Revit Basic Tip - 7 Ways To Select Objects - CADnotes

5/18/2017 Revitbasictip:7waystoselectobjects|CADnotes
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Revit basic tip: Selecting objects

August 5, 2013 by Edwin Prakoso 4 Comments
Selecting objects is one of the basic tools you should know. You will use it a lot. You may need to select
many objects at once. Or probably all objects in the same category.
I see in one of my training class, the students are struggling with this. So I thought it would be useful if I
share this here. You probably will nd it useful as well.
Noun verb selection vs. verb noun selection

Revit allows you to select object rst then activate a modify command. This is called noun verb selection.
Whenever you select object rst, Revit will open contextual tab: modify. You dont have to change to ribbon
tab to modify rst.
Revit also allows you to initiate the command rst, then select the objects. To end object selection, press
ENTER or SPACE. This is called verb noun selection. This is probably preferred for shortcut users. If you
http://www.cadnotes.com/revitbasictipselectingobjects/ 1/13
dont know the modify command shortcut, you will need to switch to modify tab rst.
Both work the same way.

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Remember: For noun verb selection, you need to activate modify tool before selecting objects.
Now lets see how we can select objects in Revit.

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1. The basic: Clicking the objects

The most basic method is by clicking object you want to select. Move your pointer above an object. When
its highlighted, click you mouse button.
If you want to add more objects to your selection, hold CTRL key. You will see (+) sign near your cursor.
Click to select more objects.
If you want to remove objects from your selection, hold SHIFT key. () sign will appear near your cursor.
Click selected object to remove it from selection.
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When it gets crowded: Cycle between objects
When you have quite a lot of objects, you will see your objects are overlapping. You can cycle between
overlapping objects by pressing TAB key. After you see the object you want highlighted, click your mouse.
Hint:
Press TAB slowly, especially if you are new with this. Not only see the highlighted elements in
your view, watch the status bar (or tooltips) to see if the highlighted object is correct.
3. To select many: Drag a window selection

You can also select many objects at once by dragging a window selection. When modify tool is active, click

and hold your left mouse button. Make a window selection then release the button. Simple.
thing you should know though:

One

When you create the window selection from left to right, we call it window selection. You can see the
window as continuous line.
When you create the window selection from right to left, we call it crossing window selection. The window
is shown as dashed line.
Window selection Crossing window selection


Window selection will select objects that lies completely inside the rectangle. If only some part of the object
is inside the rectangle, then it will not be selected.
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Crossing window polygon will select objects inside and touching the selection window.
4. To select many in a category: Filter selection

You can use window selection to select many objects at once. But this is usually useless. By using window
selection, you select every object within the window. Mostly we need to modify objects in the same
category or the same family.
You can lter objects from your selection by using selection lter. You can combine lter with selection
window. After you select objects, you will see modify contextual tab. Click lter in selection panel.

The opened dialog box will show you all category in your selection. You can uncheck what you want to
exclude from selection. Or you can click Check None, then choose only categories you want to select.
Click OK to apply lter.
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5. To select many with the same family and types

Using lter is very helpful. However, It selects all objects in the same category. It means it will select all

doors regardless the family name and type.

might need to choose only objects with the same family and type. You can use contextual menu to do
You

that.

Using contextual menu in view
Contextual menu for selecting similar object is available in view. Select the object in view then right click.
Using contextual menu in project browser

You can also select objects by family name and type from project browser. Expand families group, then nd
the type you want to select. Right click, then choose from select all instances. This is very useful if you
know the family type, but you dont know where theyre placed.
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6. To reselect previous selection

If you need to reselect the same objects after doing an action. You dont have to pick the objects, using
selection or lter to select them again.

window

Simply press Ctrl + Left Arrow on your keyboard. Or you can right click your mouse and click select previous

from contextual menu.
7. To save and load your selection

Select previous is useful if you want to reselect object immediately. But if you need to reselect some objects
repeatedly during your design, you need to save your selection.
You can save your selection by clicking save in selection panel, modify contextual tab.
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To load your selection, you can use load button from Manage tab> Selection panel. You can also edit your
saved selection later.
To sum up
Selecting objects is very important in Revit. You will need to copy objects, erase, or change the objects
properties.
When you have complex design, you will need to know all the selection method to make it easier.
Do you have your favorite method? Do you have any experience when selecting objects you want to share?

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About Edwin Prakoso

I work as an Application Engineer in Jakarta, Indonesia. I've been using AutoCAD

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Tagged With: lter, save selection, selection
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Vusimbe says
June 19, 2015 at 7:53 pm
Revit, objects are not lining up and appear to move when zooming in. Objects look as though they
are not connected and when I try to pick lines I often need to select well away from the line to pick
it up. Could it be a problem of the graphis card?
Reply
Edwin Prakoso says

June 22, 2015 at 8:22 am
It sounds like a graphic card issue. Have you tried to update the driver or turn off the
hardware acceleration?
@EdwinPrakoso
Reply
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Yogesh Tanwar says

March 20, 2015 at 10:21 am
Thanks to you.
Reply
Robert says
August 6, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Hi Edwin

rstyour articles are becoming more and more useful to me, thank you for your hard work

my query isis there a way of simply making a temporary reference planeif for example you want
to ip to a side view of something that you are working on in plan.
it seems like a really involved process to go to the reference plane tool and do all of the procedure
to nally arrive at what you wantand if you need to make several changes at different planes??it
takes too long.
What you want to do is to select the object and somehow automatically make a "temporary"
reference plane.
any thoughts on this ..or is this a newbie query that I just haven't found the technique of yet?
Reply
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5/18/2017 Revitbasictip:7waystoselectobjects|CADnotes

HOME STORE WRITE FOR CADNOTES ADVERTISE EMAIL NEWSLETTER

FEATURED AUTOCAD ARTICLES REVIT ARTICLES INVENTOR MICROSTATION

Noun verb selection vs. verb noun selection

Both work the same way.

Now lets see how we can select objects in Revit.

1. The basic: Clicking the objects

3. To select many: Drag a window selection

thing you should know though:

Window selection Crossing window selection

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4. To select many in a category: Filter selection

Click OK to apply lter.

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5. To select many with the same family and types

Using contextual menu in project browser

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6. To reselect previous selection

selection or lter to select them again.

7. To save and load your selection

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Revit 2018: Multistory Stairs

Arranging Revit Project Browser

Share the knowledge

About Edwin Prakoso

I work as an Application Engineer in Jakarta, Indonesia. I've been using AutoCAD

Filed Under: Revit

Conrm you are NOT a spammer

Notify me of replies to my comment

Edwin Prakoso says

Yogesh Tanwar says

August 6, 2013 at 12:14 pm

Work Better with

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