IMAGINiT Utilities for Revit: Project Cleaner

Welcome back to the IMAGINiT Utilities for Revit series. In this installment, we examine the Project Cleaner utility; a tool designed to help you systematically remove unwanted items from a model and establish repeatable cleanup settings. For advanced Revit users managing large or evolving projects, Project Cleaner can streamline model maintenance and ensure consistency across team workflows.

Understanding the Project Cleaner Utility

Over the life of a Revit project, unused or outdated items can accumulate - obsolete view types, leftover materials, unused groups, stale links, or shared parameters no longer needed. These remnants may:

• Increase file size and impact performance.
• Cause confusion when navigating views or schedules.
• Persist in shared parameter files, leading to clutter or conflicts.
• Remain unnoticed until late in the project, complicating coordination or handoff.

Project Cleaner addresses these issues by:

1. Providing a unified interface to identify and remove specific categories of elements.
2. Allowing refinement of selection; removing all items of a type or targeting named entries.
3. Enforcing safeguards (e.g., preventing accidental deletion in workshared models).
4. Enabling storage of preferred cleanup settings for consistent use across projects or sessions.

By integrating Project Cleaner into regular project routines, teams maintain lean models and reduce the risk of legacy clutter affecting downstream workflows.

Scenarios for Using Project Cleaner

• Initial Model Setup or Cleanup: After receiving a linked or inherited model, you may find extra view types or groups not relevant to your standards. Project Cleaner can quickly strip out those elements before further work.
• Project Milestones: Prior to major milestone deliveries (e.g., design development, construction documentation), a cleanup pass can remove interim or test views, unused materials, or outdated groups.
• Standardizing Team Templates: For office templates or starter files, use Project Cleaner to prune sample views or placeholder groups, ensuring a minimal, consistent starting point.
• Addressing Link or Shared Parameter Changes: When linked Revit files are replaced or shared parameter requirements change, Project Cleaner helps remove references to obsolete links or parameters from the model or shared parameter file.
• File Size and Performance Optimization: By removing unused items, you can reduce model complexity and improve performance, especially for large projects with many linked files or imported assets.

Using Project Cleaner

1. Launch Project Cleaner
• In the IMAGINiT Utilities ribbon, select “Project Cleaner” under the ‘Cleanup’ drop-down menu. The interface displays categories available for cleanup.

2. Choose Categories to Clean
• Options include:
• View Types: Floor Plans, Ceiling Plans, Sheets, etc.
• Materials: Unused or test materials.
• Model and Detail Groups: Groups created for conceptual layouts or test purposes.
• Linked Revit Files: References to outdated or removed links.
• Shared Parameters: Entries in the shared parameter file that are no longer required.

• Check the categories you intend to review.

3. Refine Selections
• For each chosen category, the right-hand pane lets you specify whether to remove all items of that type or only selected named items. For example:
• Remove all unused view types except those matching your naming convention.
• Target specific materials by name or prefix.
• Exclude certain groups from removal if they remain in use.
• Use filters or search within the list to pinpoint entries efficiently.
4. Execute Cleanup
• Once selections are refined, click “Clean.” The utility processes each category in turn, removing the specified items. A warning will also appear stating that the selected content will be permanently removed from the project if you choose to proceed with cleaning those selected items.

• Progress indicators or logs may show which items were removed.
4. Post-Cleanup Checks
• After cleanup, verify key aspects of the model:
• Check that essential view types remain and that any dependent views or sheets still function.
• Confirm that removing unused materials has not impacted assigned materials in families or critical visualizations; reassign if necessary.
• Ensure that group removal did not eliminate needed instances; if so, restore from backup or adjust selection criteria.
• For shared parameters: validate schedules or tags that rely on active parameters to confirm no unintended deletions.
• If issues arise, consult your backup and adjust cleanup settings before re-running.
5. Save Preferred Settings
• Project Cleaner allows saving your refined selection set to a user-specific file. On subsequent uses, these settings load automatically, ensuring consistent cleanup routines across projects or sessions.
• Consider maintaining different settings profiles: e.g., a “Template Cleanup” profile vs. a “Project Milestone Cleanup” profile.

Limitations and Best Practices

• Worksharing Safeguard
• By design, Project Cleaner cannot run on a central or local workshared model to avoid accidental deletion of elements that other team members might need. Always detach or work on a standalone copy for cleanup.
• For BIM 360-hosted models: since detaching is not possible, the tool warns you—ensure coordination with your BIM manager before proceeding.
• Dependency Awareness
• Removing view types may affect view templates, schedules, or sheets. Before cleanup, review dependencies: for example, if a view template references a view type slated for removal, adjust the template first.
• Deleting materials could impact family definitions or override appearances; always verify material assignments post-cleanup.
• Removing linked Revit file references must be coordinated with team workflows to prevent broken links in downstream models.
• Shared parameter removal: confirm that no tags, schedules, or formulas depend on those parameters; if they do, consider archiving definitions or updating those elements first.
• Backup Discipline
• Always create a named backup or a separate file copy before running Project Cleaner. This ensures you can revert if cleanup criteria were too broad.
• User-Specific Settings Management
• Settings are stored per user. If multiple team members use Project Cleaner, consider sharing recommended settings profiles (e.g., via a shared network location) so everyone applies the same cleanup rules.
• Document these profiles in your BIM execution plan or office guidelines.

Project Cleaner is a vital utility for Revit users who aim to maintain efficient, well-organized models. By carefully selecting and removing unwanted view types, materials, groups, linked files, and shared parameters, you reduce file complexity and uphold project standards. Remember to work on a detached or standalone copy, coordinate with your team, and save cleanup profiles for consistency. In the next article, we will explore NEW (for 2026) IMAGINiT tool that further enhances model management and collaboration.

About the Author

Scott Green is a Senior Applications Expert with IMAGINiT under the Building Solutions team. Scott focuses on Autodesk products, primarily with Revit, Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC / BIM 360), and AutoCAD. Scott previously was an Enterprise Technical Support Specialist for nine years at Autodesk before joining us at IMAGINiT. Scott's other areas of expertise includes Navisworks, ReCap, and Tandem.

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