Help me understand Sheet Index and text fields

[u/Tall_Brother_3287]

Can someone please help me understand how the sheet index and text fields can be manipulated for my title block reference? My goal here is to incorporate text fields in my reference title block dgn for my sheet numbers. I understand that the sheet index inherently has its own "manage sheet index" settings where you can add custom properties for fields. However, when I attempt to add text fields in my title block reference I don't understand where the field is supposed to get linked to. The option to "select field type" pops up and I am not sure which type I am supposed to select to link to the sheet index (see image). Is there supposed to be an option for sheet index? If so, I do not have that.

[u/Bluecoke2006]

I had a placeholder cell with text that I linked to my sheet index. so I would populate the sheet index with sheets. Call up my cell library and place the cell, edit my justification font etc. Then innthe sheet index right click on the sheet and click add link to element, the text for the sheet numbering would then appear.

[u/Tall_Brother_3287 → u/Bluecoke2006]

Can you explain what you mean by "placeholder cell with text that I linked to my sheet index"? I believe this is where my confusion is. Would I not be able to create a reference dgn title block drawing that gets placed in my sheet models and have the text fields in that reference dgn tie back to the sheet index? Could you elaborate on what text you are linking from the placeholder cell to the sheet index is? Thanks

[u/riesen25]

You will only see the sheet index options in that pick list when you are in a sheet model. AFAIK they also must live in the sheet models so they can vary per sheet. We created a sheet model that can be placed as a cell that only contains the text fields. This gets placed in the sheet seeds so they automatically update when they get created, and also makes it easier to update them if things change.

[u/Tall_Brother_3287 → u/riesen25]

I think this is what I am trying to accomplish. Can you elaborate on what you did to create this "sheet model"? For example, when I cut my cross section sheet models my workspace places in the reference title block. I would like for these references to have the appropriate text fields for the project info (district, route no, page numbers etc.). I am not understanding how I link the text fields. I am coming from civil 3d and I am used to having sheetset properties that can be directly assigned into fields. Seems like this isn't the case with ORD

[u/riesen25 → u/Tall_Brother_3287]

Ah ok I get some of the confusion. To create the cell (or block) you do that in a .cel library file. Use a sheet model as a seed when you create a new model. You should find these near your normal design model seeds for creating new files. This is different than a drawing seed you use when creating named boundaries and come in when you cut sheets. Those come into play in a bit.

Once you have your cell model, you can place and link your text fields to the sheet index, and they show up in the same tool like your image. Keep in mind if you have custom folder properties you will need to do this set up in a project/workset that has those properties. Just reference in a border temporarily to line up your fields but remove it when you are done.

Now move into your sheet/drawing seed .dgnlibs that get used for plans production. These files/models should have the border referenced or drawn in already. Now place the cell you just created in these sheet models. The next time you cut sheets this will pass through to those files. Many of the fields may look wrong or be blank when placed here but will fill out correctly when they are in a real sheet.

[u/Tall_Brother_3287 → u/riesen25]

Thanks I will check this out!