Click Annotate tab › Dimension panel › Aligned (DI) and set Prefer to wall faces or centerlines. Click each wall in turn, then click an empty spot to place the string. Entire Walls dimensions a wall and its openings in one click.
Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to add overall dimensions to a plan's exterior walls.
How to do it in Revit
Step 1: Start the Aligned tool
Click Annotate tab › Dimension panel › Aligned (DI). On the Modify | Place Dimensions tab › Place Dimensions panel, set Prefer to Wall centerlines, Wall faces, Center of core or Faces of core, whichever it should snap to first (Autodesk Help: Add an Aligned Dimension). In Revit 2025, these controls are on the Options Bar.
Step 2: Pick the references
Keep Pick set to Individual References. Click the first wall or line, then the next, pressing Tab to cycle to another reference such as a wall end. After the last one, move the cursor clear of the elements and click to place the string.
Step 3: Dimension a whole wall in one click
Set Pick to Entire Walls, click Options and choose Openings (by Centers or Widths), Intersecting Walls or Intersecting Grids. Click the wall, then click where the string goes (Autodesk Help: Add Aligned Dimensions to Walls Automatically).
Step 4: Add the overall dimension
An overall dimension runs between the two outermost faces, usually the exterior faces of the end walls. Place it outside the detailed strings so the two don't overlap.
Step 5: Use Linear for horizontal or vertical
Click Annotate tab › Dimension panel › Linear to measure along the view's horizontal or vertical axis, for example between the corners of an angled wall. After the second reference, press Spacebar to switch between vertical and horizontal (Autodesk Help: Add a Linear Dimension).
Step 6: Change a reference after placing
Select the dimension and click the blue control in the middle of a witness line to cycle a wall reference between the centerline and the two faces. To add a reference, click Modify | Dimensions tab › Witness Lines panel › Edit Witness Lines, click the element, click in the drawing area, then press Esc.
Step 7: Lock or equalize
Click a dimension's padlock to fix the distance between its references, and click it again before you change the value (Autodesk Help: About Locking Permanent Dimensions). On a string with three or more references, click EQ to keep them equally spaced.
Step 8: Make a temporary dimension permanent
Select an element and click the dimension symbol next to its temporary dimension. You can then change the new dimension's type in the Type Selector.
What to watch for
Dimensions belong to one view. Autodesk notes they don't appear in other views automatically, so each plan, callout and section needs its own. Tags work the same way; see how to tag all elements.
You can't type a number over a dimension. Replace With Text in the Dimension Text dialog accepts words such as VARIES, but Revit won't accept a numeric value. If the number is wrong, fix the model.
Select the element to change the value. A dimension can be edited only while one of the elements it measures is selected; then click the value and type. On a locked dimension, click the padlock to release it first.
Rounding lives in the dimension type. A dimension type whose Units Format has Use project settings cleared keeps its own rounding, which is how a set can round to 1/8" in plans and 1/32" in details. See how to change project units.
Linked walls need individual picks. Entire Walls can't dimension walls in a linked file, so pick their faces one at a time with Individual References.
Every plan needs the same strings. Overall, grid and opening dimensions get drawn again on each floor plan, and after a late change to the footprint someone has to check every level for strings that miss a new wall. A string that skips the new wall still prints a believable number, and nobody notices until review. Dimensioning the exterior walls plan after plan is the repetitive part an AI agent for Revit can take on, with you approving each change.
Or, just ask Mira to do it.
Mira is an AI thinking partner for Revit that automates the work you repeat and builds tools your team needs.
- Type this in Mira
Add overall dimensions to the exterior walls in this floor plan.
Mira takes the walls whose type Function is Exterior in the open plan, then asks which dimension type to use and whether to measure to faces or centerlines before it places anything. Placing dimensions needs a small tool Mira writes, which asks Allow first, and Mira names any wall it couldn't dimension, such as a curved one.
How do you add dimensions in Revit?
How do I dimension a wall with its openings in Revit?
How do I dimension to the face of a wall in Revit?
What is the shortcut for dimensions in Revit?
Why can't I change a dimension value in Revit?
How do I change the dimension style in Revit?
Related Revit how-tos
- How to Add Keynotes in RevitIn Keynoting Settings (Annotate tab › Tag panel › Keynote drop-down), load your keynote file. Then pick Element, Material or User Keynote from that drop-down, choose a style in the Type Selector and click the element. A Keynote Legend on the sheet explains the numbers. Or, just ask Mira to fill in the Keynote on the wall types you've selected.
- How to Center Room Tags in RevitIn Revit 2025.3 and later, select the rooms and click Re-center Reference, then select their tags and click Move to Room Reference. The first moves each room's reference lines to its center; the second snaps the tags there. Earlier releases have neither command. Or, just tell Mira to center a whole view or level.
- How to Convert CAD Details to RevitMake a drafting view, import the DWG into it with Current View Only checked, then trace over it with detail components and your firm's line styles. Exploding the import is faster, but the CAD file's layers, text and hatches come with it, so clean those up and delete the import when you're done. Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to turn the CAD detail into a Revit detail.
- How to Create a Detail in RevitDraw a callout on a plan, section or elevation for a detail tied to the model, or start a drafting view for a 2D detail that isn't. Then add detail components, detail lines, filled regions and annotation from the Annotate tab. Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to draw a roof parapet detail in a new drafting view from your Pirros library's components.
- How to Create a Line Style in RevitClick Manage tab › Settings panel › Additional Settings › Line Styles, click New and name the style. Set its Line Weight, Line Color and Line Pattern, then click OK. Pick the style from the Line Style list when you draw detail or model lines. Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to find and merge duplicate line styles.
- How to Add Revisions in RevitClick View tab › Sheet Composition panel › Sheet Issues/Revisions, click Add and enter the date and description. Draw a cloud with Annotate tab › Detail panel › Revision Cloud, set its Revision in Properties and tag it. The sheet then lists it. Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to add a revision to a range of sheets.
Try it yourself.
Or bring it to the firm.
The download is free and takes a minute. The firm conversation is where your standards, your library, and your rollout get built. Start wherever makes sense.