Installing 'DLL' files for Revit Add-Ins

In my last post "What's In My Add-Ins Tab?" I mentioned two addin-ins that are installed by simply placing the 'dll' files into the addins folder for your Revit installation. The process is very simple, but if you are not familiar with dll files, you may find this quick tutorial helpful. 

In this example, we are going to use 'View Renumber' by LMN add-in now found on GitHub. 

Firstly, navigate to Timothy Logan's GitHub repository here. Scroll down the list and look for 'Revit_Renumber Viewports'. 
Once on this page, you will notice a folder 'Deploy', (the description is 'adding ZIP file with deployable build of plugin'). Click this folder and download the zip file inside. 

Once downloaded, you will find 3 files inside, two 'dll' files and an 'addin' file. You will need all 3 files for the add-in to work. 

Navigate to your Revit installations addin folder. This should be in a similar location to; C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\ [Your Revit version year]

Copy and paste the downloaded files into this folder. Finally, right click on each of the files and select Properties. At the bottom there is a security warning about the file, ensure that 'Unblock' is ticked. 

That's it, you can now boot up Revit and you will notice a new tab at the top 'LMN' (the name of the company that created the addin) with your add-in installed and ready to use.  

Installing Revit 2017, Service Packs & Insight 360

**Updated 1/02/2017
Teaching semester is going to start soon and students will be using Revit 2017. There have been a number of updates & hot fixes since 2017 was released in April last year so I thought I would consolidate what you need to do and where you need to go to get the latest.

Revit 2017

1. Visit: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/download

2. Select 'Free Education Software' 

3. Search for, download & install Revit 2017 using your student ID. 

Service Packs

There have been 2 service packs released. You will only need to install Service Pack 2 as this includes Service Pack 1 updates. 

1. Click Here to go directly to the Service Pack 2 web page. 

2. Scroll down the page and click the execution file as shown in the image below.

**So on the day this was posted Revit 2017.2 was released! Reading the release notes, 2017.2 "contains the fixes included in previous Autodesk Revit 2017 patches". Therefore, I have removed previously posted links for 2017.1 & the UK terminology hotfix now included in 2017.2. If you still require these links, visit previous posts here & here. 

Revit 2017.2

Direct download Link is HERE. This will automatically start downloading the update. 

The file is Approximately 475mb in size. 

More information on 2017.1 & 2017.2 including new features:

• Autodesk 'Inside the Factory' blog post on new features
• Release Notes - information on issues resolved
• Update Readme file

To confirm you have installed all service packs correctly, open Revit and check the version number. 

To do so, click the drop down arrow next to the help icon and select 'About Autodesk Revit 2017.2'. 

The release number should be: 20170118_1100

Insight 360 Plugin

Download the latest Insight 360 plugin HERE. For more information, visit my previous post. 

Content Libraries & Templates Missing

If after installation, you realise you are missing content libraries & default templates, visit this Autodesk Knowledge Network Link to install content. 

That's it, you're all done! 

As always, I encourage users to download Revit addins. For some recommendations visit my previous posts:

• A Few Favourite Revit Apps (Update coming soon!)
• Revit Selection Box vs Coins Auto Section Box

Dynamo

At the time of writing, the latest Dynamo update was version 1.2.1. To install the latest version visit the DynamoBIM website HERE.