Missing Something in a Revit View? 33 Steps to Find Stuff.

Recently David Haynes, Ideate Director of Consulting passed the following tidbit around the office and I thought it could be of use to you. Thanks for the tips David. 

Can’t see it in a view? Here are 33 possible reasons… 

Checklist: 33 Steps to Find Stuff in Revit.

Check to see if: 

1. The element or category is temporarily hidden 
2. The element or category is hidden in the view 
3. The element is being obscured by another element 
4. The element’s category or subcategory is hidden in the view 
5. The element is outside the view’s view range 
6. The view’s far clip depth is not sufficient to show the element 
7. The element resides on a work set that is not loaded within the project 
8. The element resides on a work set that is not visible in the view 
9. The element resides on a work set that is not loaded in a linked file 
10. The element resides on a work set that is not visible in a linked file 
11. The element resides within a group (detail model) and it has been excluded from the group 
12. The element is part of a design option that is not visible in the view 
13. The element is part of a linked file that is not visible in the view 
14. The element has one or more of its edges overridden to display as “Invisible Lines”
15. The element is a family and none of its geometry is set to be visible in the view type 
16. The element is a family and none of its geometry is set to be visible at the view’s detail level 
17. The element is set to not be visible at the category’s detail level 
18. The element has been placed outside the view's crop region (visible extents) 
19. The element is an annotation element and does not reside entirely within the annotation crop region 
20. The element’s phase settings or the view’s phase settings prevent the element from displaying in the view 
21. The view’s discipline is prohibiting the visibility of the element 
22. The element is affected by a filter applied to the view 
23. The element is subject to an element override, set to background color 
24. The element is subject to a category override, set to background color 
25. The element style is set to background color 
26. The element is constrained to a scope boxes that is not visible in the view 
27. The extents of the element itself don’t permit it to be seen 
28. The element is a mass, and “Show Mass” is turned off 
29. The element’s host view has been deleted (area boundaries) 
30. The view’s scale is prohibiting the element’s visibility 
31. The element is a linked instance with coordinates too great for Revit to handle 
32. The user has incorrectly identified the link instance to which the element belongs 
33. The element is in a link that is not in its correct position

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Ron Palma
Ideate AEC Application Specialist
Ron has over 24 years of experience in the architectural industry as a drafter, designer, lead project designer, trainer, and a CAD manager implementing Autodesk Architectural Solutions for a residential design firm. His instructional background includes being an Autodesk Certified Instructor, trainer, support technician, educator at Portland and Clackamas Community Colleges, as well as a U.S. Army certified instructor where he was a senior instructor at Ft Lewis Washington. Ron is a member of the Oregon Army National Guard and platoon sergeant, training and mentoring soldiers in their careers. Ron is a published writer and continues to author professional technical training manuals and shorts for AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit. As an Autodesk Certified Instructor, Ron provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms. Follow Ron @RonPalmaAEC.

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