Revit Tip: Revit Link Visibility/Graphics Best Practices

Today’s tip: master Visibility/Graphics for linked models to keep coordination views clean, consistent, and fast.

Know your three control modes

• By Host View: The link adopts the host view’s discipline, detail level, phases, filters, and category visibility. Best for documentation where you want one source of truth.
• By Linked View: The host adopts a specific saved view from the linked model. Ideal for coordination—ask the architect/engineer to provide a “Coordination” view locked by a view template for consistency.
• Custom: You control the link’s Model, Annotation, and Imported Categories independently. Use this for fine-grained override of what you show from the link.

Practical workflows that scale

• Discipline coordination:
  • Set Revit Links > Display Settings to “By Linked View” and choose the partner’s published “Coordination” view.
  • In the same dialog, set Annotations to “Hide” to avoid linked tags/dimensions cluttering your sheets.
• Documentation clarity:
  • Use “Custom,” then in Model Categories, turn off categories from the link you don’t want to print (e.g., Furniture, Planting).
  • Halftone the entire link from the Revit Links tab for context without competing lineweights.
• Imported CAD in links:
  • In Display Settings > Imported Categories, disable noisy DWG layers nested inside the linked model, without touching the source file.

Filters that target linked elements

• With Display Settings set to “Custom,” use the Filters tab to apply rules to linked categories.
• Examples:
  • Color-code architectural walls by Fire Rating for review meetings.
  • Shade structural columns from the linked model to validate load paths.

Control nested links

• Inside Display Settings for a link, manage nested Revit links so campus/site files don’t unexpectedly appear.
• Set nested links to By Host, By Linked View, or Custom—match the parent strategy for predictability.

Phasing and cutting behavior

• By Host View respects your host phase filters; By Linked View uses the link’s phase setup—choose intentionally.
• Where available, enable “Enable Cutting in View” on the link instance so plan/section cuts read clearly through the linked geometry.

Standardize with view templates

• Include “Revit Links” in your view templates so coordination, documentation, and presentation views all apply consistent link rules.
• Adopt stable link type names to keep template-driven overrides reliable across projects.

Performance tips

• Avoid “By Linked View” if the linked view uses heavy graphics (shadows, sketchy lines). Switch to “Custom” for a lighter footprint.
• Halftone beats full overrides for quick, readable context.

Quick setup checklist

• Pin links and set their Workset to a dedicated “Links” workset for on-demand unloading in large projects.
• Create a “Coordination – Host” view template (By Host View) and a “Coordination – Linked” template (By Linked View) to cover both scenarios.

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