Revit Keyboard Shortcuts: The Keys Worth Learning First
Six steps in Revit, or one sentence in Mira.
Do it with MiraMost 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.
How to do it in Revit
Step 1: Learn the shortcuts worth knowing first
These are Revit's defaults, from Autodesk's shortcut list. Learn one group at a time.
Navigate and zoom
- ZF (or ZE): Zoom to Fit
- ZA: Zoom All to Fit, across every open view
- ZR (or ZZ): Zoom in to a region
- ZO (or ZV): Zoom out 2x
- ZP (or ZC): Go back to the previous pan or zoom
Hide, isolate and reveal
- HH: Temporarily hide the selected element
- HI: Temporarily isolate the selected element
- HC and IC: Temporarily hide or isolate the selected element's whole category
- HR: Reset temporary hide/isolate
- EH: Hide the element in the view (not temporary)
- RH: Toggle Reveal Hidden Elements
- EU and VU: In Reveal Hidden Elements mode, unhide the selected element or its category
Views and panels
- VG (or VV): Visibility/Graphics
- PP (or Ctrl+1): Toggle the Properties palette
- TL: Thin Lines
- WT: Tile open windows
- KS: Keyboard Shortcuts
Modify
- MV: Move
- CO (or CC): Copy
- RO: Rotate
- AL: Align
- OF: Offset
- TR: Trim/Extend to Corner
- SL: Split Element
- MM: Mirror, picking an axis
- AR: Array
- PN: Pin
- DE: Delete
- MA: Match Type Properties
- CS: Create Similar
- SA: Select All Instances in the entire project
Model
- WA: Wall
- DR: Door
- WN: Window
- CM: Place a Component
- GR: Grid
- LL: Level
- RP: Reference Plane
- RM: Room
Annotate
- DI: Aligned Dimension
- TX: Text
- TG: Tag by Category
- RT: Room Tag
- DL: Detail Line
- EL: Spot Elevation
Snaps (type one while placing an element or sketching a line; it applies to your next pick only)
- SE: Endpoints
- SM: Midpoints
- SI: Intersections
- SC: Centers
- SP: Perpendicular
- SN: Nearest
- SO: Snaps off
Step 2: Open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog
Click View tab › Windows panel › User Interface › Keyboard Shortcuts, or type KS. The dialog lists every Revit tool with its current shortcuts.
Step 3: Add or change a shortcut
Search for the tool, select it, type the new keys in Press new keys and click Assign. One tool can have several shortcuts; the tooltip shows only the first. To drop one, select it and click Remove. Some keys are reserved and can't be assigned.
Step 4: Let the status bar finish the code for you
As you type, the status bar shows the first tool that matches the keys so far. Press the arrow keys to cycle through other matches, and the Spacebar to run the one shown without typing the rest (Autodesk Help: Use Keyboard Shortcuts). This doesn't apply to shortcuts that use Ctrl, Shift or Alt.
Step 5: Export your set
In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog, click Export and save the XML file. Use it as a backup, to print a reference or to share your set.
Step 6: Import a shared set
In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog, click Import and pick the file. If you've already changed any shortcuts, Revit asks whether to overwrite them with the imported set or merge the two. Import is also how you carry your shortcuts into a new Revit release.
What to watch for
The same code can run two tools. Autodesk's list gives RC to both Repeat Last Command and Remove Coping. When codes clash, use the status bar to pick the one you want: the arrow keys cycle through matches and the Spacebar runs the one shown. (Enter also repeats your last command.)
Check your shortcuts after an upgrade. If your custom keys didn't come with you, import last year's file; Autodesk lists that as one use of Import. Revit saves your set as KeyboardShortcuts.xml in %APPDATA%\Autodesk\Revit\, in the folder named for your Revit release. The file exists only once you've changed a shortcut.
Export before you reset. Resetting to Revit's defaults discards every change you've made. To reset, close Revit and delete (or rename) KeyboardShortcuts.xml in that folder.
At firm scale everyone's set drifts. Each person customizes their own keys, new staff learn whatever the desk next to them uses, and help from a colleague stops working because their WA isn't your WA. The fix is one firm-standard shortcut file, kept by the BIM manager with the rest of your firm standards. Autodesk notes you can share a set by placing KeyboardShortcuts.xml in each machine's UserDataCache folder, which sits under C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ in the folder for each product and release. Revit copies it into a person's profile only the first time they start that release, so it works for new installs and new staff. Anyone who has already opened Revit imports the file instead. Reissue it with every upgrade. More on running standards in our guide to BIM management.
Some jobs no shortcut covers. A shortcut speeds up one command. It does nothing for an edit you repeat on every element in a set: renumbering a sheet's details after late changes, swapping a product name in every note, centering every room tag. Those are what Mira, the AI agent for Revit, is for.
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
Renumber the details on this sheet.
Mira draws each numbering order on a diagram of your sheet, waits for you to pick one and flags any detail marked SIM instead of overwriting it.
How do I change keyboard shortcuts in Revit?
Where does Revit save my keyboard shortcuts?
Is there a printable list of Revit shortcuts?
How do I share one set of shortcuts across an office?
What are the most useful Revit shortcuts to learn first?
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.