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Equipment Summary Tool bugged? Spotlight 2024


LiteDoctor

Question

The Equipment Summary Tool (which replaced the Instrument Summary tool) appears to be bugged in Spotlight 2024.

 

When I create a new Summary, the "Column Width" defaults to over 2' long, the Name Width is 2", and the text appears to the left of (and covering) the Instrument Symbols. No amount of adjusting the widths or spacing will correct the appearance of the table. I've included a couple of screenshots to help illustrate the problem.

 

I also included my Test file. The Test was created with 2024, but I have also seen the issue in files created with 2023. Fortunately, objects created with the older Instrument Summary tool do not seem to be affected.

 

I never had these issues with the Instrument Summary tool in 2023.

Default Settings.png

Default Results.png

After Editing Settings.png

Autoplot Test File.vwx

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21 answers to this question

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This new equipment summary tool is a total disaster.  I don't know why VW replaced an imperfect but functional tool with this mess.  Formatting is impossible to keep clean.  Text and symbols don't line up. It always puts wattages on a second line forcing you to use too much vertical space. When I add multiple headers they now all have the same text. 

While I guess it is useful to gather all the info together in one place, I now have to break the summary apart and reformat it manually to make it look comprehensible, which largely defeats the purpose.

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8 hours ago, JRush said:

Along from the formatting, is anyone else having trouble with inaccurate counts?

YUP...... 

Luckily i have an old instrument summary object in my working file that is healthy

Edited by asukse
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Still having these issues in October 2024. Honestly unacceptable, it's not possible to create professional-looking paperwork with the instrument summary tool unable to be scaled, the inventory system is completely broken without the ability to properly filter by layer, my "typical" symbol just refuses to show up...

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For those pining for the old Instrument Summary tool, you should know that it hasn't been removed from VW2024 or VW2025, it's just been removed from the Spotlight workspace.  If you open up the Workspace Editor, select the Tools tab, and open up the Legacy category, you'll find the good ol' Instrument Summary.  Just add it to your workspace and you can continue using the reliable (if not dreadfully slow and often frustrating) old tool.

 

But for the record, while I see the horrific mess of the Equipment Summary tool in VW2024, it works as I would expect in VW2025.  Frustrating that it always puts the wattage on a new line, though.  And you should be able to apply layers, it's just buried in the Build List dialog box instead of being present in the Object Info Palette.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
On 1/29/2024 at 9:08 AM, Peter Smith said:

This is clearly a bug.

Hi Peter, this particular bug was fixed in 2024 update 4. Here, I've clicked on Update and the layout was fixed. With that said, a new issue has arisen in 2025 where the text distance is not reading the correct anchor point. This is seen in 2025.

 

 

On 7/24/2024 at 7:08 PM, DukeC said:

Still broken in Update 6.

Duke, do you have a test file? Peter's file is working for me in update 6.

 

Thanks, Scott
2024-11-19_13-18-08.png

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On 11/16/2024 at 7:30 PM, Jesse Cogswell said:

For those pining for the old Instrument Summary tool, you should know that it hasn't been removed from VW2024 or VW2025, it's just been removed from the Spotlight workspace.  If you open up the Workspace Editor, select the Tools tab, and open up the Legacy category, you'll find the good ol' Instrument Summary.  Just add it to your workspace and you can continue using the reliable (if not dreadfully slow and often frustrating) old tool.

 

I'm looking in Spotlight 2025 Update 2.1 and the Instrument Summary tool isn't showing up in the Workspace Editor.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
On 2/4/2025 at 1:27 PM, MatthewW said:

I'm looking at this in Feb 2025 on VWX 2025 Update 3 and I'm still seeing that the symbols and the text are not alined vertically. Is this still broken or do I have something configured incorrectly?

Screenshot2025-02-04at12_26_46PM.png.181b7b9b9e8493642a9dddd6aafa2f64.png

 

We identified a problem with the text alignment calculations when the document text settings were not using a Left horizontal text alignment.  A fix is in 2025 update 4 for this issue, but if you are having problems with this you can change the document text settings (by deselecting everything and modifying the settings) and then refresh the summary key.  Hopefully this workaround will help if this is causing a problem for you.

 

We are also investigating the counting issue that has been brought up several times where different accessories will cause a lighting device to be counted separately, but that is a more complicated problem with the design of the system.  We have some ideas but that will take more time to deploy an appropriate fix.  

 

Thanks for the detailed communication that helps us fix these problems.

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Working on Spotlight 2025 SP5, the equipment summary tool still does not work effectively. Compare to Inventory still appears to be broken, as is the typical symbol.

 

The inventory setup is significantly more convoluted than the old inventory setup tools. Is there a proper tutorial on how to make this work yet?

 

Thanks,

 

Simon

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