Documentation

Everything you need to install, activate and get the most out of Parapet apps. Sections 1 to 3 cover the Revit add-ins (Hub, Link, Audit); Parapet Desktop and Parapet Scan have their own sections. Email support if anything is unclear.

1. Install

1. Close all Revit windows.
2. Run Parapet-Setup.exe from the download page - one installer for the three Revit add-ins. The page verifies your email once with a 6-digit code, then the download starts; the installer lists Revit 2020-2027 and pre-selects the versions found on your PC.
3. Start Revit. The Parapet tab appears with Hub, Link, Audit and Licenses.
4. That is the last download. Parapet updates itself from now on: new builds are fetched in the background and applied the next time Revit starts (Parapet → Updates shows the version, checks now, or turns automatic updates off).

Installers are per-user (no admin rights) and write to %AppData%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\<year>\. If Revit shows the Security - Unsigned Add-In dialog the first time, choose Always Load.

Manual install (portable ZIP)

Unzip. For each Revit year you use, copy <year>\Parapet.Hub.addin and the <year>\ParapetHub\ folder into %AppData%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\<year>\.

2. Activate

Click Parapet → Licenses and pick the app (Hub, Link). Audit is free and needs nothing - register it once with your email. Audit Pro (the web side, included with Hub and Link) has no key either: it follows that email.

• Free apps register silently - no key, no trial, nothing to do.
• Free trial (Pro apps): click Start free trial. 14 days, full product, one trial per computer.
• Subscription: paste your key (e.g. PH-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX) and click Activate. One key works on 2 computers and on every Revit version.

The add-in checks in with the license server in the background about every 12 hours and runs offline for up to 14 days between check-ins. To move to another PC use Deactivate this computer in the dialog, or the account page.

Licences are shared by every Parapet app on the computer. A Parapet Pro key (PP-…) activated in one app - in Revit, in Parapet Desktop or in Parapet Scan for Revit - unlocks all of them there, with one activation and one seat.

3. Using the apps

1. Hub opens the element window; Link the two-sided grid; Audit the list of every external file and link in the model.
2. Pick elements in the category → family → type tree (picks add up across categories), or press Use Revit selection. Rescan re-reads the model.
3. Review parameters in the grid; choose columns with Columns… (instance and type parameters, sampled from the loaded elements, each marked editable or read-only); type into cells, paste a block from Excel, or Set value… on every checked row.
4. Run actions from the ribbon: tick a category and the ribbon shows a tab of its tools - plus Edit, View, Manage and Recipes; the All tools switch shows the whole library and Ctrl+K searches it. Each tool opens a small form under its button with a live dry run, runs in one transaction and reports what it did. Save recipe… turns the last runs into one button.
5. Link data: see Parapet Link below.

Parapet Link

Link is one grid with two sides: every row is an element of the scope, every column a parameter, and every cell shows the file value and the Revit value. Colours say which side is newer - terracotta to push, teal to pull, amber changed on both sides, red cannot be written, grey differs with no sync yet. The ribbon has three tabs:

• Source: From Revit picks a scope (a category, the types of a category, the current selection or a schedule), the parameters to take along (instance and type), the key parameter and the file to write (.xlsx, .csv, .json). The file carries a Parapet ID column, so rows find their elements even when marks change. From file links a spreadsheet someone sent you (Excel, CSV / TSV, JSON, XML) and Google Sheet a sheet by URL - both open a plan first: what the file is about, the key column, the columns matched to parameters by name, and how many rows reach an element, checked before the link is created; Link workbook makes one link per sheet. Re-link, Rename, Duplicate, Unlink, Refresh, Open source, Open folder, and Save template / Apply template (scope, key and mappings for the next project).
• Mapping: click any column header. Choose the parameter it writes (instance or type), make it the key that finds the element, mark it as the Parapet ID column, or leave it unmapped. Auto-match maps every grey column whose name resembles a parameter; Create params makes project parameters for columns the elements do not have; Write keys numbers the elements that have no key.
• Sync: Push writes the cells where the file is newer into Revit (one undo step), Pull writes the cells where Revit is newer into the file or sheet (only cells that differ; rows are never added), Resolve picks a side for cells changed on both sides. All three ask which rows first - the ones you selected, the ones the filter shows, or all of them - and show the exact counts under the button. Link remembers what both sides agreed on at the last sync.
• Model: Select rows and No row pick the elements in Revit, Edit in Hub opens Parapet Hub on them, Color by state paints the active view the same way as the grid, Save as writes a fresh file with every element, Schedule and Key schedule create the Revit schedules of the link.
• Filters and detail: All · Differs · Push · Pull · Conflicts · Invalid · No element · No row, a Source / Both / Revit switch for the cells, a search box, and a detail panel with both values of every cell of the selected row (and what both sides agreed on at the last sync).

Parapet Audit

Audit opens instantly with every external file the model depends on in the left sidebar: CAD imports and links, Revit and IFC links, coordination models, point clouds, images, PDFs, decals, keynote and assembly tables. Filter by kind or type a name. Each row shows what it is, how many times it is placed and any problem in one line.

1. Pick a file to see it in the inspector. Overview gives a health score, the checks that apply (missing file, unloaded, duplicates, far from origin, unpinned, drawn in front, local path, placed off the shared coordinates…) with a fix button on each, the file facts (kind, path, size, worksets, position) and a placement map of every instance around the project origin.
2. Instances lists every placement with its view, workset, draw order, distance from origin, who created and who last changed it (workshared models), and - for Revit and IFC links - how it was positioned (shared coordinates, origin to origin, or manual) and by how much it is off. Double-click to select it in Revit.
3. Views shows, after you press Scan views, every sheet and under it every view where the file is visible; the only place a file is used is marked. Open a view with one click or a double-click. Hide in views (ribbon, Visibility) hides the file in all of them. The scan is read-only and runs in batches, so Revit stays responsive.
4. Layers (CAD files) lists every layer with the curves, meshes and points it carries and whether it is hidden in your view. Hide in all views on a row, or Hide layer / Unused layers off in the ribbon, turn layers off in every view, only where the file shows, or only here - views on a view template are changed through the template and the dry run says which. The file facts show the CAD's weight (curves, meshes, layers, unused layers) and its placement (scale, rotation against project and true north, extent).
5. Links (Revit and IFC links) shows the link and every link nested inside it: attachment or overlay, loaded / unloaded / not found, path, coordinates state and the worksets inside each linked model. The same model reached twice - directly and through a nested link - is flagged.
6. Tools sit in the ribbon, grouped Find · Visibility · Protect · Fix · Links · Remove. They act on the checked files, or on the selected file when nothing is checked. Tools that need input open a small form under the button ; destructive tools (Delete, Delete duplicates, Move to origin, Re-path, Purge, Remove unused, Import → link) show a dry run of exactly what will change before the button - that list is the confirmation. Every change is one Revit transaction - one Ctrl+Z undoes it. Links: Path type (absolute → relative for Revit and IFC links), Attachment (attachment ↔ overlay), Link worksets (one Link_<name> workset per link), Import → link (replace an embedded DWG / DXF with a link at the same position, scale and rotation), Manage Links (Revit's dialog for what add-ins cannot do). Fix safe issues (Fix group) pins, sends CAD to the background, makes network paths relative and re-paths missing links it can find unambiguously - one dry run, one undo.
7. In bulk (the checked files, or every file of that kind when nothing is checked): Layer rules (a pattern such as *DEFPOINTS*;*-TEXT* hidden, shown, thinned or reset across every CAD file, or one file's layer setup copied to the others), Link all imports, Normalize CAD, Replace file, CAD view cleanup; Link standards, Unload by rule, Re-path by map (CSV of old → new roots), Reload from folder; Purge by kind, Worksets by kind. Every one shows its dry run first and is one undo.
8. Scheduled audit (Report group): Audit runs silently when a model opens, after a sync, or both - the run is stored in the model's history and can be shared on parapet.app with file names only; models over a size you choose are skipped. Audit a folder reads every model in a folder without opening it - links and their paths, worksets, worksharing state, Revit version and project information - then opens only what you ask it to (nothing, the models that look wrong, or all of them) and writes one portfolio workbook — a sheet per audit part, with the references, worksets, project information and (for opened models) parameters per category — that says per model which parts a closed read could not answer. Run fix list applies an edited Fix list CSV (Status column: done / skip) tool by tool.
9. Parameters (sidebar segment Params, ribbon tab Parameters): every project and shared parameter bound in the model, and every shared parameter that exists only in the shared parameter file, with binding, data type, group, categories, usage count, GUID and file state. Checks flag project parameters (convert to shared), shared parameters missing from the file, GUID conflicts, nothing bound, nothing filled, duplicate names and stray spaces. Tools: Convert to shared (values kept), Add to file, Bind, Categories, Binding & group, Rename, Unbind, Shared file, Revit dialogs.
10. Ribbon tabs: the tools sit on seven tabs - Files · Model health · Fix · Links · Clean up & report · Parameters. A fix started from a check, a finding or Ctrl+K switches to its tab and opens under its button.
11. Report (ribbon group Report): Health report saves a self-contained HTML page and/or a CSV table and opens it; Copy table copies the file table for Excel; Compare audits shows what changed between any two runs stored in the model and copies it as text; Fix list saves every open finding as a CSV to-do list; Share on parapet.app uploads the audit and opens a link - choose file names only or full paths, and (Audit Pro) whether only you can open it. The link opens with a three-sentence summary, a ranked what-to-fix-first list, a timeline of runs, charts, every file with its checks, coordinates, nested links and a print-ready report; Audit Pro adds run-to-run diff, per-file history, CSV / JSON export, notes and assignments, and - when you tick Include 3D placement - an interactive Model view of where every placed file sits (boxes and positions only, never geometry); parapet.app/audits lists every model you shared.
12. Since last audit: Audit keeps its last 12 runs inside the model. The next run opens with what changed (new, removed, path changed, now missing, moved) and a Show button; the Changed filter in the sidebar lists only those files, and the stat bar shows who audited last and when.
13. Insight cards above the inspector sum up the model - "3 far from origin", "1 link placed manually", "1 model linked twice" - each with a one-click fix. When Revit offers no API for a fix (acquiring or publishing coordinates), Audit selects the link and tells you which Manage Links command to use.

Parapet Desktop

A Windows app that audits Revit models without opening Revit. It needs Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) and the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime; no Autodesk software is needed for the audit.

1. Install: download ParapetDesktop-win-x64.zip from the download page. Right-click the ZIP → Properties → tick Unblock, extract all of it to a folder of your choice and run ParapetDesktop.exe. The files are not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may ask once: More info, then Run anyway.
2. Audit: drop a .rvt, .rfa, .rte or .rft on the window, or several files, or a folder. The free edition is the whole audit and needs no registration.
3. Activate Pro: open the Pro page (the edition row at the bottom of the sidebar). Start the trial with your email and the 6-digit code we send, or paste your key - a Parapet Desktop key (PD-…) or a Parapet Pro key (PP-…). Remove from this computer frees the seat.
4. Fix with Revit (Pro) runs the Revit you already have, 2021 or later, in the background. Revit may ask about the unsigned Parapet add-in the first time: choose Always Load.
5. Command line: parapet.exe in the same folder. parapet license shows the edition, parapet activate <key> and parapet deactivate manage the seat, parapet batch <folder> audits every model under a folder.

Your scan library, standards and templates live in %LocalAppData%\ParapetDesktop; batch reports are written to Documents\Parapet Desktop\Reports. To uninstall, delete the folder you extracted.

Parapet Scan

Compares laser scans with the model. There are two packages: the desktop app, which is free, and Parapet Scan for Revit. Both need the .NET 10 Desktop Runtime; a computer with Revit 2027 usually has it already.

1. The app: download ParapetScan-win-x64.zip, unblock it, extract all of it and run ParapetScan.exe. Open the model, open the scan, set the tolerance, run, then generate the report.
2. Scan files: .rcp and .rcs are read through the point cloud engine that Revit 2027 installs, so Revit 2027 must be on the same computer. .pts, .xyz and .ply need no Autodesk software.
3. Models: glTF and OBJ open directly. NWC, NWD, Revit, IFC and DWG are converted through Navisworks Manage or Simulate 2024-2027 on the same computer; the conversion is cached.
4. Parapet Scan for Revit: either run install-revit-addin.ps1 from the app folder (right-click → Run with PowerShell), or download ParapetScan.Revit.bundle.zip, unblock and extract it, and copy the ParapetScan.Revit.bundle folder into %AppData%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\. Start Revit: Parapet tab → Scan. If Revit shows the Security - Unsigned Add-In dialog, choose Always Load.
5. Activate Pro (Scan for Revit): Parapet → Scan → Account. Start the trial with your email and the 6-digit code, or paste your key - a Parapet Scan for Revit key (PS-…) or a Parapet Pro key (PP-…).

To remove the add-in, close Revit and delete the bundle folder, or run install-revit-addin.ps1 -Uninstall. To remove the app, delete the folder you extracted.

4. Licensing FAQ

How do updates work?

Parapet checks parapet.app a few times a day. A newer build is downloaded in the background, its signature and checksum are verified, and it is applied the next time Revit starts - the Updates button reads Update ready until then. Nothing changes while you work. Updates are per user, need no admin rights and can be switched off in Parapet → Updates. Parapet versions before 1.4.0 cannot update themselves: install 1.4.0 once from the download page.

"License needs to be re-validated online"

Your 14-day offline window passed. Connect to the internet and open the app again - it refreshes automatically. If your network filters traffic, allow this site's domain on port 443.

"This license is already active on 2 computers"

Free a seat from the account page → Deactivate, then activate again.

"The free trial has already been used on this computer"

Trials are one per computer. Subscribe to continue - or contact support if you believe this is a mistake.

Payment failed / "payment overdue"

Stripe retries automatically and the app keeps working for a short grace period. Update your card from the account page → Manage billing.

Does Parapet send my model data anywhere?

No. The only traffic to us is the license check: key, a hashed computer id, computer/user name, Revit and add-in version. If you link a Google Sheet, that data moves between your computer and Google under your own account. See Privacy.

How do team licenses work?

A Parapet Team is one subscription for a practice. The team has a number of seats, and each seat is a person - not a computer. Everyone you add gets their own key covering Hub, Link and Audit Pro, which they activate on up to 2 computers exactly like an individual key, so nothing changes in Revit. Add and remove people at parapet.app/team; removing someone frees their seat and revokes their key, while their shared audits, sheets and link history stay with the firm. Admins invite and manage people and set the office QA standard; owners also handle billing.

Signing in to parapet.app

There is no password. Enter your email, we send a 6-digit code, and the browser stays signed in for 30 days. Your account shows every app you have, your keys, the computers using them and where you are signed in - and lets you sign out everywhere at once.

5. Troubleshooting

• No Parapet tab: confirm %AppData%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\<year>\Parapet.Hub.addin exists and the ParapetHub\ folder is next to it. Re-run the installer.
• Revit 2025-2027 can't load the add-in: update Revit; these versions require the .NET 8 runtime that Revit ships.
• Conflicts with other add-ins: Parapet Hub ships its own ClosedXML, Google Sheets API and Newtonsoft.Json inside its folder. If another add-in loads an older copy first, Excel/Sheets linking may fail - tell us.
• Proxy / firewall: system proxy, TLS 1.2, port 443.

6. Uninstall

Windows Settings → Apps → the Parapet app → Uninstall. Your license stays valid; deactivate the computer first to free the seat. Parapet Desktop and Parapet Scan are removed by deleting their folders - see their sections above.

7. Checksums

SHA-256 of current downloads: the Revit installer and its ZIPs, Parapet Desktop and Parapet Scan. Verify with certutil -hashfile <file> SHA256. If Chrome or SmartScreen warned you about the installer, this explains why.

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