How to Scale in Revit: Views, Images and Families
Eight steps in Revit, or one sentence in Mira.
Do it with MiraPick a view's scale from the scale list on the View Control Bar. To resize lines, images or imported CAD, select them, click Scale (RE) on the ribbon, then pick two points or type a factor. Families can't be scaled; change their size parameters instead.
Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to list drafting views off your standard scales.
How to do it in Revit
Step 1: Set a view's scale
Open the view and pick a scale from the scale control on the View Control Bar, or set View Scale in the Properties palette. Each view has its own scale (Autodesk Help: Assign a View Scale).
Step 2: Make a custom scale
Click the scale on the View Control Bar and choose Custom. Enter the Ratio, add a Display Name if you want one, and click OK. A custom scale belongs to that view only.
Step 3: Change the scale of a view on a sheet
Select the viewport and click Modify | Viewports tab › Viewport panel › Activate View. Pick the scale on the View Control Bar, then double-click outside the view to deactivate it.
Step 4: Start the Scale tool
Select the lines, walls, images or imported CAD you want to resize, unpinning them first. Click Modify | <Category> tab › Modify panel › Scale (RE), then choose Graphical or Numerical on the Modify | Scale tab (Autodesk Help: Scale Graphically).
Step 5: Scale to a length you know
With Graphical, click an origin, then the end of a length you know, then where that length should end. Revit scales by the ratio of the two. With Numerical, type a factor in Scale and click the origin.
Step 6: Scale an image or PDF
Select it and drag a corner handle, or type its Width, Height or scale in the Properties palette with Lock Proportions on. For a vector PDF, turn on Enable Snaps, measure a dimension you know, and correct the size (Autodesk Help: Modify Images and PDF Files).
Step 7: Fix CAD that came in at the wrong size
Select the import, click Type Properties and change Import Units or Scale Factor. Next time, set Import Units when you import or link the file.
Step 8: Resize a family with its parameters
The Scale tool doesn't work on families: Autodesk says you can't resize or scale a family in a project. Change its size parameters in the Properties palette or Edit Type, or add a type at the size you need.
What to watch for
Annotation keeps its printed size. Text, tags and dimensions print at the same size at every scale. Move a plan from 1/8" to 1/4" and the model doubles on the sheet while the text stays put, so it looks smaller next to it.
Model line weights change with scale. The same pen prints at a different width at a different scale, set in the Model Line Weights table. See how to set line weights.
Scale moves dimensions, not their values. The Scale tool moves dimensions but keeps their values, unless you resize an element a dimension measures. Then the value changes. How the values read, such as feet and inches or millimeters, comes from the project units unless the dimension type sets its own. See how to change project units.
The Scale tool is particular. Pinned elements won't scale, everything selected must lie in parallel planes, walls must share a base level, and one element the tool doesn't support turns it off for the whole selection.
Detail level comes from scale only once. A new view picks Coarse, Medium or Fine from its scale when you create it. After that, set Detail Level yourself.
Copied details keep their scale. Details pulled from old projects arrive at whatever scale someone gave them years ago, so one set can mix 1 1/2" and 3" versions of the same condition. Finding them means opening drafting view after drafting view. Starting from the firm's approved typicals, found through detail management, means the next project doesn't inherit someone else's scale.
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
List all drafting views in this model that are not set to 1:10 or 1:20 scale.
Mira only reads the model for this one. It lists each drafting view outside those two scales with its scale and the sheet it's on, and changes nothing. It may write a small tool to read the scales, which asks Allow first.
How do you change the scale of a view in Revit?
What is the shortcut for scale in Revit?
How do I scale a family in Revit?
How do I scale a PDF in Revit?
How do I scale a CAD file in Revit?
Why does my sheet scale say As indicated in Revit?
Related Revit how-tos
- How to Add Levels in RevitIn a section or elevation, click Architecture tab › Datum panel › Level (LL). Click twice to draw the level line, then click its elevation and type the height. With Make Plan View on, each new level gets a floor plan and ceiling plan. Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to add levels, each with its own floor plan.
- How to Change Project Units in RevitClick Manage tab › Settings panel › Project Units (UN). Click the Format value next to Length, pick the units and rounding, and click OK twice. Only the display changes, and dimension types or schedule fields with their own format don't follow. Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to set length units and rounding, then read them back.
- How to Export Revit to CAD (DWG)Click File tab › Export › CAD Formats › DWG. Pick an export setup, choose the current view or a set of views and sheets, and click Next. Pick a folder, the AutoCAD version and the naming, and click OK. The setup decides layers and units. Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to export every floor plan to DWG.
- How to Install and Manage Revit PluginsInstall a Revit plugin, or add-in, from Autodesk's Design and Make Marketplace or its maker's installer, then start Revit. Its tools appear on the Add-Ins tab or its own tab. Turn add-ins off in Add-Ins Manager on the Manage tab (2025.3 and later). Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to replace a product name in every text note.
- Revit Keyboard Shortcuts: The Keys Worth Learning FirstMost Revit shortcuts are two-letter codes you type in sequence, such as WA for Wall or DI for Aligned Dimension, and Revit runs the tool on the last key. You change them in the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog (KS). The ones worth learning first are below, grouped by job. Or, for jobs no shortcut covers, like renumbering details, just ask Mira.
- Revit Project Browser Missing? How to Get It BackClick View tab › Windows panel › User Interface and tick Project Browser, and Properties if that's gone too. You can also right-click in the drawing area and choose Browsers › Project Browser. If it's ticked and you still can't see it, it's probably on another monitor or off-screen; the reset steps are below. Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, why your Project Browser is empty.
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.