JGT Navisworks Tools: user guide

Everything the JGT tab does in Navisworks Manage 2026, step by step, plus fixes for the problems people run into. Back to the product page.

Getting started

1. Close Navisworks.
2. Download the zip from the product page (or your Gumroad receipt). Right-click it, choose Extract All, and open the extracted folder. Don't run anything from inside the zip.
3. Double-click Install.cmd. It needs no admin rights, installs for your Windows user only, and replaces any older JGT version.
4. Start Navisworks Manage 2026 and open the JGT ribbon tab.

The JGT tab has these panels. On a narrow window Navisworks folds each panel into a single dropdown button with the panel's name; click it to see the buttons.

Trial and license

JGT Element ID, JGT Section and JGT Views are sold separately, or all three in the bundle. Each has its own free 30-day trial.

Start a trial

1. Open the tool (for example press Ctrl+Shift+K for Views).
2. Until it's licensed, the pane shows a card describing the tool. Click Start free 30-day trial. There's no signup and no key.

The trial starts when you click, not when you install, and reinstalling doesn't restart it. Capture Color Profile and Profile to .dat work while any trial or key is active.

Enter a license key

1. Copy the key from your Gumroad receipt email (it looks like XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX).
2. On the JGT tab click Settings › License, paste the key and click Activate.
3. The window lists what the key unlocks. Open panes switch from the trial card to the tool straight away.

A key works on up to 5 computers. The key is checked with Gumroad when you activate it and about once a week after that; if you're offline it keeps working for 30 days. The key is the only thing the tools ever send anywhere.

Moving to a new computer

On the old computer open Settings › License and click Remove next to the key. That frees one of its 5 computers for the new one.

Docking the panes

Section Palette, Views & Markup and the Selection Tree are Navisworks dock panes, like the built-in Selection Tree or Properties. Each one:

• Opens floating the first time. Drag its title bar and drop it on one of the blue docking guides (the arrows of the center cross, or the arrows at the window edges). Let go while the blue shadow shows where it will land.
• Can tab with another pane: drop it on the middle of the cross over that pane. For example, drop the JGT Selection Tree onto Navisworks' own Selection Tree.
• Has a pin when docked under the ribbon: unpin it and it shrinks to a side tab that slides out when you point at it.
• Is listed under View › Windows, and its JGT button or shortcut shows or hides it.

Navisworks remembers where you leave each pane.

Element ID JGT Element ID

Copy Element ID

1. Select one or more items in the 3D view or the Selection Tree.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+E (or JGT › Copy Element ID).
3. A small notice at the bottom right says what was copied, for example Copied 3 IDs: 5907150;5907151;5907152, and which file they came from.
4. In Revit open Manage › Select by ID, paste with Ctrl+V, and click Show or OK.

IDs are separated by ;, the format Select by ID expects, and duplicates are removed. Selecting a piece of geometry inside an element still gives you the element's ID.

Copy ID + Details

Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E copies one line per element: Element ID, name and the source file. Paste it into Excel and it lands in three columns. Use it whenever the selection spans several models, because a Revit Element ID is only unique within one Revit file.

Where the ID comes from

It works on locally exported NWCs and on ACC Model Coordination models. For each item it looks at the item and its parents and takes the first of: the Element ID property, the Element › Id property, or the number in square brackets at the end of the item's name (how ACC models carry it, for example Strut Hanger [5907150]).

Section Palette JGT Section

All six section planes and the section box in one pane, so you don't go into the Sectioning Tools tab. Open it with Ctrl+Shift+X. It follows the section live: drag Navisworks' gizmo or open a saved viewpoint and the pane updates.

• Header: Section on/off, Planes or Box mode, and Linked (the planes move together, for a slice of fixed thickness).
• Gizmo row: Move, Rotate and Scale (box mode) start Navisworks' own gizmos, and Fit selection fits the section to the selection. A button turns gold while its gizmo is on.
• One row per plane: an on/off box, Plane N (makes it the current plane, which the gizmo follows), the cut dropdown, and Flip, which cuts away the other side.

The cut dropdown

• Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Left, Right and Align to View apply as soon as you choose them.
• Align to Surface: the status bar turns gold. Click any face in the 3D view and the plane aligns to it.
• Align to Line: click two points along a line (they snap to edges and corners). The plane is set square to that line.
• Esc or a right-click cancels a pick and gives you your previous tool back.

Box mode

Box selection boxes the selected items plus a padding (default 1'-0"; type a new one in Pad and press Enter). Box the whole model fits the box to everything. Positions and padding take feet and inches (12'-6", 12' 6 1/2", 150", 12.5 = feet) or metric (3810mm, 3.81 m).

Save viewpoint stores the current view and section under the name you type. Reset puts every plane back to Navisworks' default.

Views & Markup JGT Views

Saved viewpoints, comments and markup in one pane. Open it with Ctrl+Shift+K. Everything you do here goes through Navisworks' own saved viewpoints, so Ctrl+Z undoes it.

Save a view

1. Set up the camera (and section) you want.
2. Click New view. The view is saved straight away under the next automatic name and the name opens for typing.
3. Type a name and click anywhere else. Enter and Tab also work; Esc keeps the automatic name.

The Name box sets the automatic names: {n} counts up and {nnn} pads with zeros, so RFI-{nnn} gives RFI-001, RFI-002 and so on. The count continues after the highest number already used. New views go into the selected folder.

Work with views

• Click a view to go to it. Double-click or F2 renames it.
• Drag a view onto a folder to move it in, or between two views to reorder.
• Update re-saves the selected view from what's on screen now. Folder adds a folder.
• Delete (or the Delete key) asks for a second click on Confirm instead of a dialog; it cancels itself after 4 seconds.
• The search box filters by view name and comment text.
• The current view shows in bold gold. A colored dot and a number show the latest comment status and how many comments a view has.

Select several views

Ctrl+click adds or removes a view, Shift+click (or Shift+↑/↓) selects a range, Ctrl+A selects every visible view, and Esc clears the selection. Then Delete, drag to move and Copy name act on all of them; a folder brings what's inside it. A plain click picks one view again.

Comments

Select a view, type a comment, pick a status (New, Active, Approved, Resolved) and click Add (or Ctrl+Enter). Select one or several comments to change their status or delete them.

Markup

• Cloud, Arrow, Line, Text, Tag, Pen, Ellipse and Erase switch the 3D view to Navisworks' markup tools; Done goes back to Select. If no saved view is current, one is saved first so the markup lands on a named view.
• The color swatches and Thickness set the color and line weight. With markups selected in the list they change those markups; with none selected they set the style for new ones (shared with Review › Markup on the ribbon).
• The markup list shows every markup on the current view. Click a markup in the 3D view to select it in the list (Ctrl+click adds). All selects every one.
• Move: select markups, click Move and drag in the 3D view. Esc or a right-click ends it. Arrow keys in the list nudge them (Ctrl for bigger steps).
• Text edits a selected Text or Tag markup. Delete removes the selected markups.
• Convert to cloud turns selected lines and ellipses into revision clouds, or, with nothing selected, lets you drag a box around markups to cloud them. Arch sets the cloud's arc size. Right-click a markup for Cloud around (a cloud hugging the selection), Flip arches, Duplicate and more.
• Undo in the markup list steps back through markup changes on that view (the last 30 are kept).

Resizing the pane

Drag the handles between the views list, Comments and Markup. Click a section's header to fold it away; the views list takes the room. Sizes are remembered.

The Saved Viewpoints menu JGT Views

The same menu as Navisworks' own Saved Viewpoints window. Right-click empty space in the views list for the menu acting on the top level, or right-click a view or folder to act there.

Save Viewpoint, New Folder

Same as the New view and Folder buttons.

Add Animation

Adds a viewpoint animation. To add frames, select the animation and click New view for each camera position, or drag existing views onto it. Click the animation to play it.

Add Cut

Inside an animation, adds a cut after the selected frame, so the animation jumps instead of gliding to the next frame. Available when you right-click an animation or a frame in one.

Sort

Sorts A to Z with numbers in order (View 2 before View 10), folders first, through every folder below. From empty space it sorts everything; from a folder, what's in it; from a view, its folder. Animations keep their frame order. Ctrl+Z undoes it one move at a time.

Import Viewpoints…

Navisworks' own importer: pick a viewpoints .xml and its views are added.

Export Viewpoints…

Navisworks' own exporter: saves every view to an .xml others can import.

Export Selected Viewpoints (N)…

Saves only the views you picked (with Ctrl/Shift, or the one you right-clicked). Picking a folder includes everything in it. Nothing is deleted from your model.

Export Viewpoints Report…

Navisworks' HTML report of every view.

Like the native window, folders can't go inside animations and cuts only live inside animations.

Selection Tree JGT Views

Navisworks' Selection Tree with the things it's missing: expand and collapse menus, multi-select and a real search. Open it with Ctrl+Shift+L or JGT › Model › Selection Tree.

Modes

• Standard: the whole hierarchy (files, layers, groups, objects and geometry).
• Compact: down to objects, without the geometry rows.
• Properties: category › property › value › items. Click a value to select everything that has it. The first time, it reads the model's properties in the background; the status bar shows progress.
• Sets: your selection and search sets. Click one to select it; expand it to see what's in it.

Selecting

Click selects in the model, Ctrl+click adds or removes, Shift+click selects a range. Visible items show in bold, hidden items in grey italics and Required items in red, as in Navisworks.

With Follow on (gold), selecting something in the 3D view opens the tree down to it and scrolls it into view. Locate does the same once.

Right-click menu

• Expand all, Collapse all, Expand selected, Collapse selected, Expand to level 1 to 6, Locate selection in tree.
• Select same Name or Type, Select children, Invert selection.
• Hide (toggles), Required, Hide unselected, Unhide all.
• Zoom, Focus, Appearance (override color, transparency, reset).
• Save selection as set, Save matches as set, Update set from current selection (in Sets mode).
• Copy name, Copy path.

Keys

Search

Type in the search box and the tree shows only the matches and the path down to them. Enter searches at once, Esc clears it.

Aa matches case. The folder button lists only top matches, not items inside a match. The bar under the box shows the count, steps through matches, selects all of them, and saves them as a set: a live search set when Navisworks can run the search itself, otherwise a selection set. In Sets mode the box filters set names; in Properties mode, category and property names.

Big models

Children load when a row first opens, so huge models stay quick. Expand all stops at 250,000 rows, a search draws the first 5,000 matches (Select all matches still takes every one), and a value or set lists 2,000 items and then a "more" row that selects the rest.

Color profiles Any JGT tool

Capture Color Profile

Turns the way the open model is colored into an Appearance Profiler profile you can apply to another model, for example a GC's coordination NWF where the colors were saved but the rules weren't.

1. Open the colored model and click JGT › Capture Color Profile.
2. It reads every part's color, finds the properties that explain them (such as System Abbreviation or Category), and writes the rules.
3. The summary says how many rules it wrote and how much of the coloring they recreate.

The profile appears in Appearance Profiler's Profiles list (reopen the Profiler if it was open). A shareable .dat, a copy of the profile and a CSV of every rule go to Documents\JGT Color Profiles. Send the .dat to share it: anyone loads it with Appearance Profiler › Import… and then Apply Profile.

Limits: only text properties become rules; a few hand-painted parts that don't follow a pattern can't be recreated; and the profile only transfers to models with the same property names and values.

Profile to .dat

Navisworks 2026's Profiler can import a .dat but can't export one. Click Profile to .dat, pick any profile, and it writes the .dat. Only By Property rules using Equals or Not Equals can go into a .dat; the summary says how many other rules were left out.

Theme

Settings › Theme switches the JGT panes and notices between Dark, Gray and Light, and lets you change any color (background, buttons, text, accent and so on). Open panes update at once and the choice is remembered.

Troubleshooting

There's no JGT tab

Make sure you started Navisworks Manage 2026 (not Simulate, Freedom or another year). Check that %APPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\ElementIdGrabber.bundle\Contents\2026\ElementIdGrabber.dll exists; if not, close Navisworks and run Install.cmd again.

"Windows protected your PC" when running Install.cmd

Click More info, then Run anyway. The installer is a plain script.

The installer says a file is in use

Navisworks is still running. Close every Navisworks window; if it persists, end Roamer.exe in Task Manager.

My company blocks scripts

Copy the ElementIdGrabber.bundle folder from the zip into %APPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\ by hand, then right-click Contents\2026\ElementIdGrabber.dll › Properties › tick Unblock › OK.

A shortcut does nothing

Click once in the 3D view, then press it again. The shortcuts listen in the 3D view.

A pane opened as a floating window / I can't find a pane

Panes open floating the first time; dock them as described in Docking the panes. A hidden pane comes back with its JGT button, its shortcut, or View › Windows.

A pane just shows a card with "Start free 30-day trial" or "Your trial has ended"

That tool isn't licensed on this computer. Start its trial, or enter a key under Settings › License. The Selection Tree is part of JGT Views.

"This key is already on 5 computers"

Remove it on a computer you no longer use (Settings › License › Remove), then activate it here. Reply to your receipt email if you no longer have that computer.

"No Revit Element ID found on selection"

The model was exported without IDs, or the items aren't from Revit (for example an IFC or DWG). For local NWCs, re-export from Revit with Convert element IDs turned on in the Navisworks exporter settings. ACC models carry the ID in the item name; check that the selected item's name ends with a number in square brackets.

The IDs don't select the right things in Revit

IDs are only unique within one Revit file. Use Copy ID + Details to see which file each ID came from, and paste each file's IDs into that file.

The Selection Tree doesn't open to what I click in 3D

Turn Follow on (gold). It works in Standard and Compact modes; with a search showing, it jumps to the item only if the results include it, otherwise clear the search with Esc.

Nothing happens when I right-click empty space in the views list

Click once inside the Views pane first, then right-click below the last view. If the list is full, right-click any view instead; its menu has the same Saved Viewpoints items.

Export Selected says nothing was exported

Pick the views first (Ctrl/Shift+click), then right-click one of them. Animations export with all their frames.

A captured profile doesn't color the other model

The other model has to carry the same property names and values (for example the same System Abbreviation values). Check one item's properties in both models.

Something else

Email jeremiah@jgriffithtech.com with what you did, what you expected, a screenshot, and the version (in the zip's name or Settings › License).

Removing the tools

Double-click Uninstall.cmd from the zip. Your license keys, trial dates and settings stay in %APPDATA%\JGT in case you reinstall.

What's new

Contact

Questions or feature requests: jeremiah@jgriffithtech.com, or reply to your Gumroad receipt.

Made by JGriffith Tech. Everything runs on your computer; the only thing sent anywhere is your license key, to Gumroad, to check it. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Autodesk, Inc. Autodesk, Navisworks and Revit are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.