Revit 2019 - Exclude Elements from a Group Instance

By James Philip

Using groups within Revit simplifies the control and updating of multiple objects, but it relies on all the group instances having identical configurations. That does not need to be the case. In the example, the furniture layout is repeated in a few different rotation and mirrored positions. See fig 1.

Fig 1

In one of the apartments the configuration needs to change because a piece of furniture is too near to the window. So, rather than ungroup the instance, edit it and make a new group, the piece of furniture can be excluded from the group. This has the advantage that the group will still control all the apartment layouts so that revisions are only done once. See fig 2.

Fig 2

To exclude elements from the group, put the cursor over the item and press and release the tab key until it highlights. Then select it by picking the left mouse button. See fig 3.

Fig 3

Select the right-hand mouse button to evoke the context menu and select exclude from the list. See fig 4.

Fig 4

The object now disappears, but if the cursor is put over the location it still highlights, enabling its restoration. See figs 5 and 6.

Fig 5

Fig 6