Bluebeam Tip: Increase Auto-Count Accuracy by Excluding Markup Types

Use Auto-Count with precision by toggling detection to exclude markup types that can inflate your totals.

• Start your Count workflow: activate the Count tool and enable Auto-Count (the automatic detection toggle).
• Sample a symbol on the page (drag a box around a clean instance) to train detection.
• Set the search source to “Page Content only” to exclude existing markups (clouds, highlights, text boxes, etc.). This prevents counting review annotations instead of the underlying drawing symbols.
• Scope the search:
  • Pages: current, range, or all.
  • Layers: include only layers that contain design content; exclude review/markup layers.
• Refine matches:
  • Adjust sensitivity/tolerance until only true matches remain.
  • Use color processing if symbols vary by color across disciplines.
• Exclude by type after detection:
  • Open the Markups List and filter by “Type” to isolate Count results.
  • If any non-Count markups slipped in (e.g., Clouds or Highlights), filter them out by Type and remove them in one action.
  • Filter by “Subject” to separate categories (e.g., Fixtures vs. Devices) and avoid cross‑category totals.
• Standardize the output:
  • Rename the Count Subject to your takeoff naming convention.
  • Add Custom Columns (spec, CSI code, unit cost) for downstream estimating.
  • Export to CSV/Excel for roll‑ups and pivoting.
• QA best practices:
  • Sort Markups List by Page and step through matches with pan/zoom.
  • Lock the measurement scale and document it in Page Properties to ensure repeatable results.
  • Flatten only after approvals to preserve editability during review.

Pro tip: Keep discipline‑specific Count tools in a Tool Set to ensure consistent Subjects and colors; this makes filtering and exclusion instantaneous.

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