Elevation Tags
Elevation Tags keeps your spot elevation tags perfectly aligned and consistently positioned across all your floor, structural, and ceiling plan views. Whether you're documenting finished floor levels or ceiling heights, this tool eliminates the tedious manual adjustment of tag positions.
What is Elevation Tags?
Elevation Tags is an alignment tool that automatically positions spot elevation tags in your plan views. Instead of manually nudging each tag to maintain consistent text placement, Elevation Tags handles this automatically—either when you open a view or with a single button click.
The tool works with spot elevation tags in floor plans, structural plans, and ceiling plans, ensuring that tag text appears in a uniform position relative to the tag's origin point.
When to Use
| Scenario | How Elevation Tags Helps |
|---|---|
| Opening an existing floor plan | Tags automatically align when the view activates |
| After placing multiple spot elevations | Run manual alignment to position all tags consistently |
| Receiving a model from another team | Quickly standardize tag positions across all views |
| Preparing sheets for printing | Ensure all elevation tags look professional and uniform |
| After moving elements that tags reference | Re-align tags that may have shifted |
Quick Start
- Open a floor plan, structural plan, or ceiling plan view in Revit
- If auto-update is enabled, tags align automatically when the view opens
- To manually align tags, click Align Elevation Tags on the DB Tools ribbon
- All matching elevation tags in the current view will snap to their aligned positions
User Interface
Ribbon Button
The Align Elevation Tags button is located on the DB Tools ribbon tab. Click this button to immediately align all elevation tags in the current view.
Settings Panel
Access Elevation Tags settings through the DB Tools settings panel. Here you can configure:
- Whether tags align automatically when views open
- Which tag families the tool should process
- Leader-relative offset nudges
- A live preview that updates as you edit the settings
Settings
Auto-Update Enabled
Default: On
When enabled, Elevation Tags automatically aligns tags whenever you open or switch to a floor plan, structural plan, or ceiling plan view. Turn this off if you prefer to align tags only when you click the ribbon button.
Tag Name Patterns
Default: ^DB Elevation Tag - (?:Concrete|Steel|Wall) Label$
Specifies which tag families Elevation Tags should process. You can configure up to three patterns to match your tag family names. Only tags matching these patterns will be aligned; other spot elevation tags remain untouched.
Examples:
- Match
DB Elevation Tag - Concrete Label - Match
DB Elevation Tag - Steel Label - Match
DB Elevation Tag - Wall Label
Note: Spot Elevations are a Revit system family. Tag Name Patterns are matched against the Spot Elevation type naming (and its configured marker symbol naming), not just loaded family names.
Along Leader Offset
Default: 0
Moves the label farther from or closer to the leader endpoint along the leader direction. Positive values move the label farther away from the endpoint.
Perpendicular Offset
Default: 0
Moves the label away from or toward the leader line while preserving the tag type's own above/below behavior. Positive values move the label farther away from the leader.
Live Preview
The settings pack includes a compact live preview so you can see how the Along Leader and Perpendicular nudges will affect a sample tag before running the tool in Revit.
Workflows
Aligning Tags in a Single View
- Open the floor plan, structural plan, or ceiling plan you want to process
- Click Align Elevation Tags on the DB Tools ribbon
- All matching tags in the view align to their configured positions
- Review the results and adjust settings if needed
Setting Up Automatic Alignment
- Open DB Tools settings
- Navigate to Elevation Tags settings
- Ensure Auto-Update Enabled is turned on
- Configure your preferred tag patterns and positioning
- Close settings—tags will now align automatically when you open plan views
Configuring Tag Patterns for Your Project
- Note the exact names of the elevation tag families you use
- Open Elevation Tags settings
- Enter patterns that match your tag family names
- Test by opening a view with those tags
- Adjust patterns if some tags aren't being processed
Adjusting Tag Positioning
- Open a view with elevation tags
- Run Align Elevation Tags to see current positioning
- If label spacing needs adjustment, open settings
- Adjust Along Leader Offset and Perpendicular Offset while watching the live preview
- Save settings
- Run alignment again to see the updated positions
Tips & Best Practices
Standardize tag families — Use consistent tag family names across your project so a single pattern can match them all
Test patterns in one view first — Before enabling auto-update, manually run alignment in a test view to verify your patterns match the correct tags
Use auto-update for active projects — Enable automatic alignment during active documentation phases to keep tags tidy as you work
Disable for legacy projects — Turn off auto-update when working in older models where you don't want to change existing tag positions
Coordinate with your team — Ensure everyone uses the same Elevation Tags settings for consistent results across the project
Check ceiling plans too — Elevation Tags works in floor, structural, and ceiling plans, so configure settings that work for all supported view types
Troubleshooting
Tags aren't aligning
Possible causes:
- Tag family name doesn't match any configured patterns
- You're not in a floor plan, structural plan, or ceiling plan view
- The tags are a different family type than expected
Solutions:
- Check your tag family names in the Project Browser
- Verify your tag patterns include the families you're using
- Ensure you're in a supported view type
Some tags align but others don't
Possible causes:
- Multiple tag families with different names
- Pattern only matches some of your tags
Solutions:
- Review all elevation tag families in your project
- Add additional patterns to cover all tag families
- Use a broader pattern that matches multiple families
Tags are positioned incorrectly
Possible causes:
- Offset values need adjustment
- The tag type's own text location differs from your expected family setup
Solutions:
- Adjust Along Leader and Perpendicular Offset values
- Run alignment again to see updated positions
Auto-update isn't working
Possible causes:
- Auto-Update Enabled is turned off
- Opening a view type that isn't supported
Solutions:
- Check that Auto-Update Enabled is on in settings
- Verify you're opening floor, structural, or ceiling plans
Getting too many alignment notifications
Solution:
- Warnings can be disabled through the DB Tools warning system if alignment notifications become distracting
FAQ
Q: Which view types does Elevation Tags support?
A: Elevation Tags works in floor plans, structural plans, and ceiling plans. It does not process tags in sections, elevations, 3D views, or other view types.
Q: Will this affect tags I don't want to change?
A: No. Only tags matching your configured patterns are processed. Other spot elevation tags remain exactly where they are.
Q: Can I use different settings for different projects?
A: Settings are stored per-user, so they apply across all projects. If you need different settings for different projects, you'll need to adjust them when switching projects.
Q: What happens if I undo after alignment?
A: Tag alignment changes can be undone using Revit's standard Undo command (Ctrl+Z).
Q: Does this work with linked models?
A: No. Elevation Tags only processes tags in the current active model, not in linked Revit files.
Q: Can I align tags in multiple views at once?
A: The manual command aligns tags in the current view only. However, with auto-update enabled, tags will align as you open each view.
Q: How do I know which tags were aligned?
A: The tool processes all matching tags in the view silently. If you need to verify, compare tag positions before and after running the command.