Video: Control Element Selection and Double-Click Actions

Use settings to control how you can select elements in the model, and what happens when you double-click different types of elements.

This video demonstrates the following:

  1. Toggle element selection modes.
  2. Set double-click actions for element types.

Transcript

In some situations, you may want to control the default selection behavior. The Select drop-down allows you to control this.

Check or clear the options in the drop-down to turn the different selection modes on or off. For example, when "Select links" is on, the linked file highlights as the cursor is positioned over it and is selected when clicked. When "Select links" is off, the linked file is not highlighted when you position the cursor over it and you cannot select it.

The other selection modes that can be set are:
  • Underlay - Controls if elements from the underlay of the view can be selected or not.
  • Pinned Elements - When this selection mode is off, any pinned are prevented from being selected. Typically an element is pinned because you don't want it to move so preventing it from being selected can be helpful.
  • Select by Face - Faces of elements, instead of edges, are eligible for selection. This can be helpful when trying to select a floor in a room where the edges are hidden by the walls. Face selection allows you to select the floor in the middle of the room.
  • Drag Elements on Selection - Moving elements by dragging them after selection can make modifying your model easier but can also lead to mistakes by accidentally moving elements.

As an alternative, all modes can also be toggled using the controls at far right of the status bar.

Another user interface you can control is double click behaviors. You can specify what happens when you double-click certain elements. The behavior for different element types can be defined separately.

To define the double-click behavior, click the File tab on the ribbon and open the Options dialog. In the User Interface section, for double-click options, click Customize.

On the drop-down for each element type, select the desired setting. The settings available in the drop-down are dependent on the type of element.

The selection and double-click options are user settings. Once defined, these settings are persistent between Revit sessions and stored in the Revit.ini file.