Learn · Dimensioning in Revit
How to dimension in Revit
Which tool to use, how to pick the right reference, and how to build a dimension chain on a plan.
How Revit documents distances
Revit doesn't draw a loose line over your plan when you dimension something. The dimension stays attached to references in the model itself: a wall face, a centerline, a door opening. That's what lets you check a measurement later: you look at which reference the dimension is using, not just trust the number written on it.
The tool used most often for this is Aligned Dimension, on the Annotate tab, in the Dimension panel. It follows the direction of the reference you select, and covers most plan cases. There's also Linear Dimension, which forces a horizontal or vertical direction: useful when you want the projection of a measurement instead of the direct distance, for example on an angled wall.
Basic workflow
- Activate the tool Annotate, Dimension panel, Aligned.
- Check the pick mode In the options bar, leave Individual References selected. That's the manual mode, and it works on any element. The Entire Walls mode, which automates a single wall at once, is covered in the auto-dimension tutorial.
- Click the first reference, then the second Revit highlights the reference under the cursor before you click. If it's not the one you want, press Tab to cycle through the references available at that point.
- Keep clicking if you want a chain Before placing the dimension, you can select more references to build a chain with several segments in one operation.
- Move the cursor away and click to place The dimension is created as a permanent element of the current view. Press Esc to exit the tool.
Most common mistakes
The wrong reference gets picked. On walls with multiple layers, the exterior face, interior face and centerline sit close together, and it's easy to click the wrong one without noticing. Use Tab to check which one is highlighted before clicking.
The dimension doesn't show up in another view. That's expected: dimensions belong to the view where they were created. To document the same measurement in two views, you need to create the dimension in each one.
Editing the dimension's value moves the element. A dimension isn't just text: under certain conditions, changing the number moves or resizes what it measures. Before changing a value to "make it right," check what's being referenced.
Adjusting the style
Selecting an existing dimension, the Type Selector (in the properties palette) swaps the dimension style in use, and Edit Type opens the appearance options: text size, symbols, value formatting. Duplicating the type before changing it avoids accidentally changing every other dimension in the project that shares the same style.
