Spotlight: Revizto 5.18, and a markup that is not yet an issue
Revizto 5.18 adds Draft Mode so reviews stay private until you publish. What BIM leads should test before they trust a local draft.
Yesterday’s leftover authoring note was Archicad 30. The unused coordination note is Revizto 5.18, shipped 13 October.
That is not a new clash engine. Firms already mark a sheet in a meeting, dump the same note into a PDF, then retype it as an issue after someone decides it is real. Revizto’s 5.18 note puts that first pass on the drawing and the model, then lets you publish only what should enter the project record.
What actually changed
Draft Mode is the headline. On the desktop and tablet apps you can sketch markup drafts on a 2D sheet, start issue drafts in 2D or 3D, and privately edit markups on an issue that is already in the tracker. Drafts auto-save. They stay on the author’s device until you turn them into a tracked issue or apply the markup edits. You can export a draft to PDF for a meeting. Opening a sheet starts Draft Mode by default. Help is explicit that the data is not synced to the server and is not visible on another device. The Site app does not create drafts.
That local-only rule is the sentence to test, not the marketing line about closing a review-to-decision gap. If the laptop dies, or the author is out, the draft is not in the CDE. Publishing still needs project rights: Create issues for a new issue, Edit issue markups for changes to one that already exists. If the sheet or the source issue moves while the draft is open, Help warns you. Applying an outdated markup draft can overwrite the latest published markups.
The other useful piece is Custom Property CSV export and import, run from the Scheduler. You export objects from one search set, edit the custom fields in a spreadsheet, and bring the file back. Revizto says the source BIM file is not rewritten. Installation status, contractor, work package or inspection notes can sit on the federated objects and then drive Search Sets, filters and visual workflows. Two caveats live in Help: only custom properties that already exist in the project are imported, and the CSV has to come from a Scheduler export that includes Revizto IDs. A dump from the selection inspector will not re-import cleanly.
The rest of 5.18 is review hygiene. 2D tools sit closer to the sheet. Pins and markups share a view. Annotations can be copied between sheets and projects. Sheet number, title and revision can be read from the Revit title-block text instead of the short Revit parameters, which is how a lot of ISO 19650 drawing IDs actually live. Sheets drawn at different scales can be aligned around a fixed anchor. Revizto also claims models load four times faster than in 5.17. That is a vendor figure. Time it on a live federation.
What a BIM or VDC lead should do
Do not rewrite the issue procedure because a markup can stay private for a morning. The rules in our clash note still hold: someone owns the issue, a due date exists, and the model is coordinated only after the second federation.
If the firm already lives in Revizto, this is worth a side-by-side on one non-sensitive job. Download 5.18 from Workspace. Then ask four questions: does a draft stay invisible to the rest of the project until publish; does a second machine show that it is gone when the author closes the laptop; does a Scheduler CSV update only the custom fields you created, with the Revit or IFC file untouched; and do title-block sheet numbers match the ISO 19650 ID on the issued PDF, not the short Revit parameter.
Do not treat a local draft as the project record. Do not promise the Site app the same workflow. Count who has Create issues before you tell the room that anyone can “just publish it after the meeting.”
Start with Revizto’s 13 October newsroom note, the Draft Mode help, and the Scheduler CSV steps.
Frequently asked questions
What did Revizto ship in 5.18?
Version 5.18, dated 13 October 2026, adds Draft Mode for 2D markup drafts and 2D or 3D issue drafts. You can also privately edit a published issue’s markups before those edits go back to the tracker. The build is available now from Revizto Workspace on existing subscriptions.
Who can see a draft?
Only the author, on the device that made it. Help says draft data stays local and is not shared with other users or devices. Anyone with project access can sketch a draft. Publishing an issue draft needs the Create issues right. Publishing markup edits on an existing issue needs Edit issue markups.
Does the CSV tool change the Revit or IFC model?
No. Revizto says the import writes Custom Property values in Revizto only. Standard properties in the file are ignored. The property has to exist in the project first, and Help wants the CSV from a Scheduler export that includes Revizto IDs, not a dump from the selection inspector.
Does this replace a coordination standard?
No. It shortens the gap between a whiteboard note and a tracked issue. You still need an owner, a due date and a second federation before you call the model coordinated.