The Ultimate Guide To Revit Shortcuts

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The Ultimate Guide to Revit Shortcuts

February 25, 2015 By Michael Kilkelly
15 Comments
For all the work you do in Revit, theres a keyboard shortcut that can help you do it faster.
Heres a roundup featuring some of my favorite Revit keyboard shortcuts to create and organize your model. Keep
reading to learn how to create your own shortcuts.
Create and Modify Elements

CS When element is selected, creates new similar element
DL Create detail lines
http://archsmarter.com/revit-shortcuts/[12/8/2015 4:47:49 PM]
DR Create Door
M + Space Match properties
MV Move
UP Unpin
RM Create room
RT Insert room tag
SL Split elements
Select Elements
Arrow Keys Nudges the selected element
Shift + Arrow Nudges the selected element 10x.
CTRL Select multiple elements
MD Activate the Modify tool
TAB Cycle through multiple overlapping elements
SHIFT + TAB Reverse the order of TAB cycling
Views
HI Isolate element
HH Hide element
HC Hide category
SD Shaded with edges
TL Thin Lines
VV Visibility / Graphics dialog for the current view
WF Wire frame
ZE Zoom to fit
SHIFT + Middle Mouse Orbit in 3D views or pan in 2D views. Selecting an object before pressing SHIFT + Middle
Mouse will cause the orbit to rotate around the selected object.
File Operations
CTRL + O Open a new file
CTRL + N Create a new project file
CTRL + S Save the current file
Miscellaneous
ALT Activates the keyboard designation for all the items on the interface. Might be useful if your mouse kicks the
bucket before youve saved your file.
Create Your Own Revit Shortcuts

You can easily program your own Revit keyboard shortcuts. To do so, go to View > User Interface > Keyboard Shortcuts
or type KS.
View > User Interface > Keyboard Shortcuts

This will open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box.
Keyboard Shortcuts dialog

All of the default keyboard shortcuts are listed. Any shortcut listed in gray is a system shortcut and cannot be changed.
To add a shortcut, find the command in the Command column or enter the command name in the Search field. Once
youve selected the command, enter the shortcut combination in the Press new keys text box then click the Assign
button.
You have a lot of flexibility assigning shortcuts. A single command can have multiple shortcuts. Likewise, a single
shortcut can be used on multiple commands. In this case, you use the arrow keys to cycle through the commands as
displayed in the status bar. Once you have the command you want, press the space bar to execute the command.
Some custom shortcuts you might want to consider are:
33 Default 3D View
AA Activate view
DD Deactivate view
JJ Join geometry
ML Manage Links
MM Macro Manager
SAV Select all instances in view
SAS Select all instances in project
WS Worksets
WW Create walls
Want some more suggestions? Check out this discussion on LinkedIn.
Naming Your Shortcuts

Speed is king when it comes to naming your shortcuts. Consider defining your shortcuts using the same letter or letters
closely located on the keyboard. JJ for Join Geometry or AA for Activate View are two good examples.
You can even create three or four letter shortcuts if you need similarly named shortcuts.You could define WWfor Create
Wall andWWWfor Worksets.
This method minimizes the amount of hunting and pecking required to find your shortcuts. It lets you keep one hand on
the keyboard and the other on the mouse.
So how about you? How do you save time in Revit? What are your favorite shortcuts? Leave a comment below!
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Comments
Neo says:
February 26, 2015 at 3:02 pm
This is very important topic that most of Revit users dont take advantage of!
I use it always. But todays article opened my eyes to (AA & DD), activate and deactivate views as 2013 ver
doesnt use mouse double click.
Thanks Michael!
Reply
Kirshan Kumar says:

February 26, 2015 at 10:54 pm
It is very appreciate for helping the Revit modular.

Keep Going, I will also provide some use full content
Reply
Andr says:
February 27, 2015 at 6:01 am
Hi Michael. In addition to those shortcuts listed above I also use (user defined) IC and IE for isolate
category and isolate elements great for quickly isolating a view enabling you to edit and make changes. Then I
unhide with UH. Setting up a user defined shortcuts for trim individual (ST) and multiple (STT) is also pretty
handy. Why AD havent done this already with factory settings is a mystery!
Cheers
Andr
Reply
apetitdeux says:
April 1, 2015 at 9:49 am
Hello
Interesting post Im really fond of keyboard shortcuts.
My favourite ones are:
EE: open edit mode (floor, wall profile, extrusion) you can have the same shortcut for all
FF: finish edit mode (floor, wall profile, extrusion)
CC: exit edit mode and cancel (floor, wall profile, extrusion)
: Align tool
QZ: open default 3D view
QQQ: close all windows
AT: attach / TA: detach

Reply
Michael Kilkelly says:

April 1, 2015 at 11:48 am
Great suggestions. I really like QQQ for close all windows. Im going to add that to my shortcuts.
Thanks!
Reply
apetitdeux says:
April 14, 2015 at 11:51 am
yes, it definitely has a relaxing effect !

Reply
Scott M B Gustafson says:

April 13, 2015 at 12:40 am
I am amazed at how many people dont use shortcuts. There are commands that I use all the time and if
I didnt have shortcuts for them the work would take forever. I like to tell people to look at the full list of commands
available to be shortcutted and determine which ones they use the most often. Depending on your working style or
your position in an office, the needs of a conceptual designer might be different from a person doing the technical
drawings.
Some of my favorites
DI = Dimension
HC = Hide Category
HE = Hide Element
SV = Create a Section
SE = Spot Elevation
SS = Spot Slope
CHW = Close Hidden Windows
ETC = Export Current View to CAD
TX = Text
AV = Activate View
DV = Deactivate View
Reply
apetitdeux says:
April 14, 2015 at 11:50 am
Shortcuts are really a way of thinking ! Now Im so used to them that I use them in my everyday
language. Youll often hear me tell my colleagues : Now, SA your walls and VD them.
You can even go further by using shortcut combos
I often have to split a set of floors that have been all drawn in the same sketch
For instance I would click the floor, and then
EE (enter edit mode)
window select part of the floors to split
CTRL-X
FF (finish edit mode)
CS (create similar)
XS (paste same position)
FF (finish edit mode)
et voil !
Reply
Charles H Berteaux IV says:

July 1, 2015 at 12:49 pm
these are so important. great way to speed up productivity. i have a baseline that i have set up for our
office, and ask people to print them out and keep it at their desk pinned up somewhere.
Reply
Ingo says:
July 2, 2015 at 3:34 am
Hi, folks,
yes, shortcuts are great. I like to use identical letters to be superfast :
II isolate Element in view
RR reset above
AA activate view
DD deactivate view
HH hide element in view
UU unhide element in view
CC copy
MM move
TT tile (windows)
FF halftone element in view (this is a visual override)
etc.
Note : I make sure that there are no duplicate definitions, i.e. if CC was used for another revit command, I remove it
(same method one adds shortcuts one can remove them).
And here another absolute winner :
F2 button : project browser on/off toggle
F4 button : properties on/off toggle

This is most fantastic to free monitor space if you only have a single monitor.
Best Regards,
Ingo from Cape Town

Reply

July 2, 2015 at 8:56 am
I too like the double letter shortcuts. Theyre fast! Setting F2 and F4 for the project and properties
windows is a great idea. Thanks for the suggestions!
Reply

July 21, 2015 at 11:11 am
Autodesk recently released a guide outlining all the default Revit shortcuts. You can download it here:
http://www.autodesk.com/shortcuts/revit
Reply
Trackbacks
Weekly Roundup 2015.17 | The BIMsider says:
May 2, 2015 at 10:12 am
[] The Ultimate Guide to Revit Shortcuts []

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How to be a more effective architect | TTalents says:
July 9, 2015 at 1:27 am
[] better will increase your efficiency and your effectiveness in the long run. Take a look at theseRevit
shortcutsfor some quick []
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Seja um arquiteto(a) mais eficiente em 7 passos! | Universo Arquitetnico says:
July 22, 2015 at 2:33 pm
[] ir aumentar a sua eficincia e sua eficcia a longo prazo. D uma olhada nestes atalhos do Revit para
algumas dicas []
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Create and Modify Elements

http://archsmarter.com/revit-shortcuts/[12/8/2015 4:47:49 PM]