Is it possible to create a legend for symbols in Revit?

ByCADbrief Staff

Short Answer

Yes, it is possible to create a legend for symbols in Revit by using a Legend view and placing Legend Component items that represent your model symbols. This is the most common professional method for door, window, and annotation-style legends. Limitation: not every family category can be shown as a legend component.

What You Need to Know Before

Warning: Revit legends are view-based and category-dependent, so some symbols or custom annotations may not appear the way users expect. A common failure is trying to build one legend from model families that were not created or categorized to display properly in a Legend view.

How to Create a Symbol Legend in Revit

  • Command: Legend Component

  • Shortcut: No default keyboard shortcut

  • Quick Steps:

    1. On the View tab in the Ribbon, click Legends to create a new Legend view and set its scale.
    2. In the new legend, go to the Annotate tab or use the Ribbon tools to place a Legend Component, then choose the required Family and Type in the Properties palette.
    3. Add text labels with Text from the Annotate tab, and if needed enable the View Direction or adjust the Length parameter for the legend symbol display.

Variables & Settings

  • Key Setting: View Direction in the Legend Component properties

  • Expert Setting: This controls how the family appears in the legend, such as plan, front, or side representation where supported. If the selected family does not have suitable geometry for that direction, the legend symbol may look incomplete or misleading.

Why it Fails

  • Cause 1 (Geometry): The family does not contain a usable symbolic or model representation for the selected legend view direction.
  • Cause 2 (layers/Locks): The category or subcategory visibility is turned off in the legend view, or the family is controlled by visibility settings that hide key symbol lines.
  • Cause 3 (Command/Logic): The user is trying to place a family category that Revit does not support as a Legend Component, or expects annotation symbols to behave like model legend items.

Quick Fix & Best Practice

  • Quick Fix: Edit the family and verify its symbolic/model visibility settings, then reload it and place it again with Legend Component in the correct view direction.
  • Manager’s Verdict: Use a Revit Legend view for standard symbol schedules and sheet legends because it is clean, reusable, and office-standard. Avoid forcing unsupported categories into legends; for those, use drafting views or detail components instead.

FAQ

Can I create a door legend in Revit?
Yes, door legends are one of the most common uses of Legend Component.

Can annotation symbols be added to a Revit legend?
Not always; many annotation items are better handled in a drafting view.

Can one Revit legend be placed on multiple sheets?
Yes, the same legend view can be placed on multiple sheets.

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