What's new

BIM Explorer 1.5

6 November 2026

Quantities you can trust, in a new look. The free viewer gains floor plans on screen, a quantity check and three sample models, and BIM Explorer Pro's takeoff now gives real lengths, areas and volumes.

Free for everyone

• A new look: blueprint light and navy dark themes, clearer labels, and tooltips that stay on screen.
• Three sample models to try: the sample house, plus a duplex apartment and a clinic exported from Revit (buildingSMART test models, CC BY 4.0).
• Floor plans on screen: a 2D plan of any storey, cut at the height you choose, with zoom, pan and a scale bar.
• Quantity check: colour the model by whether elements carry quantities, so you can see if a model can be priced before you start.
• Section height slider: move the section up and down through the model.
• BCF issues now keep the section plane, in BCF 2.1 and 3.0.
• Ctrl+K opens the command palette, and ? or F1 opens Help.

In BIM Explorer Pro

• Quantity takeoff gives real lengths, areas and volumes by IFC type or by storey, from the model's quantity sets - and computed from the geometry where they're missing. Every row says where its number came from.
• Send to BOQ writes each group's main quantity in m, m², m³ or nr, and BOQ quantities keep 2 decimal places.
• UK IDS check pack: five ready-made checks - Uniclass, spaces, base quantities, common properties and a handover minimum.
• Imported BCF issues open at their section.
• Takeoff groups have plain names - Walls, Slabs, Doors - with the IFC class beside them.

Fixes

• m² and m³ now show correctly everywhere.
• CSV exports open cleanly in Excel, with m² and £ intact.
• BOQ exports are named after the model (bim-explorer-boq-<model>-<date>), and the CSV has plain numbers for rates and totals.
• Editing a row that came from the takeoff keeps it marked as a takeoff row.
• The floor plans window's Export PDF button can always be clicked, and the Pro panel shows above it.
• Hover and selection highlights from the previous model no longer stay behind when you open a new one.

Floor plans · Quantity check · Quantity takeoff to BOQ · UK IDS check pack · BCF issues with sections

BIM Explorer 1.4

2 November 2026

En français, auf Deutsch - and a lot more for free.

Free for everyone

• The whole interface is in English, French and German. It follows your Windows language, or choose one with the globe button.
• Colour and filter the model by any property - IFC class, storey, fire rating, material, any property set value - with a legend. Hide, isolate or select by value.
• Load two models together, for example architecture and structure, and inspect both.
• Create BCF issues with a viewpoint and snapshot, and export them as BCF 2.1 or 3.0.
• Measure now measures: click two points for the distance and its X, Y and Z parts.
• IFC 4.3 (IFC4X3) files open, and you can save viewpoints.

In BIM Explorer Pro

• IDS check against a buildingSMART IDS file, with an HTML or CSV report.
• Clash check between two models or two IFC classes, with a tolerance, exported as CSV or BCF issues.
• Storey plans to vector PDF, to scale.
• Unlimited models together, and saved smart views.
• BCF import and review.

Colour by property · Clash check

BIM Explorer 1.3

23 October 2026

The new BIM Explorer: a brand-new viewer, still free, and BIM Explorer Pro - an optional one-off upgrade.

Free for everyone

• Display modes: original, white, clay, x-ray, blueprint, warm and realistic, plus wireframe, transparency and edge highlighting.
• Sections, measuring and named views.
• A model library that keeps the models you open on your PC.

In BIM Explorer Pro

• BIM Explorer Pro, from the Microsoft Store: quantity takeoff, a bill of quantities linked to the model, revision compare and exports.

BIM Explorer 1.2.3

16 October 2026

Free for everyone

• Register your copy with your name and email to hear about updates - it's optional, and BIM Explorer still opens straight to the viewer with no sign-in.