When Revit presents you with an error message that needs attention, you can view what elements are affected if you expand the error message.  When you do this, you see a description for the elements and at the end of the description, you will see an “id”.   If you have multiple errors, you may want to export the report by expanding the dialogue box and then clicking export.  It will export to a .html file that must be saved.  Once saved, you can open the file and view the elements and their element ID’s.

You may feel like it is worthless information but in reality, the element ID is the way you can find the exact location of where Revit is having an issue.  To search with an element ID, go under the Manage Tab, Inquiry Panel, and select the “Select by ID” button (green bar code with the pointer).  Once you do this, a box will pop up where you can enter one or multiple element ID’s.  You can either click “Show” or “Okay”.  If you select “Show”, Revit will highlight the element in the first available view it can be located in.  If you select “Okay”, Revit will select the element but it will not direct you to the location of the element.  This may be helpful if you only need to edit the properties of the element or a similar situation.  With selecting “Show”, the dialogue box will not disappear.  You will have the ability to select “Show” again and again and Revit will cycle through different views the element is in.  Once you click “Okay”, the dialogue box will disappear.

In order to determine an Element’s ID when you might need to know it outside of an error report, you much first have the element selected that you wish to inquire about.  Then, go to the Manage Tab, Inquiry Panel, and select the “IDs of Selection” button (white bar code).  This will display the ID or IDs of the elements that you have selected. 

Element ID’s are also helpful when using Navisworks.  Navisworks will give you your Element IDs when you run your collision detection report.  Use “Select by ID” within Revit to determine the exact elements that are in conflict. 

Filters can be used to turn on and off elements and/or adjust the way elements are shown in a view.  To create a filter, you must go into your visibility graphics and under the filters tab, click the edit/new button.  A pop-up will appear and have three categories: Filters, Categories, and Filter Rules.  Under the Filters area at the bottom, click on the new button.  Another pop-up will appear and ask for a Filter Name.  It is best to name it with respect to what you are going to be filtering.  For example, if you have a piping system like Cold Water, you might name the Filter Cold Water.  Once you click okay, you will now have a chance to add the necessary information for the filter. 

Under the Categories section, you will want to pick the type of elements you wish the filter to apply to.  For example, if you would like to control Mechanical Equipment, you would put a check in the box next to Mechanical Equipment.  You can add as many categories as you like or have only one category selected. 

Next you will pick your Filter Rules.  Under this section, you will pick what you want to Filter by.  You have many choices that all come from the properties of the elements that are associated with the category you picked.  You have up to three “filter by” rule options that you can pick.  These three rules are all associated to each other with “and’s” and therefore must all be true in order for the filter to control the element’s visibility.  Once you pick the property you wish to filter by, the next line down will ask what condition you would like to set on that property.  For example, if you pick “Flow” for an Air Terminal, you can pick whether you want the flow to be equal to, not equal to, greater than, etc; and in the next line, you will input what you want the parameter to be.  For this example, we want “Flow”, “is greater than”, “250 CFM (your input)”.  Once you determine your Rules, click “okay”.  Now you have created a filter. 

In order to get this filter into the particular view you would like to utilize it in, click on “Add” under the filters tab in your visibility graphics.  Scroll to the filter you just made, click on it once to highlight it, then click “OK”.  This will add it to your view.  You can add this filter to any view that you wish to add it to. 

Within your visibility graphics, under the filters tab you can adjust the visibility on/off, line type, patterns, and other aspects of the elements that are effected by the filter.  It can be helpful if you wish to see only some of the elements in a category and not others or to change the appearance of different piping systems and many other things.  For example, if you wanted to see which of your diffusers are over 250 CFM and change them to red, you could create the filter mentioned above and then change the color to red.  As long as the filter is satisfied and the element is not effected by any other filters, the diffusers over 250 CFM will appear in red.  Another filter example would be a filter to turn on and off certain types of Mechanical Equipment.  If you only wish to see plumbing mechanical equipment, you can set up a filter to turn off mechanical equipment that do not satisfy the filter set to plumbing equipment.