Count Blocks Across Multiple Drawings — Build a BOM / Material Take-Off in Excel from a Whole Drawing Set

Open BlockSync and add the drawings — Add Files… for a specific set, or Add Folder… for everything under a folder. BlockSync scans each file and lists every block definition it found on the Blocks tab, with the total number of references and the number of files the definition is in.

That list is already a first count: here FCU has 32 references, VALVE 70 and PUMP 7 across the six drawings. Keep those totals, because they are what the finished pivot table has to add up to. Note that In files counts the drawings that contain the block definition, not the ones where it's actually placed.

Tick the blocks you want in the count — Select All ticks every block, or use the search box and tick a few — and click Extract to Excel. Each ticked block becomes its own tab in a timestamped workbook.

Each tab lists one block, with one row for every reference: the drawing it's in (_File), the object handle, the block name and where it sits (_Space: Model or a layout), then geometry columns and, at the right, one column per attribute tag — here DN on the VALVE tab and MODEL on the FCU tab.

The row per reference is what makes counting possible, and the attribute columns are what let you count variants: a 25 mm valve and a 65 mm valve are the same block, but different lines on a bill of materials.

A pivot table needs a single list. Start a new sheet with the columns File, Block, Type and Qty. Copy _File and _Block from every block tab, stacking the tabs one below the other; for Type, copy the attribute that separates variants (MODEL for FCU, DN for VALVE, and a dash for a block that has none); fill Qty with 1 in every row.

Before going on, check the row count: it should equal the sum of the reference counts from step 1 — here 32 + 7 + 70 = 109 rows. If it doesn't, a tab was missed or pasted twice.

Select the list and choose Insert → PivotTable. Drag Block and then Type to Rows, File to Columns, and Qty to Values (Sum). The result is the take-off: one line per block and variant, one column per drawing, row totals on the right and drawing totals at the bottom.

Here it reads: 17 FCU-200, 12 FCU-300 and 3 FCU-400 units, 7 pumps, and 35 DN25, 24 DN40 and 11 DN65 valves — 109 blocks, matching the 32 + 7 + 70 from step 1. The per-drawing columns show at a glance where each item goes, which the total alone doesn't.

If a symbol can also appear on a layout, drag _Space into the pivot's Filters and choose Model so the same object isn't counted twice.

When the drawings change, extract again, paste the new rows over the old list, and use Data → Refresh All: the pivot table recalculates. Save Profile… on the Blocks tab remembers which blocks are ticked, and Load Profile ticks them again next time.