Opening the Revit user interface for the first time is usually overwhelming: there is a great deal on screen at once. Yet the window has only ten regions, and naming each one correctly makes every tutorial easy to follow.
This article walks through all ten, then turns to navigating views quickly. To learn modelling and documentation end to end, see the Revit Architecture course.
The Home screen and the File tab
Start Revit and it opens the Home screen: the place to create a project, open an existing one, or reopen recent files.
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Models and Families | Two pairs of Open and New buttons. The upper pair opens or creates a project; the lower pair a family file |
| 2 | Recent, Autodesk Projects, My Insights | The three pages of the left column. Recent lists recent files; the other two need an Autodesk account |
| 3 | The recent file grid | One tile per file with a thumbnail, name and date. The pin keeps a file at the head of the list |
| 4 | Recommended for you | A column promoting new features. Close it with the cross in the corner |
To return here while working, click the house button at the head of the quick access toolbar, or press Ctrl+D. Click again to go back; the file never closes.
The title bar carries two more facts. It names the release, for instance Autodesk Revit 2027.2. On an educational licence it adds EDUCATION NON COMMERCIAL, and printed sheets carry that mark too.
Every file command lives on the File tab, the first tab on the left. The seven commands in the left column follow the order of work: New, Open, Save, Save As, Export, Print, then Close. Two small buttons at the foot are easily missed: Options opens the settings for the whole program, and Exit Revit closes it.
The recent file list stores full paths. Move a file and clicking its row reports an error rather than hunting for it.
On every save, Revit keeps the previous version as a backup in the same folder, its name carrying a four-digit number. When the main file is damaged this is the first place to look: rename the backup to .rvt and it opens as an ordinary project.
The ten regions of the Revit window
Four regions sit across the top. Region 1 is the title bar and quick access toolbar, which accepts new buttons — a good home for the commands you run dozens of times a day. Region 2 is the ribbon tab strip: the 2027 release carries fourteen tabs.
Architects lean on five of them. Architecture holds the modelling tools, Insert brings in outside data, Annotate handles notes and dimensions, View handles views and display, and Manage holds project settings.
Region 3 is the set of panels inside a tab, region 4 the row of view tabs, which behave like browser tabs.
The middle of the window holds region 5, the Properties palette, region 6, the Project Browser, region 7, the drawing area, and region 8, the ViewCube. Along the bottom sit region 9, the View Control Bar, and region 10, the status bar.
The status bar repays attention. Hover over an element and it spells out the full name as category — family — type. Reading it before clicking prevents most wrong selections.
The Revit Properties palette and Project Browser
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Type Selector | The top box names the type of the selected element. Change it and the type changes |
| 2 | A parameter row | Name on the left, value on the right. Greyed text marks a parameter you cannot edit |
| 3 | Sort buttons and Apply | Three small buttons change the sort order; Apply commits a typed value |
| 4 | The Project Browser search box | Type a few letters and the tree collapses to the matches |
| 5 | The tree groups | Views, Legends, Schedules, Sheets and the rest |
The Properties palette has a trait that is easily forgotten: with nothing selected it shows the properties of the current view — scale, detail level, discipline. Select an element and it switches to that element.
The Project Browser is the table of contents for the whole file. Its Search box filters by name, and on a set with several hundred views that is the fastest way to find anything.
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Properties palette | Showing a sheet's properties: sheet number and sheet name. Whatever is selected, this palette follows |
| 2 | Project Browser | Not a flat list but grouped by package, for instance A01 site plan, A02 architectural plans |
| 3 | Drawing area | A finished sheet is open, not a loose view |
The browser tells you how a team works. A well-grouped set yields any sheet in seconds; a flat list of several hundred views hides everything. Setting up that grouping is covered in hiding and showing elements in Revit.
Reading a ribbon panel, and trimming the ribbon down
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tab name | Click to switch command groups. The open tab has a lighter background |
| 2 | Command button | A large icon with the command name. Hover and pause for a description |
| 3 | The small arrow under a button | An arrow marks a multi-command button. Click it to pick the sub-command |
| 4 | Panel name | Small text along the foot. Command paths read tab, then panel, then button |
Some panels carry a small arrow at the lower right corner. Clicking it opens the settings dialog for that whole group of commands — a corner that many long-time users have never noticed.
The ribbon can be trimmed. In Options, the User Interface page lists tools by discipline: an architect who clears Steel, Concrete, Systems and the analysis tools gets a noticeably faster ribbon. The same page sets double-click behaviour and tooltip detail, covered in Revit keyboard shortcuts.
Settings in Options belong to the machine and the account, not to the project file. Move to another machine and they have to be set again.
The Revit ViewCube and the navigation bar
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A face of the cube | Click a face to look straight along that direction, from above or from the front |
| 2 | An edge | Click an edge for a view across two adjacent faces |
| 3 | A corner | Click a corner for the familiar three-quarter view |
| 4 | The compass ring | Drag the ring around the cube to spin the view. Click a letter to face that direction |
| 5 | The navigation bar | The steering wheel button above, the zoom group below |
Below the ViewCube sits SteeringWheels, which gathers zoom, pan and orbit into a wheel that follows the cursor. Anyone comfortable with a three-button mouse rarely needs it. Autodesk documents both on ViewCube and Navigation Bar.
The View Control Bar runs along the foot of the drawing area. From the left: scale, detail level, display style, sun path, shadows, the cut plane, the crop region and its visibility.
Three mouse moves and two keys to navigate views in Revit
Three mouse moves cover almost all navigation:
- The wheel zooms in and out.
- Hold the middle button and drag to pan.
- Hold
Shiftwith the middle button and drag to orbit in a 3D view.
The wheel zooms towards the cursor, not the centre of the screen. Put the cursor on what you want to see before scrolling and the view lands there. It is a small difference that saves a great many moves, and Autodesk states it plainly on About Navigating Views.
The two most used shortcuts are ZF and ZA. Press ZF and the current view zooms to fit everything in it — the quickest way back after zooming too far in. Note that ZF pulls the whole site into frame, leaving the building small; scroll in a few notches afterwards.
In a 2D view such as a plan, orbiting does nothing: a plan always looks straight down. For an angled view, open a 3D view, as covered in perspective in Revit.
Temporary hide and isolate in Revit: HH, HI, HR, HC and IC
The more elements a model holds, the harder it is to click the right one. Revit has a temporary hide group for clearing the view while you work.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| HH | Hides the selected element |
| HI | The opposite: keeps the selection and hides everything else |
| HC | Hides the whole category of the selected element |
| IC | Keeps only that category |
| HR | Resets everything |
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The cyan border and label | A cyan border surrounds the drawing area with the words Temporary Hide/Isolate. That border means the view is not showing everything |
| 2 | What remains visible | Only the isolated category is left on screen |
Never print while that border is showing. The print will be missing exactly what is hidden. Pressing HR before printing is a habit worth forming.
Temporary hide differs from hiding in view: temporary hide disappears on HR or when the view closes, while hiding in view is saved with the view and persists. Hiding in view, and finding hidden elements again, is covered in hiding and showing elements in Revit.
Try it: a tour of the interface on an existing project
A twenty-minute exercise. It tours the Revit user interface end to end; open any project that already has a model in it.
- Press
Ctrl+Dto reach the Home screen, then click the house button to return. - Read the title bar and note which Revit release is running.
- Click the File tab, find Options at the foot of the panel, open it and close it again.
- With nothing selected, read the Properties palette and note the view scale and detail level.
- Select a wall, read the status bar, then watch how Properties changes.
- Type a few letters into the Project Browser Search box and watch the tree collapse.
- Open a 3D view. Click a face, then an edge, then a corner of the ViewCube in turn.
- Hold
Shiftwith the middle mouse button and drag to orbit. Try the same on a plan view. - Press
ZF, then scroll the wheel with the cursor placed on the centre of the building. - Select a wall, press
IC, look at the cyan border, then pressHRto restore.
Step 8 is the one worth doing: it shows why a plan cannot be orbited, which is hard to remember from text alone.
Frequently asked questions
The Properties palette has disappeared. How do I get it back?
Go to the View tab, Windows panel, the User Interface list, and tick Properties again. The Project Browser is toggled in the same place.
Why will my plan view not tilt however much I orbit?
A 2D view always looks straight down and cannot be tilted. Open a 3D view and orbit there instead.
I zoomed in and lost the building entirely. What now?
Press ZF to fit the whole content in the frame, then put the cursor over the building and scroll in a few notches.
Why are elements missing from my printed sheet?
The view still has temporary hide switched on. If there is a cyan border around the drawing area, press HR and print again.
Related articles
- Revit keyboard shortcuts — the User Interface page of Options and assigning keys
- Hiding and showing elements in Revit — hiding in view, view templates and grouping the browser
- Project units and templates in Revit — the New Project dialog and template paths
- Perspective in Revit — 3D views and setting up a camera