Setting consistent view extents across different sheets in Revit

By Dennis Collin

Scope boxes are an often-missed function in Revit. However, this command is an excellent way to ensure consistency of view extents across multiple floors.

Consider a staircase spanning several floors, there is a need to show a consistent area of extents for the ground, first and second floor. Also, it is often desired to place each view in a consistent place on each respective sheet. This is easily achieved with a scope box. This command is located under the View tab as shown in the image below.

Place the scope box around the desired feature, quite often this is a stairwell or a riser shaft. It is good practice to name the scope box describing the feature it encompasses. Also specify a height high enough that it intersects with all the relevant floor level datums.

Once drawn, set each view extents to the named scope box within the property’s palette. Revit then adjusts the crop region to suit.

Place each view onto a sheet. Use the guide grid function to locate a common reference like a Reference Plane, Level or Grid so that the view is placed at a common offset from a sheet origin.