View Category Manager

View Category Manager manages category visibility for the active Revit view. It scans the elements visible in the current view and lists only the categories it finds, giving you a compact way to hide or show view categories without opening the full Visibility/Graphics dialog.

Getting Started

Find View Category Manager in the Utilities pulldown on the Amorphous ribbon tab.

Features

Active-view category scan - Lists model and annotation categories found in the current view
Focused category list - Hidden categories that were already hidden before the scan are not included
Model and annotation tabs - Review model categories separately from annotation categories
Quick visibility toggles - Check or uncheck categories to change active-view visibility
Bulk actions - Use Show All, Hide All, Invert, Reset, or Refresh for faster cleanup
Multi-select editing - Use Ctrl or Shift selection, Space, or double-click for repeated changes
Immediate view updates - Category visibility changes are written to the active view as soon as you make them
Refresh support - Re-scan the active view after changing view contents or visibility

How to Use

Basic Workflow

Open the target view in Revit
Open Utilities and click View Category Manager
Choose the Model Categories or Annotation Categories tab
Check categories you want visible and uncheck categories you want hidden
Use Show All, Hide All, Invert, Reset, or Refresh when needed

Visibility changes are written to the active view immediately.

User Interface

Model Categories Tab

The Model Categories tab lists model categories found in the active view. Use it to hide or show visible model content without searching through categories that are not present.

Annotation Categories Tab

The Annotation Categories tab lists annotation categories found in the active view. Use it to clean up tags, text, symbols, and other annotation content in a focused view.

Bulk Actions

Action	What It Does
Show All	Marks all listed categories visible
Hide All	Marks all listed categories hidden
Invert	Reverses each listed category’s checked state
Reset	Restores category visibility to the state captured when this active view was first loaded
Refresh	Re-scans the active view and rebuilds the list

The tool scans what is visible when the window opens.

Behavior	Details
Already hidden categories	Categories hidden before the scan are not listed or counted
Categories hidden by this tool	They remain listed while the window is open so you can show them again
Reset	Restores the visibility snapshot captured for the active view when the tool first loaded it
Refresh	Re-scans the active view and rebuilds the list
After closing	Use Revit Undo or Visibility/Graphics if a category is no longer listed

Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl or Shift selection	Select multiple category rows
Space	Toggle visibility for selected rows
Double-click row	Toggle visibility for that row or selected rows
`Esc`	Close the window

Options & Settings

Option	Description
Model Categories	Shows model categories found in the active view
Annotation Categories	Shows annotation categories found in the active view
Reset	Restores the active view to the captured startup visibility state
Refresh	Rebuilds the category list from the current active view state
Bulk visibility actions	Quickly show, hide, or invert all listed categories

Use Cases

Scenario	Recommended Approach
Clean up a coordination view	Hide categories that are visible but not relevant to the current review
Prepare screenshots	Quickly hide annotation or model categories that clutter the view
Check category makeup	See which visible categories are present without scanning the whole model
Temporary visibility edits	Toggle categories quickly, then use Revit Undo if needed
Review annotation clutter	Switch to Annotation Categories and hide noisy annotation categories

Tips & Best Practices

Open the target view first because the tool works on the active view
Use Reset during experiments when you want to return to the view state captured when the tool first loaded
Use Refresh after major visibility changes to rebuild the list from the current view state
Use Revit Undo for quick recovery if a temporary cleanup hides more than intended
Check view templates when a category does not respond to visibility changes

Limitations

Limitation	Details
Active view only	The tool applies visibility changes to the current view
Visible categories only	Categories already hidden before the scan do not appear
View template control	A view template may prevent category visibility edits if it controls those settings
Category-level changes	The tool changes category visibility, not individual elements

Troubleshooting

A category is missing from the list

Possible causes:

The category was already hidden before the tool scanned the view
No visible elements from that category are present in the active view
A view template or filter is affecting visibility

Solution: Use Revit Visibility/Graphics or adjust the view template, then click Refresh.

A checked category still does not show