Browse Panel

Open the Browse panel by clicking the magnifying glass button at the top left of your screen.

At the top of the Browse panel you will find an overview of all currently opened models (1), with the option to create a new empty model (2) if you are a project contributor or higher. The currently active model is indicated by a green dot (3), and models that are not editable (e.g. because of access rights restrictions) are indicated with a lock icon.

Below this you will find an overview of objects in the currently opened models, grouped and filtered according to your specifications. The currently active configuration is displayed at the top (4) and can be edited, saved and shared with other members of the project. You can use the Search bar (5) to quickly filter on a value or keyword. Finally, the tree view (6) of the current configuration is shown.

The default configuration structures the tree by Model, Location and Class, but it is possible to reconfigure this tree completely based on any data within the model(s). Click the currently active preset and click the pencil icon to edit it, or click Create New to start a new configuration from scratch. A configuration should consist of at least one grouping rule, and optionally one or more filtering rules.

Grouping

Grouping is the backbone of the browse panel, and defines what the tree will look like. You will need at least one grouping rule for the browse panel to show a result. By default the following grouping rules will be active:

1. by Model (if multiple models are opened),

2. then by Location (Site > Building > Floor > Space),

3. then by IFC class.

These grouping rules are customizable. You can remove groups by clicking the cross in the grouping tile, you can reorder the groups by dragging the tiles around, and you can add groups by clicking the + icon at the top of the grouping header. When adding a grouping rule you can choose from any property or attribute such as location, material and type.

When grouping by Class, an additional option is available to organize products by internal assembly structure. This will, where applicable, show the hierarchical structure of assemblies.

Disabling this option will not show the hierarchical structure of assemblies in the tree, and will basically show a flat list of IFC Classes in this group. Note: you can also enable/disable this toggle by clicking the hierarchical button within the grouping tile.

Filtering

Optionally you can define additional filters in the structure. You can filter on specific property values, locations, materials or other attributes. A filter can be inverted by applying the NOT filter. In the image below, furnishing elements and geographic elements will not be shown in the browse panel.

It is also possible to filter out products that do not have a value for any of the grouping rules by disabling the 'show items with no value' toggle.

Note: these filters only determine what is shown in the browse panel. Applying a filter will not automatically filter the 3D view of the model. If you do want to set a view based on the selected filters, you can select all geometry displayed in the tree and set that selection in Scope.

Saving configurations

When you have finished configuring the tree using grouping and filtering rules, you can choose to apply or save the configuration. This will enable you to re-use existing configurations across models in your project.

You can also choose to make this saved configuration available to all project members.

Structure Tree

Once you have set up your groups and optional filters, the products currently in scope will be displayed in the structure tree using this configuration. In the example below, only loadbearing beams and columns are shown. They are first grouped by material, and within each material they are further subdivided by floor.

The tree can be used to select products in your model. You can click any node in the tree and the corresponding products will be selected. Use Ctrl + left click to select multiple nodes individually, or use Shift + left click to select multiple consecutive nodes at once.

Empty property values

Sometimes you will encounter nodes in the structure tree that say Not assigned. This shows all the products that don't have a value assigned to the property corresponding with the current group. In the image below, all doors are listed and grouped in 3 categories: FireExit = False, FireExit = True and FireExit = Not assigned. This can be used to easily search for products that have missing properties. This missing information can then easily be added in the Inspect Panel.

It is possible to ignore the items that don't have values assigned to them in the tree, by toggling off the 'Show items with no value' toggle in the configuration menu.