The bill should be linked to an external source when the bill content is managed or edited outside of ARCHICAD, particularly when costs and reporting is also facilitated externally. Quantities will update to the latest version of the external source on demand and prevent any editing within ARCHICAD to support that workflow, but otherwise the bill items can be used in exactly the same way as those embedded in the Project Bill.
To link to external source, click the Link button (item 2d in the illustration) and select the type:
The default installation has just one option, External file. Additional sources can be added in future for linking to specific solutions (also refer to section 3.3.8, How to use a 3rd party bill structure). The remainder of the process for selecting a file, possible types and configurations are the same as simply importing a file (refer to section 3.3.6, How to import an external bill).
A linked BoQ is differentiated from the bill stored and managed in the project by a different heading in the bill hierarchy:
In this illustration, Manual example is a bill linked to an external file whereas the bill managed in the ARCHICAD project is headed up by Project Bill.
The content of a bill from an external source displayed by Quantities does not automatically refresh when the source changes, but rather is updated on demand to ensure the integrity of the project is not changed unintentionally. Click on the Update button (item 2g in the illustration) to start an update. The Bill Structure Review palette shown during a bill import will be displayed to allow the changes to be audited first. The update will only be completed when OK is clicked.
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