Alternate Dimension Units in Revit

Many organizations work in environments where they need to produce documents that contain both Imperial and Metric dimensions.  AutoCAD has had the ability to do this easily for many years, but Revit just recently gave us the ability to easily show both methods.  Since it has not been available like this for very long, many Revit users are not aware of this important feature.

Since the Revit 2014 release, you can display Primary units and Alternate dimension units for both the permanent and spot dimension types. This feature allows you to simultaneously display both imperial and metric values in drawings as primary and alternate dimensions.

To show both unit methods, either a new dimension type must be created or an existing dimension type can be modified.

To set up alternate dimension units for a dimension type:

1. Start the dimension command for the desired type of dimension, such as Aligned.  (You can also highlight an existing placed dimension.)
2. In the Properties palette, pick the Edit Type button.
3. In the Type Properties dialog box, scroll down to the Text area and find the Alternate Units parameter.  Pick in the box that says “None” and select either:
   1. Right option – if you desire the alternate units to display to the right of the primary units.
   2. Below option – if you desire the alternate units to display below the primary units.
4. Go to the Alternate Units Format parameter and pick on the button to change the settings.
   1. In the Format dialog box, make sure that there is no checkmark next to “Use Project Settings”.
   2. Adjust the settings as desired.
   3. Pick the OK button.
5. If you desire the alternate units to have brackets around them (which is very typical):
   1. Go to the Alternate Units Prefix parameter and use the keyboard to type the left bracket “[“.
   2. Go to the Alternate Units Suffix parameter and use the keyboard to type the right bracket “]”.

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