In Bluebeam Revu, all markup tools have a default appearance setting. For example, most markups display in red by default. At any time, you can adjust a markup’s appearance using either the Properties toolbar or panel. However, this will only adjust the appearance of the one selected markup. If you place another markup on the page, its appearance will once again revert back to its default. This can often be frustrating, as you’ll need to adjust the appearance for every markup you place.
In this example, I placed a Text Box and adjusted its appearance to display in black. However, when I select the Text Box tool again, the appearance options revert to the default of red.
To get around this, you can adjust the default settings for the markup type. This allows you to set up defaults for each specific tool – such as the font for Text Boxes or the color for Clouds. After setting defaults, the tool will always appear with those appearance options when selected.
To adjust the default settings for any markup tool, first select the tool. Using either the Properties Panel or the Properties Toolbar, adjust the tool’s appearance as desired.
After setting the appearance, use the Subject dropdown in the Properties Toolbar and select Set As Default. The same button will also be available in the Properties Panel.
Now, the selected markup type will always use the set default appearance. If needed, you can adjust the appearance of any individual markup – but these settings will always display first by default.
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Lauren Hecker is a Bluebeam Certified Instructor and teaches onsite and virtual Bluebeam Revu training courses. To schedule an onsite or custom course, please contact us!
Thank you for this tip! This really helped me out.
very helpful – thank you
Does this work for typewriter? I do not have the option to set as default after opening the settings. Default and add to tool chest are both grayed out.
Hi Bobby,
Is typewriter the only markup where the options are grayed out? These instructions should work for the typewriter tool as well. Both the Set As Default and Add to Tool Chest buttons are available for me while using the tool.
I’m happy to help troubleshoot if this is happening on multiple tools, so please let me know!
The “Set as Default” was greyed out for me also when the subject was “Typewritten Text”. Then using the “Edit” button, I changed my cursor to “Pan”. Suddenly, the “Set as Deault” became available.
Hi Andy,
Thanks for pointing that out! You are correct, the cursor will need to be set to Select or Pan to use the Set as Default tool.
How do I reset the default to original settings? I have my preferred default set up for the legend tool. It was working at first but, now when I create a new legend none of the counts or measurements are appearing in the legend. Only the title and column headings.
Hi Michael,
To reset the default to its original settings, you will need to reset your version of Revu to its default settings. You can do this by selecting the Revu menu > Preferences > Admin > Reset. Be aware that this will reset Revu to its default settings, which will affect everything within the program. However, this is the only way to reset your markup defaults to their orginal settings.
When setting the cloud+ default settings, it doesn’t seem to include updating the subject. It always shows as “Cloud+” and must be manually updated. This is not consistent with other callouts and textboxes. Is this expected?
Hi PRS,
I just tried this on my end and I was able to adjust the default subject of Cloud+ markups. I would imagine this is just a glitch that can be fixed by resetting your application. This can be done by selecting the Revu menu > Preferences > Admin > Reset.
Hopefully this fixes the issue!
how do you make bluebeam remember the last used?
Hi Jason,
The default settings you apply should save to the profile you’re using. If they are not saving, select Revu > Profiles > Save Profile and see if it saves then.
Please let me know if you need any further help!
Hey Jason, if you’re still around and hadn’t found it yet…. I think you are looking for the Dynamic Default. Under Preferences>Tools>Markup, choose the first check box that says “Dynamically Set as Default Properties”. One of my favorite settings.
This is a great tutorial! Easy to comprehend the solution. Thanks!
lock on my own toolsets, but when reopening application default bluebeam toolsets reappear when previously they had been removed
Hi Nigel,
After making the changes to the markup defaults, make sure to save the changes to your profile. You can do this by selecting Revu > Profiles > Save Profile. Hopefully that solves the issue – let me know if you need any more help!
Hello, can I set two defaults and switch between the two somehow using a shortcut or something? Or can I make a new button and set different defaults? I’d like two revision cloud buttons available with different default properties.
Hi Logan,
You can do this by adding your markups to the Tool Chest. Here’s an article showing how to use the Tool Chest. If you save the two versions of cloud markups to the Tool Chest, you will be able to select which one you want to use each time. You can also give them keyboard shortcuts by adding them to the My Tools toolset in the Tool Chest.
Please let me know if you have any further questions!
Thanks for the article!
I have the rectangle set to a highlight mode. Can I copy those settings to the other shapes?
Thanks
Hi Tom,
Unfortuantely, each tool’s properties will need to be set individually. Once you’ve set the properties for a specific tool type, you can then set the tool settings as default or save the customized tool to the Too Chest and the settings will stay saved.
Thanks!
How do I keep these particular default settings for a specific profile? Say I would like everything in red font in a default setting for one profile then be able to switch to another profile where everything could be at a green font without having to change everything again.
Hi Jacob, good question! The “Set As Default” setting for markups will save for program, rather than the Profile. If you set defaults, they will remain regardless of which profile you use. There is unfortuantely no way to set individual default settings for each profile. I would recommend utilizing the Tool Chest for this instead – within the Tool Chest, you can save customized tools for reuse. You could create all of the tools you need and simply save them to a tool set for the desired profile. Unlike default settings, tools sets are unique to profiles – you can create a tool set for one profile that is unavailable within another tool set. Here’s an article on how to use the Tool Chest within Revu: https://www.taradigm.com/how-to-create-custom-tool-sets-in-bluebeam-revu/
When I use a Text Box tool from My Tools, change the font, and then SET AS DEFAULT, it does not use the new font when I use it again from the Tool Chest. But it has been changed to the new font when I use the Text Box from the Text toolbar. How do I change the defaults in the Tool Chest?
Hi Kevin, the Set as Default option doesn’t apply to tools within the Tool Chest, as the Tool Chest is a place where you can save your already customized tools. In order to customize the tools wihin the Tool Chest, you can save a a new customized markup to it. After you have customized your markup as desired, right click on the markup on the page and select Add to Tool Chest. Once added, you’ll have access to a new tool with the visual properties you had just set.
There’s a better way to do that:
Go to Preferences>Tools>Markup. Check the box that says dynamically Set as Default Properties
Why this is not working for me?
Set as default button doesn’t seem to have any functionality, everything returns back to “factory” default each time I try it.
Very annoying, I cannot set font size for so simple markup tools.
Hi Drazen,
You’re correct – unfortunatly the Set as Default resets when you close the program. I would recommend instead adding customized tools to the Tool Chest, as those will save even after you close and reopen the program.