Door Schedules - General Overview

Now that we are moving towards using the automatic scheduling features of ADT, I'd like to take this time to outline some of the basic things to keep in mind.

First and foremost... ALL CHANGES TO THE DOOR SCHEDULE HAPPEN IN THE AUTOCAD DRAWING, not any external file [such as Excel]. You can export the Schedule to external files [such as Excel] for various tasks, but realize that you have broken that link and that file is no longer 'active'.

All door tagging happens in the Construct. This would typically be the LV-01 [or whatever floor you are working on]. This includes [and this point is important] any doors that are in Xrefs. For example, you might have a Construct called LV-01 but have several other Constructs for that floor such as LV-01-CORE [for Core geometry] or for the MIT project they have a Lab Construct called LV-01-LAB. The tags can go right through the Xref without issue. So, remember to tag 'only' in the base Construct [LV-01 for example]

Tagging doors are simple. You simply click on the Door Tag symbol on the 'Tags & Schedules' tab [View Tab] and click on the door you want to tag. I always pick 'Centered'. Stay in that same command and pick 'Multiple'. You can now grab 'all the geometry' in your drawing [make sure you capture all the Xrefs too]. You might get a message that says 'You've already tagged 1 door, would you like to re-tag'. You should say 'no' to this of course. You can do this with other items such as ROOM TAGS. Take advantage of the 'Multiple' option and tag everything at once!

Tags normally adopt the number of the space the door is swinging into. You can double check by clicking on the door and seeing where the 'Whip' is placed. A 'Whip' is part of the door once you actually tag it. A 'Whip' is a flexible line with a sort of 'star' at the end of the flexible line. You can grab that star and move the point anywhere on the drawing. This is helpful when you need a door to be part of a corridor vs. a room. [See Below]















If you have more than one door into a space, you can add either a prefix or suffix. These can be done in the Properties palette for the selected door.

Once you've tagged all the doors for a particular floor you should drop a Door Schedule in the Construct directly ]For example the LV-01 file]. You can find the Door Schedule on the View Palette under the Tags & Schedule tab. Place this schedule off to the side. You are doing this merely to work through all the doors and double check accuracy. It's good to be able to see the Door Schedule content 'right where you are working' and make all the adjustments you need.

On the schedule you can zoom directly to a particular door if you are unsure where that door might be. You can do this by right clicking on the Door Schedule and picking 'Selection' then 'Show'. You'll then be able to 'pick' a door number in the Door Schedule. Pick the door number while you are holding down the CNTRL key. This will zoom graphically to the actual door. You can then fix/adjust any door parameters.

My suggestion is to change the properties of the Door Schedule NOT to Automatically Update. When this option is toggled to 'yes' the drawing can be very slow. This is because the schedule is constantly updating the content at all times. The better way is to set this setting to 'No' and simply right click and 'Update Schedule Table' when you want to 'refresh' your schedule.

You can leave the Door Schedule in the Construct off to the side, but this isn't the actual Door Schedule that gets plotted on the sheet. The Door Schedules are put directly in the Sheet. They are added to the sheet with the option 'Schedule an External Drawing'. We then point the Door Schedule to the Construct [LV-01 for example]. The Door Schedule then accesses the information from that file and displays the Door Schedule. You can then add 'another' Door Schedule and point it to another floor. The reason we add separate Door Schedules for each floor is to be able to separate them physically on the sheet for graphic appearance. The easiest way to identify the different floors within the Door Schedule is simply to add a piece of text that matches the title text in the schedule which is our Title Text Style [EA-Title].

Door schedules can be great productivity gainers and if you have any questions or need help in getting your schedules working for your project please don't hesitate to ask me!