Double-Click Trouble in Revit

In Revit 2019, one of the fantastic new features was the ability to slow double-click to rename views in the Project Browser !  

Fantastic?  Not true - it is an almost universally hated new feature.  If you search on the internet, you will find an endless list of questions and answers on how to disable this feature.

I do know one person (who shall remain nameless) who claims to like this feature - but they are only one amongst thousands (or even millions) who hate it.

Beta Testing

I remember reading about this feature during beta testing of Revit 2019.  Many of the testers pleaded with Autodesk NOT to roll this feature out, as we knew it would cause trouble.  However, it was too late - the code was already in the software.  Autodesk did relent somewhat, and offered us a way to disable it by editing the revit.ini file, to add the line (in the [User Interface] section):

SlowDoubleClickInProjectBrowser=0

Of all the many online descriptions of how to disable this feature, here is a link to one of them, written by Pieter Schiettecatte on Dan Stine's blog:

BIM Chapters 

Default Setting

Now why did Autodesk make the ridiculous mistake of making the default behaviour different from previous versions?  I would guess that it was to make the change "discoverable" - but it is very annoying that we have to actively disable it.

In contrast to this,  despite much pleading, Autodesk refuses to change one other default behaviour that causes much Revit-misery:

Why, oh why can't they make the "Little Button of Evil" disabled by default?  Yes, that is the "Drag Elements on Selection" setting.

More Double-Click Trouble

Another irritating double-click feature that was added in Revit 2013 was the ability to take you straight into the Family Editor when you try to select a component in Revit.  For various reasons this might register as a double-click - particularly when you try to edit a tag value, for example.  What a huge time-waster that it opens the Family Editor when you clearly do not want to edit the family.

 This was another feature that we asked them not to include after beta testing it - to no avail.

Again, Autodesk relented, but it was not until a couple of releases later (so we had to live with it for a while).

Now you can either edit the Revit.ini file or better still, go to the Revit Options to choose what double-click behaviour you would like.

These settings get saved into your Revit.ini file, so they can be rolled out to an organisation:

[UserInterface]
DoubleClickFamily=EditType
DoubleClickSketchedElement=EnterEditMode
DoubleClickViewOnSheet=ActivateView
DoubleClickOutsideViewOnSheet=DeactivateView
DoubleClickAssembly=EnterEditMode
DoubleClickGroup=EnterEditMode
DoubleClickComponentStairs=EnterEditMode

I prefer a Double-Click on a component to either do nothing or to 'Edit Type' - but never, ever edit the family.  That should only be done as a very conscious decision of right-clicking or clicking on a command on the Ribbon menu.

How to Find Linework Overrides in Revit

The Linework tool is much misused in Revit - it seems like a quick and easy way to make individual lines look the way you want.  In reality, it wastes much more time than it saves - this is because it is so hard to undo or change later on.  My advice to Reviteers is to use it as a last resort when every other method cannot or will not work - instead you should use sub-categories, filters, view visibility overrides or even object styles.

What does a BIM or Model Manager do to figure out when the Linework tool has been used?  Well, it is basically guesswork.  All you can do is set the linework linestyle to <By Category> and then hover the cursor over any lines that you suspect might have been tampered with using the Linework tool.

Why is this inconsistent with so many other Revit tools that have a 'None' option that sits at the top of the list?  Who knows - it is lost in development history, but it makes training harder.
And why is <By Category> not automatically at the top of the list?  I guess because it sorts alphabetically - but it is very irritating trying to find it in a list.

Once you have managed to select the linestyle of  <By Category> you then hover the mouse over the line and it will probably turn dark blue - which is not easy to spot on a large busy view.

Tip to speed up the search

I know of a quick tip that will help you in the search for overriden lines:
All you have to do is change the 'Pre-selection' colour to something brighter.

• Go to Revit Options
• Choose 'Graphics'
• Spend 30 seconds wondering why 'Selection' and 'Pre-selection' colours are the same, and why dark blue, which is very hard to distinguish when most lines are black in Revit.
• Spend another 30 seconds wondering which $#&*%$#* at Autodesk thought it was a good idea to make the default setting colours both dark blue.
• If the colours are not both dark blue in your options, then you probably need to praise your BIM Manager for changing the Revit.ini file that is rolled out in your company.  Give them a gold star or buy them a drink

• Change the 'Pre-selection' colour to something really bright like red (unless you are red/green colour-blind, in which case choose something else).
• I like to change the selection colour too, although it is tricky to get a good selection that is not the same as sketch lines, and all the other special line types like Area boundaries.

Now when you hover the cursor over any line that has had a linework override applied, it shows up red (or whatever bright colour you chose) - don't forget that it only works when you have set the linestyle to <By Category>

I hope this saves someone, somewhere in the world a few minutes, and eliminates some anguish