Modifying keyboard shortcuts in Revit

Shortcuts are an important and effective way to speed up and enhance your designs with Revit. Not only will they save you a lot of time when using them effectively, but will also create a much smoother and enjoyable experience for the user. If you are not already familiar with the shortcuts, in my opinion the best way to learn them is just through using the software, and taking note when selecting tools to use in your ribbon. (If set, Revit will notify you of the shortcut command of each tool on the ribbon.)

There are also many other ways or learning the keyboard shortcuts if you want to get stuck right in from the start. First of all, there are many posts and blogs on the internet about keyboard shortcuts where you will able to follow tutorials showing them in use. Another method, which I have posted about previously, is an app for smart phones called RevitKeys. The following information is from the previous post:

REVITKeys Handy for Revit users on the go, this app is a simple guide for Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010. It includes 260 keyboard combinations separated into 14 categories. Never forget your Revit shortcuts again! List was made for Revit Architecture 2010-2012 but I can confirm that most, if not all of the shortcuts are still functioning on Revit 2013. Price – £0.69p

If you are new to Revit, or have been using another software package with similar tools but different keyboard shortcuts, then you will be happy to know that it is possible to modify and add new shortcuts for any specific command in the Revit environment. Before the release of the 2012 version of Revit, it was not as simple to edit your keyboard shortcuts, the only way to do this would have been to locate the .TXT document in your installation folder and manually edit it.  Following the steps shown in the images to the right will allow you to modify your keyboard shortcuts. I have added a few new shortcuts, but in general use all the default keys as I have learnt these through hands on experience with the program.

As you can see in Figure 3. At the bottom of the dialogue there are ‘Import’ and ‘Export’ buttons. This means you can export your custom keyboard shortcuts as an .XML file, which is both readable by us and by computers to set specific rules. It is then possible to import and use them on any computer or version of Revit. This is particularly important if you are someone who heavily relies on your custom setup. 

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