Holy cow – there went summer! Sorry for my silence – it's been a very busy summer both personally & professionally. Unfortunately, the blog posts were one of the items that fell off my to do list. But, it's back to school time (my kids just started 2^nd grade) – and it's time to get back in a better routine.

So, how many of you are using AutoBid's Multi-Branch Pairs function? It's been around for a long time – but I find that many people don't use it. It's available for both AutoBid® Mechanical and AutoBid® SheetMetal – and it's available in OnScreen View (OSV) or Graphical TakeOff (GTO). Multi-Branch Pairs is a fast way to add run-outs to different pieces of equipment, floor drains, or runouts to diffusers.

Here are a few quick tips to make Multi-Branch Pairs Takeoff even faster:

1. 1. Multi-branch pairs can be used for more than just inserting a tee into the run. It can also be used to "turn the corner" and convert a hot spot into an elbow (90 or 45). To do that, you just have to click on the elbow twice
   2. Just because you are changing size doesn't mean that you have to cancel out of your Multi-Branch pair command and start over. This one is a little trickier – all you have to do is just go and click on the new size in the "Start new run or Change Dims in run" window.
   3. Newer AutoBid® Touchmenus (for the digitizer) have this command on them. If yours doesn't, you can add this to your touchmenu.
   4. You can "branch" off different systems. AutoBid® is smart enough to know which system you are branching off of – we'll change to the appropriate fittings / systems.
   5. You can still have branches with different settings from the main when using this command. Recent versions of Multi-Branch pairs have added a toggle that controls whether or not we use the settings from the main or from the Next Item Settings Window. The toggle is at the top of the "Branch from (Multi-Pairs)" window when you start the command. Having the toggle "on" will grab the settings from the main – while having the toggle off will grab it from the Next Item Settings window.

If you have any questions or comments, please add them to the Comments section of the blog. And, check back frequently for more news. We've got some exciting stuff coming up soon –including information for the next version of AutoBid® SheetMetal Estimating. You won't want to miss it!

Happy Estimating!