Grids in Revit for architects

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Grids are annotation elements that help define the context of a project and organize its design plan in your Revit model.

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You can use grid lines to help plan the layout of a building.

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A grid is a type of datum element, a non-physical item used to locate columns and structural elements in your project.

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Grids help maintain the project horizontally.

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They consist of a series of lines along with bubbles that contain the name of each grid line.

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To place a grid in your Revit model, on the Architectural ribbon, in the Datum panel, click Grid.

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On the contextual ribbon, in the Draw gallery, select the Line tool.

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To specify the starting point, or head of the grid line, click in the drawing area.

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To constrain the grid placement to horizontal or vertical, press SHIFT.

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To specify the ending point, or tail, click again in the drawing area.

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When creating a grid line that is parallel to another grid in your model, a listening dimension appears.

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After you create that grid line, a temporary dimension appears.

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Click the temporary dimension value to activate it.

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Type in a new value, and then press ENTER.

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Continue clicking to create heads and tails for each grid line.

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For large grid layouts, instead of creating lines individually, you can streamline the process by using the Copy function and/or the Array tool.

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When you are done, click Modify to end the command.

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Select your grid and adjust the Name in the Properties palette.

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Keep in mind that Revit automatically numbers each grid line.

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If you want to change a number, click it, enter the new value, and then press ENTER.

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There are a few quick tips that will make working with grids easier.

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Number one, to change the length of a grid line, select it, click the open dot control at the end, and then drag to adjust its length.

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To move or resize a grid line that is locked into alignment, click the locked padlock icon to unlock it first.

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Number two, for better readability with lines placed close together, add an elbow to relocate a grid bubble.

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Next to the bubble you want to modify, click the Add Elbow drag control, which looks like the letter Z.

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Then, drag the two controls to position the elbow.

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Keep in mind that this is a 2D override, so it will only appear in the view used to make the change.

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Number three, you can display grid changes in similar parallel views for more consistency.

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To do this, first select the grid lines with the 2D changes you want to make visible in other views.

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Then, on the ribbon, click Propagate Extents.

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In the Propagate Datum Extents dialog, select the views you want to apply the 2D overrides to.

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Click OK and save the file.

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You now know how to quickly and efficiently create grids within your Revit design model.