In Revit you can duplicate a view such as a floor plan or section but did you know there are three different types of duplicate views.

The three types are as follows:

• Duplicate
• Duplicate with detailing
• Duplicate as Dependent

So what is the difference between these and when should they be used? Well let me explain them to you.

Duplicate

This is the most common way to duplicate a view and is likely what you have been using all this time. So what are the main features of Duplicate:

• Copies visibility settings
• No detailing
• Independent from original view

This allows you to make multiple copies of a view such as a floor plan but use them for different reasons such as fire escape plans, room area plans & dimensions. Each view will be of the same floor plan however they can individually be customised.

Duplicate with Detailing

This is similar to duplicate however as the name suggests it will also copy any detailing such as dimensions and text. The new duplicated view is still independent from the original allowing you to fully customise the new view.

• Copies visibility settings
• Copies detailing
• Independent from original view

This can be useful if you will be using the same detailing as on the original view, for example you want to use the same view but at different scales or colour schemes.

Duplicate as Dependent

Duplicating as a dependent will create identical copies of the original view, the new views are also tied to the original view as child objects. What this means is if you add a dimension in the ordinal view all dependent views will also have the new dimension.

• Shares visibility settings
• Copies detailing
• Is synchronised to the original view

This can be extremely useful if you have a large floor plan and you want to make several views which are cropped to specific regions.

Conclusion

Understanding the difference between the different duplicate views and how they can be used is extremely useful however little used. On larger projects Duplicate as Dependent has a lot of uses.