In 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 do it in Revit
Step 1: Load your keynote file
Click the Annotate tab › Tag panel › Keynote drop-down, choose Keynoting Settings, click Browse and open your keynote file, a tab-delimited .txt file. Under File Path, pick Absolute (a fixed folder or network path), Relative (the folder that holds the project file or central model) or At Library Locations (the folder your Revit installation or deployment sets) (Autodesk Help: Keynoting Settings Dialog). A file on a network server is available to everyone.
Revit 2025 installs three samples built on CSI MasterFormat: RevitKeynotes_Imperial.txt, RevitKeynotes_Imperial_2004.txt and RevitKeynotes_Metric.txt. Revit 2026 and 2027 install only Keynotes_Sample.txt, which shows how to build your own (Autodesk Help: About Keynote Files).
Step 2: Choose a numbering method
In the same dialog, under Numbering Method, choose By keynote to show each keynote's own value from the file (such as 07 42 13.A11), or By sheet to number keynotes in the order you create them. With By sheet, a tag shows no number until its view is placed on a sheet. Click OK.
Step 3: Give types and materials their keynote values
Tags fill themselves in when the element or material already has a value. For an element, click Edit Type in the Properties palette and click the Keynote value under Identity Data to pick one. It is a type parameter, so every instance of the type gets it (Autodesk Help: Have You Tried: Keynoting). For a material, open Manage tab › Settings panel › Materials and set Keynote on the Identity tab; elements that use the material inherit it (Autodesk Help: Change the Identity Data of a Material).
Expect Autodesk's families to arrive blank. Autodesk says the value is empty in the default families, and the What's New for Revit 2026 notes that CSI reference values were removed from Revit's content files (Autodesk Help: What's New in Revit 2026, Dynamo Updates 3.4.1).
Step 4: Pick the keynote type and style
From the Keynote drop-down, choose Element Keynote (reads the element's type), Material Keynote (reads the material you point at, such as one layer of a wall) or User Keynote (any note in the file, not linked to the element). In the Type Selector, pick a style: Autodesk lists Number, Number - Boxed (Large or Small) and Text. Numbers need a keynote legend to be read; Text puts the keynote's words in the tag (Autodesk Help: Add a Keynote to a View).
Turn Leader on or off and set the tag's orientation. Revit 2027 removed the Options Bar and moved its controls to the Properties palette and the ribbon (Autodesk Help: Options Bar Removal).
Step 5: Click to place the keynote
Click the element or material (the arrowhead lands there), click a second point for the leader, then click where the tag sits. If there is no keynote value yet, the Keynotes dialog opens: pick one and click OK. Cancel leaves the keynote empty (Autodesk Help: About Types of Keynotes).
To line up several keynotes, select them and use the Multiple Align panel (added in Revit 2025) on the Modify | Keynote Tags tab (Autodesk Help: About Keynotes).
Step 6: Add a keynote legend to the sheet
Click the View tab › Create panel › Legends drop-down and choose Keynote Legend. It is a schedule with Key Value and Keynote Text already in its fields (Autodesk Help: About Keynote Legends). Drag it from Legends in the Project Browser onto the sheet; one legend can go on many sheets.
To list only the keynotes visible in that sheet's views, open the legend, click Edit next to Filter in the Properties palette and select Filter by Sheet (Autodesk Help: Filter a Keynote Legend by Sheet).
Step 7: Edit the keynote file, then reload it
Open the .txt file in Excel or a text editor; the Keynotes dialog in Revit only displays it. Each row is a key value, the keynote text and the key value of its parent heading, separated by tabs. Main headings come first, with no parent; a note under heading 00000 reads 00001 (tab) User Note 1 (tab) 00000 (Autodesk Help: About Editing the Keynote File).
Save it as tab-delimited text, then click Reload in Keynoting Settings; otherwise changes appear only after you close and reopen the project. Every keynote that uses a changed value updates. Print or export with an out-of-date file and Revit warns that resources are not up to date.
What to watch for
A number with no text means the keynote value isn't in your project's keynote file, which happens when a family was keynoted against another file. Pick a value from your file in the Keynotes dialog, or add the missing value to the file and reload.
Changing an element keynote changes the type. Every instance of that type, in every view, gets the new value. For a one-off note, use a User Keynote; it won't follow the element, so you coordinate it by hand.
Material keynotes need to see the material. The element must be visible, with the view's detail level at Medium or Fine. They don't work on insulation, detail lines or filled regions, or in wireframe views, and in a 3D view any keynote needs the view locked first (Save Orientation and Lock View).
Linked models need the same keynote file path. Revit compares the path and file name in the host and the link, not the contents, and shows an error if they differ. Keynotes placed in the host on linked elements appear in the host's legend; keynotes placed inside the linked file don't.
At firm scale the drift is in the values, not the file. One keynote file on a server keeps the words consistent. But each project stores its own path, families from Autodesk's library arrive with Keynote blank and details copied from old jobs carry values from another file. Keep keynote values on the families and detail components your firm treats as firm standards, so tags fill themselves in. For types that arrive blank, the AI agent for Revit sets the Keynote on the wall types you select, after telling you how many walls the change reaches. The keynote file stays yours to manage.
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
Set the Keynote to 09 29 00.A1 on the wall types I've selected.
Keynote is a type parameter, so Mira tells you how many walls the change reaches and waits for your OK, then reads each value back.
How do I edit keynotes in Revit?
Where are the keynote files in Revit 2026 and 2027?
What is the difference between element, material and user keynotes in Revit?
How do I show keynote text instead of a number in Revit?
What is the difference between a keynote and a material tag in Revit?
Which Revit versions does Mira work with?
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.