Building a title block in Revit is a job done once for a whole office. The finished title block is saved as its own file, loaded into any project, and every box of text on it fills itself from the project data and from each sheet.
This article runs from the blank template through to a sheet list that keeps itself up to date. To learn modelling and documentation end to end, see the Revit Architecture course.
What a title block is, and the route to a finished set
A title block is a family of its own. It fixes the paper size and carries all the text around the drawings: the firm's name and logo, the project information, the sheet number, the revision table. Autodesk sets this out on Title Blocks.
Work in that order and nothing has to be redone. Build the title block first, load it, then create sheets and drag views onto them.
Create a title block in Revit from an rft template
Click File › New and pick Title Block.
| Item | What it creates |
|---|---|
| Project | A project file |
| Family | A component family, a door or a window for instance |
| Title Block | The template for building a title block family. This article's subject |
| Annotation Symbol | A label or annotation symbol |
The dialog usually opens on the imperial template folder, so only a few unfamiliar templates appear. The metric ones live in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RVT 2027\Family Templates\English\Titleblocks; type that path straight into the File name box. Six templates sit there, covering A0 to A4 metric — the starting point for any Revit A3 title block used in local practice.
Pick a template and Revit opens the Family Editor with its own set of tools.
| Panel | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Detail | Line draws the border and the boxes; Filled Region shades; Symbol places symbols |
| Text | Label places a box that reads data; Text writes fixed wording |
| Family Editor | Load into Project pushes the finished title block into the open project |
Telling those two apart is the most important idea in this article. Text is dead text: what you type is what prints. A Label reads a parameter and changes by itself from project to project and from sheet to sheet. Fixed captions such as PROJECT NAME are Text; the value beside them is a Label.
Labels and sample values: where the text comes from
Place a Label and Revit opens the Edit Label dialog to pick parameters.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Category Parameters | The parameters on offer; the Select available fields from box filters them by group |
| 2 | Label Parameters | The parameters chosen, joined into one label, in six columns from Parameter Name to Break |
One label can join several parameters. Prefix and Suffix add fixed wording before and after, Spaces inserts gaps and Break starts a new line, so a single label can print a whole line such as SCALE 1:100.
| Group | Parameters worth knowing |
|---|---|
| Project parameters | Project Name, Project Number, Project Address, Client Name, Project Status, Project Issue Date |
| Sheet parameters | Sheet Number, Sheet Name, Sheet Issue Date, Scale |
| The four people boxes | Approved By, Designed By, Drawn By, Checked By |
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sample Value | Revit fills in A101. It is a sample value, there only to judge spacing while the family is open |
The Sample Value column causes most of the confusion. Someone sees A101 sitting on the title block and assumes they typed it by accident. It is only a placeholder used to judge spacing while the family is open; load the family into a project, put it on a sheet, and the real sheet number takes over. A useful habit: set the sample value as long as the longest real value, so you find out at once whether the box is wide enough.
When it is finished, save the family into the office library, for example TITLEBLOCK-A3-OFFICE.rfa. Building and saving families is covered in how to create a Revit family.
Load a title block into Revit, create sheets and number them
There are two ways in: Load into Project from the Family Editor, or the Load button inside the New Sheet dialog.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Select titleblocks | The title blocks already in the project. Pick None for a sheet without one |
| 2 | Load | Brings another title block file in from disk |
| 3 | Select placeholder sheets | Placeholder sheets, used when the sheet list exists before the drawings |
Click View › Sheet Composition › Sheet, choose a title block and click OK. Autodesk lists every step on Add a Sheet.
Numbering by discipline is a convention that works from day one.
| Prefix | Discipline |
|---|---|
| A | Architecture. A101 plans, A201 elevations, A301 sections, A401 enlarged details |
| S | Structure |
| M, E, P | Mechanical, electrical, plumbing |
| C, G | Civil and general, the cover sheet usually being G |
Local practice often numbers differently, in the form KT-01 or KC-01, or by volume number. Revit forces no scheme; what matters is picking one convention and keeping it across the set.
The values belonging to each individual sheet sit in the Identity Data group of its Properties.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The four people boxes | Approved By, Designed By, Checked By and Drawn By, prefilled with Approver, Designer, Checker and Author |
| 2 | The three issue boxes | Sheet Issue Date is the issue date; Appears In Sheet List decides whether the sheet reaches the drawing list; Revisions on Sheet assigns revisions to it |
| 3 | Paper size | Sheet Width and Sheet Height are read-only, taken from the title block; an A1 sheet reads 840.0 and 594.0 mm |
Clear Appears In Sheet List for working or internal sheets: they stay in the project but never reach the issued drawing list.
Place views on a sheet, view titles and guide grids
Drag a view name from the Project Browser onto the sheet. Nothing is drawn twice.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The view on the sheet | A ground floor plan, placed by dragging the view name from the Project Browser onto the sheet |
| 2 | View title and scale | The viewport title, taking the view name and scale; change the wording in the Title on Sheet box |
| 3 | Title block | An A2 title block whose boxes are labels reading sheet and project parameters, so they fill themselves |
A view can sit on one sheet only. To show the same plan on two sheets, duplicate the view first. Legends and schedules are the exception and can go on many sheets, as Add Views to a Sheet explains.
The caption under each drawing is a viewport type. Three ship with the template: No Title, Title Only and Title w Line, the last being the default. The wording comes from the view's Title on Sheet box, so views can carry working names in the browser and still print the wording the drawing set needs.
Guide grids are placed with Assign Guide Grid. Give several sheets the same grid, snap the viewports to it, and every sheet in the set lands its drawing in the same position — the reader finds the plan in the familiar corner each time.
A Revit sheet list that updates itself
A drawing list in Revit is a schedule reading the Sheets category, so it can never drift from reality.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Select available fields from | Set to Sheets, a category carrying 33 fields |
| 2 | Parameter Name Search | Type Sheet and the 33 fields drop to six, from Sheet Collection to Sheet Width |
| 3 | Available fields | Besides the Sheet fields there are Approved By, Checked By, Current Revision and the project fields |
Reading the table shows the shape of the whole set at a glance. Numbers here run group, then order, then paper size, so 04-10-A3 is the tenth sheet of the detail group, printed at A3.
The two columns nobody can do without are Sheet Number and Sheet Name. Add Sheet Issue Date and sort by it and the list becomes an issue tracker; add Current Revision and it shows which revision each sheet is on.
Add a sheet and the table grows a row immediately, even while it sits on a cover sheet already printed as a proof. This is where Revit is plainly better than maintaining a list by hand in 2D software.
Revisions and the revision table in the title block
Sets get issued and then change, and Revit records each round.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The revision table | Nine columns, from Sequence and Revision Number through to Issued and Show; a new project starts with one row |
| 2 | Numbering | Per Project numbers revisions across the whole project, Per Sheet numbers them sheet by sheet |
| 3 | Customize Numbering | Opens the dialog for declaring your own numbering sequence |
- Open Sheet Issues/Revisions, click Add for a new row, and fill in Date and Description.
- Make the change in the model or on the drawing.
- On the Annotate tab, draw a Revision Cloud around what changed.
- Select the cloud, assign the revision in Properties, then tag it with Tag by Category.
- When the set goes out, tick Issued for that revision. An issued revision locks and cannot be edited.
The Show column decides what appears on the drawing: None, Tag, or Cloud and Tag. The revision table printed in the title block fills itself, listing only the revisions whose clouds sit on that sheet.
Try it: an A3 title block and the first four sheets
One title block and four sheets. Work on a project that already has plans, an elevation and a section.
- Click File › New › Title Block and note the folder the dialog opens in.
- Type the metric template path into the File name box and open A3 metric.rft.
- Use Line to draw the border and the title panel in the bottom right corner, to your own office layout.
- Use Text for the fixed captions: PROJECT NAME, CLIENT, SCALE, DATE, LEAD, DESIGNED, CHECKED, APPROVED.
- Use Label for the matching value boxes, and note which parameter each one reads.
- Set the sample value of the project name box to a long name to test the spacing, then save the family as
TITLEBLOCK-A3.rfa. - Back in the project, click View › Sheet, then Load, and bring in the title block.
- Create four sheets for the ground floor plan, the first floor plan, an elevation and a section, numbering them to your convention.
- Open Manage › Project Information, fill in the project name, client and number, and check the title block has filled itself.
- Fill the four people boxes in one sheet's Properties, check the title block follows, and save.
The finished title block and a set of standard sheets belong in the office template, which is covered in Revit project units and templates.
Frequently asked questions
Where are the metric title block templates?
In C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RVT 2027\Family Templates\English\Titleblocks. Type the path into the File name box, because the dialog usually opens on the imperial folder.
Why does A101 on my title block never change?
It is a sample value, used only for spacing while the family is open. Load the family into a project and place it on a sheet and the real sheet number appears.
How many sheets can one view go on?
Exactly one. Duplicate the view to show it on a second sheet. Legends and schedules can go on several.
How do I swap the title block on a finished sheet?
Select the title block on the sheet and pick another type in the Type Selector. If the new one is not in the project yet, click Load first.
Related articles
- Revit project units and templates — where the office title block should live
- Exporting Revit drawings to CAD — printing and exporting the set you have just laid out
- How to create a Revit family — family building, the ground work for title blocks
- How to hide elements in Revit — view templates so every sheet displays alike