A slab plan showing top and bottom rebar together is unreadable. The site needs two sheets, one per layer, yet the model holds a single set of bars.
View filters in Revit solve exactly that: they pick out a group of elements by a condition on a parameter, then hide them or change their lines in one view. This article walks fifteen steps in Revit 2027 through two structural jobs: isolating bottom slab rebar in its own view, and colouring every X-direction beam on every plan. If you want the full structural modelling and documentation workflow, the Institute runs a Revit Structure course.
What view filters in Revit do that hiding by hand cannot
Hiding elements one by one also gives you a bottom-layer sheet. But add one slab panel and you hide again, and level 3 starts from scratch. A filter is a rule: every bar whose parameter matches is caught, including bars placed later.
| Tool | Acts on | Remembers |
|---|---|---|
| Hide in View | The elements you selected | No, redo it whenever the model changes |
| Visibility/Graphics by category | A whole category, such as all rebar | Yes, but cannot split within a category |
| View filter | A subset matching a parameter rule | Yes, and reusable on every sheet |
Preparing a file to follow along
You need a model with slab rebar and a structural plan. If there is no rebar yet, place some with slab reinforcement in Revit. The model here is the Institute's four-storey concrete building, which already carries filters named with the @P21=… convention.
This article is part of the Institute's Revit Structure series.
Reading the view filters already in the model
Step 1 — Open the Filters tab of Visibility/Graphics
Open the slab rebar plan, type VG and choose the Filters tab. The table lists filters applied to the view; each row has Enable Filter, Visibility and Override… buttons for lines, patterns and transparency.
Add, Remove, Up and Down are grey because this plan carries a View Template; see structural plans in Revit for the way out.
Step 2 — Click Edit/New to see the definitions
The Filters dialog has three columns. The left one lists every filter in the project, with four buttons below for new, duplicate, rename and delete. The middle one is Categories. The right one is Filter Rules.
This dialog manages filters for the whole project. Which filter goes on which view is set on each view's Filters tab.
Step 3 — Read the bottom-layer rule
Click @P21=THÉP SÀN LỚP DƯỚI CHỈ HIỆN, the "bottom slab rebar only" filter. Tick Hide un-checked categories so the middle column shows only what is used.
In words: take every rebar whose Comments is not Thepduoi. Apply it and untick Visibility, and every bar that is not bottom layer disappears; hence "only". The top-layer filter uses the same trick but reads Type Comments with the value THEPLT.
Splitting top and bottom rebar layers with a view filter
Step 4 — Duplicate the 3D slab rebar view
Right-click 3D THÉP DẦM SÀN ĐIỂN HÌNH and choose Duplicate View › Duplicate. The copy has no template, so you can edit freely.
Step 5 — Write Thepduoi into Comments of the bottom bars
This is the step people skip. A filter only catches bars that carry the value. In the sample model the Comments of the slab bar sets are empty, so applying the filter straight away hides every slab bar.
Turn the view to FRONT, window-select the bottom bar sets. Properties shows Structural Rebar (3); scroll to Identity Data, type Thepduoi in Comments, click Apply.
Repeat for the bottom sets in the other direction.
Step 6 — Add the filter to the view
Type VG, Filters tab, click Add. The Add Filters dialog lists every filter not yet applied; pick @P21=THÉP SÀN LỚP DƯỚI CHỈ HIỆN and click OK.
Step 7 — Untick Visibility and move it to the top
Untick Visibility on the new row. If the view has several filters, select the row and click Up until it is first.
Order matters when two filters catch the same bar. Autodesk's Apply a Filter page is explicit: the filter at the top of the list takes precedence.
Step 8 — Click OK and check
Click OK. The view keeps only the two-way bottom mesh; top bars and beam bars disappear, and the model loses nothing.
If a stray bar remains, select it and read Host Category in Properties. The window selection in step 5 easily catches a beam bottom bar lying at the same height as the slab mesh; that bar has host Structural Framing, and clearing its Comments cleans the sheet.
Colour beams in Revit with a new filter
This part is how to create a filter in Revit from scratch: name it, pick categories, set a rule. The example colours every X-direction beam red so a checker sees at once which beams run along which grid.
Step 9 — Open Filters on the View tab and create one
On the View tab, Graphics panel, click Filters. Click the first icon below the list to create a filter. The Filter Name dialog opens; type a name following your office convention, such as @P21=DẦM DX TÔ MÀU, keep Define rules, click OK.
Select and Use current selection are grey when opened from here; they belong to selection-based filters.
Step 10 — Tick Structural Framing
In Categories, the Filter list drop-down narrows by discipline: Architecture, Structure, Mechanical, Electrical, Piping, Infrastructure. Scroll to Structural Framing and tick it. Tick Hide un-checked categories to tidy the list.
Step 11 — Set the rule Mark begins with DX
In Filter Rules the header reads AND (All rules must be true). Pick parameter, operator and value: Mark, begins with, DX.
Choosing the parameter is the hard part. Beam type names in this model are 220x400, with no DX in them, so a Type Name rule catches nothing. The DX and DY codes live in each beam's Mark. Before writing a rule, select one element and read its Properties. The operator list has fourteen entries, from equals to has no value; has no value is handy for finding elements that were never marked.
Push the filter into the View Template for every plan
Step 12 — Open the template and find V/G Overrides Filters
Go to View › View Templates › Manage View Templates and select the template used by the structural plans. The V/G Overrides Filters row has an Edit… button.
Step 13 — Add the filter to the template
Click Edit…. Visibility/Graphic Overrides opens with the template name in its title instead of a view name. Click Add, pick @P21=DẦM DX TÔ MÀU, OK.
Step 14 — Change colour and line weight
On the new row click Override… under Projection/Surface › Lines. Line Graphics has Pattern, Color and Weight. Click Color and pick red, set Weight to 5, click OK.
Step 15 — OK twice and open any sheet to check
The Lines cell now shows a red preview stroke. Click OK in Visibility/Graphics, then OK in View Templates.
Open another plan that uses the template, as in the image at the top: DX beams red, DY beams black. The Filters dialog confirms the filter now serves 3 Views and 1 View templates.
Naming filters so the whole team can read them
A real project holds dozens of filters, and the Filters dialog sorts them alphabetically. The sample model follows an easy convention: office prefix, an equals sign, then what the filter does. Reading @P21=THÉP TẮT CỘT (column rebar off), @P21=THÉP HIỆN DẦM DX (DX beam rebar on) or @P21=MODEL ẨN SÀN KT (architectural slabs hidden) tells you at once what is switched on or off, and for which category.
Two benefits follow. Your office filters group together in the list, apart from defaults such as Interior or Rebar Numbering. And someone receiving the model can guess each rule from its name without opening it.
When it does not work
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| An "only" filter hides every bar | The bars do not yet carry the value the rule looks for | Write the value on the right bars, step 5 |
| The filter catches nothing | The rule reads a parameter that does not hold the code, such as Type Name instead of Mark | Select an element, read Properties, change the parameter |
| Two filters give opposite results | Their order on the Filters tab | Move the filter that should win to the top |
| Add, Up, Down are grey | The view carries a View Template | Add the filter to the template, step 12 |
| Only one sheet changes colour | The filter sits on the view, not the template | Put it on the template |
| The parameter you need is missing | The ticked categories do not all share it | Tick fewer categories |
Things people get wrong about view filters in Revit
| What people say | What 2027 actually does |
|---|---|
| Creating a filter makes it work | It works only once added to a view or template |
| Unticking Visibility deletes elements | It hides them in that view only; the model and schedules stay the same |
| The top and bottom layer filters in a project use the same parameter | In the sample model the bottom filter reads Comments and the top one reads Type Comments; check each |
| Colouring means changing the material | A line override changes the drawing only; the material stays |
| Filter order does not matter | The filter at the top of the list wins |
In short, view filters in Revit come down to three things: write the right value into a parameter, write a rule that reads that parameter, and put the filter on the template so every sheet follows. The MEP side of the same technique is in pipe colours by system in Revit.
Frequently asked questions
How do filters differ from Visibility/Graphics?
Visibility/Graphics acts on a whole category. A filter acts on a subset within categories by a parameter rule, and it lives on the Filters tab of that same Visibility/Graphics dialog.
Can a filter use several conditions?
Yes. Add Rule adds a rule in the same group, Add Set nests another group. The header box lets you choose AND (All rules must be true) or OR (Any rule may be true).
Which parameter should separate top and bottom rebar?
Revit has no built-in "layer" parameter. The usual way is to write an agreed value into Comments or a dedicated parameter when placing bars. What matters is that the whole office agrees on one parameter.
Do view filters affect schedules?
No. Schedules have their own Filter tab in Schedule Properties. A view filter only changes how a view is drawn.
How do I see where a filter is used before editing it?
Select it in the Filters dialog and read The selected filter is assigned to at the top of the left column: the number of views, View Templates and numbering templates using it. Editing the rule changes all of them.