Visibility Checklist - 10 Ways to Find What You're Missing in Revit Views

No question about it, the number one reason people call me is to help them find something that’s gone missing in the view they’re working in. So I thought it would be helpful to create a checklist of where I look when something has gone missing.

Visibility Graphics Dialogue

This is the first place I start. Check to make sure the category of the element you're missing is on in the VG dialogue.
If the category is on, make sure the sub-category is on. This is often overlooked so be sure to expand the category to expose the sub-categories.
Sometimes, however it’s a nested family category that you have to watch out for. In the example below you’ll notice the door category and sub-categories are on in the VG dialogue. However there is part of the door family that is not displayed. That’s because the door contains a nested family from the Detail Item category. This is also true for any linked model. Each linked model has its own set of VG, so make sure you check them.

Worksets

Check to make sure all the worksets are visible. Even if set to visible or show, elements on a Closed workset will not be visible.

Make sure all the worksets are open. If any are closed you can open them in the Workset dialogue from the Manage Collaboration panel on the Collaboration tab on the ribbon.

Filters

To ensure a filter is not the culprit, make sure they're all visible. If a filter is the cause of the visibility issue you may have to edit it to avoid showing items that have been intentionally hidden with the filter. Check with your team members before editing or removing filters.

Design Options
Check the Design Options tab in the VG dialogue. The element you're looking for may be on a different DO than what's set in the view. You can temporarily change this setting to show any of the DO. Note: DO only work with 3D elements. 

View Range

Check to make sure the element you're looking for falls within the Primary View Range. If it's outside this range you won't be able to see it. If the element does fall outside the primary range, you may not want to change it right away. Discuss this with your team to make sure you're not affecting someone else's setting. 

Plan Region

Plan Regions control a separate view range in floor plan views. Check the VG dialogue for Plan Region visibility in the view. If Plan Regions are visible, check their view range settings. 

Hide at Scales Courser Than

If you're missing a callout, section, or elevation marker be sure to check the view properties setting "Hide at scales courser than" in the missing view. The scale of the view may be the reason why any one of these view markers are not showing up.

Detail Level

Any loadable family can have it's visibility set to Course, Medium, or Fine. If the visibility of the element is set to something other than what you have your view set to, it will not show up. This setting will also effect nested families so you may have to edit the family to get to the bottom of it.

Manually Hidden Elements

Don't forget to simply check for hidden elements by clicking the Reveal Hidden Elements button on the view control bar.

Phases

If your project has phases there's a good chance your missing element was created on the wrong phase and the phase filter in the view is causing the issue. Make sure to check both the view as well as the element phase settings. 

Ideate Revit Add-in to the Rescue!

X-Ray is an add-in tool the will help you find what you're missing. In addition to helping you find missing stuff it will explain why it's missing, which is always a good thing. 

When things go missing in Revit it's easy to blow your top. Just slow down and work through these 10 areas and you're sure to find what you're missing.

Area Plans...what's the big deal?

Area Plans are views that show spatial relationships based on area schemes and levels in your model. You can have multiple area plans for every area scheme and level. Each area plan can have distinct area boundaries, tags, and color schemes. The question is when to use the area plan in the first place. Well, let’s say you want to color up a plan to show a client the different departments the building has. Or maybe you need to count up the square footage or a specific portion of the building. Or you need to create a life safety plan that shows different areas within a specific department. The easiest way to accomplish this is to use Area Plans. Once you’ve got a floor plan set up you can create an Area Plan from it. The first thing you should do is set up a Color Fill Scheme. Select Settings → Color Fill Schemes, this opens the Edit Color Scheme dialog. Here you’ll be able to create new schemes and customize them to suit your needs. Click here to learn more about how to create Color Schemes. Once you’ve created the color scheme return to the plan view you want to create an Area Plan from and click the Room and Area tab on the Design Bar. Note: If you do not see the Room and Area tab on the Design Bar, right click in an empty space in the Design Bar and select it from the list. After clicking Area Plan select the level for the plan you want to create and then click OK. You will be asked you if you want Revit to create area boundary lines associated with the exterior walls automatically. This is up to you. If you choose no you’ll have to draw them in yourself. If you choose yes the boundary lines on the exterior walls will be drawn automatically, but you will have to draw in all other boundary lines. Before you start creating all the boundary lines, open the View Properties and choose the Color Scheme you created from the Color Scheme parameter in the instance parameters. Next, draw in all the boundary lines to create areas in the plan. Select the Area tool and place it one by one over the areas you created in the previous steps. This is similar to creating rooms with the room tool. As the areas are being placed they will be colored with respect to the color fill scheme you created and added to this view. The last thing to do is add the Color Scheme Legend. You do this by clicking the Color Scheme Legend tool and then with your cursor placing it in the view in an appropriate location. Remember the Area Plan tool is an effective way to graphically show specific areas as well as creating life safety plans.

Orbit around the origin

I don't know about you but I hate it when I try to orbit in a 3D view and for some reason the entire model goes missing. Well this is because when you begin a project and start modeling, you establish an origin. Then when you're in a 3D view and you try to orbit, Revit wants to orbit the view around the original origin. The way to override this is to select a part of the model and then orbit. When you select a part of the model you temporarily make it the new origin thus telling Revit to orbit around it.

The Magic of Plan Regions

Ever run across a situation where you need to see something in plan but it sits above the current view range? Oh, you’re not sure what the view range is or how it works? Here’s how they work. Every plan and RCP view has a view property called View Range, also known as a visible range. The view range is a set of horizontal planes that control object visibility and display in the view. The horizontal planes are Top Clip Plane, Cut Plane, Bottom Clip Plane, and View Depth. As their names imply, the top and bottom clip plane represent the topmost and bottommost portion of the view range. The cut plane is a plane that determines at what height certain elements in the view are shown cut. These 3 planes define the primary range of the view range. View Depth is an additional plane outside of the primary range. You can set the level of view depth to show elements below the Bottom Clip Plane. By default, it is coincident with the Bottom Clip Plane. You can set it to levels below the Bottom Clip Plane. Elements outside the visible range of the view do not display in the view. The exception to this is if you set the view underlay to a level outside the visible range. Now that you understand view range, I’m going to show you how to override it. As stated above, there are times when you have elements in your plan that live above the existing view range, such as a clerestory window for example. In these instances you can use a Plan Region to override the existing view range. Here’s how you do it: In the plan, where you want to see the element, go to the view tab on the design bar. Select the Plan Region tool. While in sketch mode, draw a rectangle around the element you wish to see. Before finishing the sketch, set the Region Properties so you’ll be able to see the element in the current view. The Plan Region is set up exactly like the View Range in that there are 3 planes. Set them up just like you’re setting the View Range, only higher or lower depending on where the element is. Once the properties are set, click Finish Sketch, you’re done. You should be able to see the element in the plan now. If not, select the Plan Region and adjust the view range until you see the element. Click here to view the video tutorial.