Revit project units are the first thing to set, before a single line is drawn. Get them wrong and every dimension on the drawings is wrong with them, and fixing it once the model is finished costs many times more.
This article runs from the units dialog through to packing every setting into one template the whole office shares. To learn modelling and documentation end to end, see the Revit Architecture course.
Where the units live and which key opens them
Open them with Manage › Settings › Project Units, or type the shortcut UN.
The key thing to grasp straight away: units live inside the project file, not in the application's Options. Each .rvt keeps its own set.
Change the units in the open project and no other project follows. To make a whole office share one set, they must be set in the template, which the end of this article covers.
That split explains a common frustration. Someone fixes the units on Monday's model, opens Tuesday's and finds feet and inches again, then blames the software. Nothing is broken: Revit project units belong to each file, and the only place to fix them once and for all is the template every new model is copied from.
The Project Units dialog: discipline, quantities and Format
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Discipline | Picks the unit group. Architects work in Common; Structural and Electrical belong to other disciplines |
| 2 | Length | Length units. Local practice uses millimetres |
| 3 | Area | Area units, usually square metres |
| 4 | Distance | Distance, often centimetres. The quantity most people forget |
| 5 | Decimal symbol, digit grouping | The decimal mark and the thousands separator |
Click the Format cell of a row and a second dialog opens with the display details.
| Box in the Format dialog | What it does |
|---|---|
| Units | The unit for that quantity, millimetres or metres for example |
| Rounding | How far values are rounded. Pick Custom and type the rounding increment |
| Unit symbol | Whether the unit symbol is printed after the number |
| Suppress trailing 0's | Drops trailing zeros, so 123.400 reads 123.4 |
| Use digit grouping | Applies the thousands separator chosen in the Project Units dialog |
Autodesk describes every box on Set Project Units. Two quantities are easy to miss: angle and slope, both shown in degrees with two decimals by default.
Change units in Revit from inches to millimetres
A project started from the Imperial template works in feet and inches. The cure takes under a minute.
- Type UN to open Project Units.
- Leave Discipline on Common.
- Click the Format cell of the Length row, set Units to Millimeters, pick a sensible Rounding, click OK.
- Do the same for Area to square metres and Distance to centimetres.
- Check the Format column: every row previews how values will read.
One thing to know before you switch: changing units does not rename types or loaded families. A wall type called 4" Masonry keeps that name after the project moves to millimetres, as the note on Autodesk's Project Units page says. For clean names, rename the types by hand or start from the Metric template instead.
Typing a bare number into a dimension box means the current length unit. To enter another unit, type its symbol straight after the number.
Revit dimension units for strings and tags
A dimension string does not have to follow the project units. Every dimension type has its own Units Format box in Type Properties, set to follow the project by default.
Clear Use project settings in that Format dialog and the type gets its own unit. This is how a set can carry dimensions in millimetres while spot levels read in metres — the usual local convention, covered further in dimensions in Revit.
Remember too that what you see on screen is the rounded value. Click a number to edit it and Revit may show the true fractional value held in the model.
What a Revit template holds
A template is an empty project with everything already set, saved with the extension .rte. Creating a model really means copying from a template.
Autodesk's own documentation says a template can carry view templates, loaded families, settings such as units, fill patterns, line styles, line weights and view scales, and geometry too if wanted.
It is worth being deliberate about what goes in. A template heavy with families opens slowly and carries content nobody uses, while a template that holds only units saves almost no time. The practical middle ground is everything a drawing set needs to look consistent — units, text, dimensions, line weights, title blocks and view templates — plus the ten or fifteen element types the office really builds with. Revit 2027 installs its templates in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RVT 2027\Templates, but ships no template for local architectural practice — which is why each office builds its own.
Create a Revit template and save an .rte file
The quickest route is to build one good project and save it as a template.
- Start a project from the Metric template, or open a finished project and delete the geometry.
- Set the units with UN to the office standard.
- Build the text types, dimension types, grid heads, level heads and the line weight table.
- Load the families you use most, make view templates and filters, and organise the Project Browser.
- Add title blocks for the sheet sizes you print.
- Click File › Save As › Template, name it and save it in the shared office folder.
Family is greyed out while a project is open, because it applies only to a family file. Building families is covered in how to create a Revit family.
Add the template to the list and the New Project dialog
A template sitting in a shared folder is not enough; it has to be on the list before it appears when you create a model.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Project template list | Exactly the list shown in the New Project dialog. A fresh install has two rows; click the plus button to add the office template |
| 2 | Default save path | The folder Revit opens whenever you save |
| 3 | Family template path | Holds the .rft files used to build new families |
| 4 | Places button | Adds shortcuts to the file dialogs so nobody types long paths |
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template file | Lists the declared templates. Revit preselects an Imperial row, so switch to Metric or to the office template |
| 2 | Browse | Points straight at any template on disk, including one not yet on the list |
| 3 | Create new | Project makes an .rvt model; Project template makes a new .rte template |
Try it: set up the environment for a new project
Seven steps on a fresh install. Do it once, then write it down as a team convention.
- Open Revit and note the release shown in the title bar.
- Open the File tab, look through the seven commands on the left, then click Options at the foot of the panel.
- On the User Interface page, clear the tabs you never use, such as Steel and Precast, click OK and count the tabs left on the ribbon.
- Reopen Options, go to File Locations and note the family template path.
- Press Ctrl + N to open New Project, switch the template box to Metric, then click Cancel.
- Open an existing project, type UN and note the units for length, area and distance.
- Reset those three to the office standard and save the file as a template with File › Save As › Template.
From then on, every new project starts with the right units, text types and views already in place.
Frequently asked questions
I changed the units but a wall type still has an imperial name?
That is expected. Changing project units renames nothing, so rename the types by hand or rebuild from the Metric template.
How do I make every project share one set of units?
Set the units in a template and declare that template on the File Locations page. Units belong to the project file, so Options cannot hold them.
Which unit does Revit assume when I type a bare number?
The current length unit. To enter another unit, type its symbol right after the number.
Where should the template live for a whole team?
In a shared folder on a server or network drive, with each machine declaring that path in its template list in Options.
Related articles
- Levels and grids in Revit — the next job once the units are set
- Link CAD files in Revit — the Import units box and the unit of the CAD file
- Dimensions in Revit — separate units for dimension strings and spot levels
- How to hide elements in Revit — view templates and filters to build into the template