACC Gate's “Import Sheets from CSV” batch action instead (see ACC Gate in the Federation panel), which drives the same underlying import logic against models selected from the Model Registry rather than picked from disk.
Workflow:
Pick the CSV (same two-column format as Import Sheets).
Pick one or more target .rvt files.
For each target: ZEN opens it with all worksets closed (for speed), applies the same create/rename logic, then saves (or synchronizes with central, for workshared files) and closes it.
A per-file summary reports created/renamed/skipped counts, and flags any file that timed out (60 seconds per step) or failed to save.
A detailed run log is also written to the Desktop (ZEN_BatchImportSheetsLog.txt), useful for diagnosing which file or step a long batch run stalled on.
Coordinate Authority
ACC Gate’s “Acquire Shared Coordinates” batch action (see ACC Gate in the Federation panel) establishes shared coordinates across a project without ever loading a Revit link: a Coordinate Authority — a model whose ProjectLocation is treated as correct — is captured once to a small portable CSV, then that same CSV is applied directly to every selected host via ActiveProjectLocation.SetProjectPosition(XYZ.Zero, …). Coordinate establishment and linking are deliberately kept as two separate processes: this batch action runs on hosts before any linking happens, and linking (Link from Registry, Repair Links, or the equivalent ACC Gate batch actions) happens afterward, relying on every file already agreeing on the same coordinate system. Applying the CSV to a host reports one of three statuses — APPLIED, VALIDATION_FAILED, or APPLY_FAILED — a committed transaction is reported as APPLIED regardless of whether the four tracked numbers (North/South, East/West, Elevation, Angle) happened to move, since a coordinate transform can be correct even with zero apparent change.
Why not acquire through a link instead (the design this replaced): the first attempt used native Document.AcquireCoordinates() through a loaded link, abandoned for two evidence-based reasons — (1) the link-loading strategy it needed depended on WorksharingUtils.GetUserWorksetInfo() against ACC cloud ModelPaths, which threw a managed exception in real testing, matching a known, intermittent issue specific to cloud paths; (2) Autodesk’s own Share Coordinates dialog documents that acquiring through a link resets every other linked model in the host to <Not Shared> — a real risk on a host carrying more than one link. The CSV/SetProjectPosition mechanism has no equivalent to either risk, since it never touches link state or needs a link loaded.
Export Coordinate Authority CSV
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Exports the active model's ProjectLocation at XYZ.Zero — the validated primary shared-coordinate signal, not the Project Base Point or Survey Point — to a small portable CSV, to be used as the Coordinate Authority for a project. See “Coordinate Authority” above for the full mechanism and why it exists.
Workflow:
Run with the Coordinate Authority model open and active.
Choose where to save the CSV.
ZEN reads ProjectLocation at XYZ.Zero from the active model and writes it to the CSV, then confirms with a summary.
Apply Coordinate Authority CSV
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Applies a previously exported Coordinate Authority CSV to the active model via SetProjectPosition — the single-model counterpart to ACC Gate's Acquire Shared Coordinates batch action. Useful for testing a CSV against one model before running it across a whole registry.
Workflow:
Run with the target model open and active.
Pick the Coordinate Authority CSV exported above.
ZEN applies the position and reports APPLIED, VALIDATION_FAILED, or APPLY_FAILED.
Export Schedule Definitions (WB)
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Exports the definitions — not the data — of the three governed Standard Schedules (SHEET LIST, INSTANCE PARAMETERS, QAQC) from the active model into a governing Excel workbook: fields, filters, sort/group rules, and (for shared parameters) the identity of the shared-parameter file they depend on. This workbook becomes the standard until re-extracted — step 1 of 2; see Import Schedule Definitions (WB) below.
Workflow:
Run with the source model open and active — the one being treated as the standard for these three schedules.
Choose where to save the workbook.
ZEN writes six sheets — Schedules, Fields, Filters, SortGroup, Metadata (your current shared-parameter file's path and a hash of it, used by Import's governance check), and an Appearance sheet that notes appearance isn't captured in this version — then confirms with a summary.
Import Schedule Definitions (WB)
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Reconstructs the three governed Standard Schedules directly from a workbook produced by Export Schedule Definitions (WB) — no source Revit file needed at all, the whole point of this pair. Distinct from Import Schedules (RVT) above, which copies from a live source file instead.
Workflow:
Run with the target model open and active.
Pick the workbook produced by Export Schedule Definitions (WB).
ZEN creates each of the three schedules directly from the workbook, using the right creation path for its type — a plain single-category schedule, a multi-category schedule, or a Note Block/annotation schedule — and reports schedules created, fields/filters/sort-group rules added, and a clear reason for anything skipped.
Import Schedules (RVT)
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Copies QAQC, INSTANCE PARAMETERS, and SHEET LIST — whichever of the three exist — from a source .rvt into the active model, along with any view templates those schedules use.
Looking for a workflow that doesn't need a source Revit file? See Export Schedule Definitions (WB) and Import Schedule Definitions (WB) further down this panel — a separate pair of tools that round-trip the same three schedules through an Excel workbook instead, with no .rvt source needed at import time. This command stays .rvt-source-based by design: it also carries full appearance/view-template fidelity, which the workbook-based tools don't capture yet.
Workflow:
Pick a source .rvt file containing the standard schedules (opened detached and workset-light if workshared, so it doesn't touch the real central file).
For each of the three schedule names found in the source: if a schedule with that name already exists in the target, it's deleted (including removing it from any sheets it was placed on) and replaced with a fresh copy from the source; if it doesn't exist yet, it's simply created.
View templates used by those schedules are copied the same way — an existing template with the same name in the target is deleted first so the source version fully replaces it.
A summary reports which schedules were created, replaced, failed to replace (old copy may linger), or were missing from the source entirely.
ℹ SETUP REQUIREMENT — replaced schedules lose their sheet placement Deleting an existing schedule to replace it also removes it from any sheet it was placed on. The fresh copy comes in as a floating schedule view, not yet placed on a sheet — re-placing it (drag onto a sheet, or via another ZEN command) is a separate manual step after import. |
| [SCREENSHOT NEEDED: Import Schedules (RVT) — source file picker and completion summary] |
Batch Import (RVT)
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Applies the same schedule-copy operation from one source .rvt into many target .rvt files at once, using the same create/replace logic as Import Schedules.
Looking for a workflow that doesn't need a source Revit file, applied to many models at once? There isn't a batch version of the workbook-based tools yet — Import Schedule Definitions (WB) is single-model only for now. This command stays the right choice for batch, .rvt-source-based application.
Workflow:
Pick the source .rvt (once).
Pick one or more target .rvt files.
For each target: opens with all worksets closed, runs the same import logic, then saves (or synchronizes with central, relinquishing worksets, for workshared files) and closes.
A per-file summary reports created/replaced/failed/missing schedule names, and flags any file that timed out (60 seconds per step) or failed to save.
Like Batch Import on the Sheets panel, this targets local .rvt files only, and a detailed run log is written to the Desktop (ZEN_BatchImportLog.txt) for diagnosing long or stalled runs.
Export Standards
ZEN tab, Project Standards panel
Exports the active model's view-template configuration to a set of four CSV files, giving you a portable, spreadsheet-readable record of the template's standards — useful for documenting a firm template, auditing drift between projects, or as a starting reference when building a new template from an existing one.
Workflow:
Run the command with any document open (the active model, ideally a template or a project built from one).
A folder-browser dialog opens, defaulting to the model's own folder (or the Desktop if the model hasn't been saved yet). Choose where the CSVs should be written.
ZEN writes four files to that folder and shows a summary dialog listing what was created.
Files produced:
Templates.csv — one row of document-level metadata: template name, file path, and export date.
ViewTemplates.csv — every view template in the model, by ID and name.
ViewTemplateParameters.csv — every parameter set on every view template, with its value — the full configuration of each template in one flat table.
ViewTemplateCategoryOverrides.csv — per-template category visibility: which categories are shown or hidden in each view template.
Because the output is plain CSV, it opens directly in Excel for comparison, filtering, or turning into a documented standards reference — no Revit needed to review it.
Export Standards is an export and audit tool — there is no matching import. To bring template standards into another model, use Revit's own Transfer Project Standards, or ZEN's panel-specific imports for sheets, schedules, worksets and materials.
Families
Four commands for managing the model's family content: loading families in (one at a time or a whole folder), swapping one family standard for another across every instance, and reporting on how much disk space loaded families actually cost.
Two unrelated jobs share this panel: assigning systematic Type Marks by family name, and round-tripping material data (including keynotes) through CSV.
Load Family
ZEN tab, Families panel
Loads a single .rfa file into the active model — the same QAQC tag family workflow described earlier (Schedules & Excel panel) is a natural fit here: load the annotation family carrying the QAQC shared parameters into a new model directly.
Workflow:
Pick a single .rfa file.
ZEN loads it using Revit's standard family loading — if a family with the same name already exists in the model, it's overwritten, including its parameter values, with no confirmation prompt (there's no custom overwrite-options dialog here, so Revit's default API behavior applies).
A summary reports the file, the resulting family name, and success or failure.
Load Folder
ZEN tab, Families panel
The same load operation, but for every .rfa file found in a chosen folder — including subfolders, so a whole library structure can be loaded in one pass.
Workflow:
Pick a root folder. ZEN searches it and every subfolder for .rfa files.
Each family is loaded the same way as Load Family — same silent-overwrite behavior for any name collision.
A CSV report (FilePath, FamilyName, Success, Message) is written to Documents\ZEN_FamilyLoads, timestamped so previous runs aren't overwritten.
A summary reports how many families were processed, how many succeeded, how many failed, and where the CSV landed.
The CSV report shows exactly which family failed and why — a genuinely useful detail-level record when a folder load doesn't go 100% cleanly:
Monitor & Swap
ZEN tab, Families panel
A proxy workflow for heavy content. A detailed, data-intense family — for example LOD 450 — is needed for the printed issue at the end of a phase; during the phase everyone works with a light stand-in that has the same types, for example LOD 200. Monitor & Swap moves every instance between the two families in one step, in either direction. The two families are told apart by a name prefix — for example TTT for the original and YYY for the proxy.
Workflow:
Enter the old prefix and the new prefix when asked.
Both families must already be loaded in the model — this command doesn't load anything itself, only reassigns instances between families and types that already exist.
ZEN pairs each old-prefix family with the family of the same name under the new prefix, and each type with the type of the same name — or, for types named after their family, the same name with the prefix swapped (TTT-DOOR-01 → YYY-DOOR-01). Upper and lower case don't matter.
A review form lists every pair with its live instance count and a status. Pairs with placed instances are pre-checked. Types with no partner are listed too, greyed out and not selectable — orange when instances are placed, since those instances will stay unchanged. The In groups column shows how many of a type’s instances sit inside model groups.
Confirming the review reassigns every instance of the checked types to the new type. The whole swap is one Undo step; if Revit refuses a single instance, only that instance stays unchanged and the rest still swap.
A summary reports how many instances were changed, the instances skipped inside model groups (by group name), any instance Revit refused, Revit warnings raised during the swap, and which placed instances had no matching type.
Why it saves file size — and when
Revit stores a family's geometry and data once, as the family definition; each instance is a reference. Swapping to the light proxy lightens display, regeneration and memory at once, but the .rvt file only gets smaller once the heavy original is purged. The full cycle for one phase:
Swap original → proxy, then purge the original.
At the end of the phase: load the original from the library, swap proxy → original, print the issue.
Swap back to the proxy and purge the original again.
Export Materials
ZEN tab, Families panel
Exports every material in the active model to CSV — identity, annotation, graphics and appearance: Name, Class, Keynote, Description, RGB color, Transparency, the bound Appearance Asset's name, and that asset's main properties (colour, glossiness, reflectivity, transparency). Texture images are copied alongside the CSV.
Workflow:
Choose one folder — the CSV (<Model>_Materials.csv) and any texture images are written there together. Pointing it at an Autodesk Forma / ACC-synced folder puts the images into the cloud automatically.
ZEN writes one row per material and confirms how many were exported. Appearance assets based on Revit's Generic template are read in full; others (such as Glazing) are listed by name and flagged in the SchemaDetected column.
Import Materials
ZEN tab, Families panel
Reads a materials CSV (the same format Export Materials produces) and creates or updates materials in the active model to match — matched by name, case-insensitive.
This is what lets a template or discipline-specific file inherit materials from another file's export, rather than every file carrying the same bloated, universal material set. That matters most when a project draws materials from several sources, or when a company maintains a dedicated library file (or set of files) that materials get imported from as needed. A structural file doesn't need the same material library as an interior design file — this keeps each discipline's template carrying only the material data it actually needs.
Workflow:
Pick the CSV file.
For each row: a material with that name is found or created.
Every other field — Class, Keynote, Description, RGB color, Transparency, Appearance Asset binding — is updated independently, but only where the CSV cell actually has a value; blank cells leave the existing value untouched rather than clearing it.
Appearance Asset binding works by name: if the CSV's AppearanceAssetName matches an asset in the target model, the material is bound to it. If there's no match and the asset is a Generic-template one, ZEN creates it and writes its colour, glossiness, reflectivity and transparency from the CSV; other asset types are reported, not created. Texture images aren't connected on import yet — a textured material gets its flat properties, not its image.
A summary reports rows read, materials created, materials updated, and rows skipped (blank name, or no change needed).
Type Marks by Family
ZEN tab, Families panel
Assigns sequential Type Marks (PREFIX-001, PREFIX-002, …) to every type across one or more families whose family name matches a search term — a quick way to bring systematic type marking to a whole category of families at once, rather than typing marks in one type at a time.
Workflow:
Enter one or more search keywords (comma or semicolon separated) — any element type whose family name contains any keyword (case-insensitive) is matched.
The prefix used for the marks is derived from the first keyword: uppercased and stripped of anything that isn't A–Z or 0–9.
Set a starting number for the sequence, and whether to overwrite type marks that already look like they belong to this prefix (already in the PREFIX-### pattern).
Matched types are sorted by family name, then type name, and marks are assigned in that order: PREFIX-000, PREFIX-001, PREFIX-002, and so on.
Types that already carry a valid PREFIX-### mark are skipped unless “Overwrite” is checked — so re-running with the same prefix is safe by default; it only marks what's new.
A summary reports matched/assigned/skipped counts, the next available index (for continuing the sequence later), and a sample of the actual reassignments made.
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