Revit Revision Clouds: How to Add, Edit and Schedule Them
A revision cloud in Revit is a sketched, scalloped outline that marks the part of a drawing that changed since the last issue. You add one from the Annotate tab, assign it to a revision, and Revit feeds it into the revision schedule on your title block. This guide covers the whole chain: drawing the cloud, fixing its shape and scale, linking it to the right revision, building a schedule, and finding a cloud that has gone missing.
TL;DR
Add a cloud with Annotate > Detail > Revision Cloud, sketch around the change, then click Finish Edit Mode.
Clouds work in most views but not in 3D views, so mark changes on plans, sections, elevations, details and sheets.
Each cloud belongs to exactly one revision, and one revision can be shared by many clouds. Check the assignment before you issue.
Arc length is a project-wide setting, so a cloud that looks too fussy or too coarse is fixed in the revisions dialog, not by redrawing.
If a cloud disappears, check the view, the revision it belongs to, and the revision’s visibility setting before you assume it was deleted.
Table of Contents
What revision clouds do in Revit
Autodesk describes revision clouds as a way to indicate design areas that have changed in a project. That sounds simple, but a cloud does two jobs at once.
The first job is visual. Anyone opening the sheet sees at a glance where the drawing differs from the previous issue. A contractor, a consultant or a checker does not have to compare two PDFs line by line.
The second job is data. Every cloud is tied to a revision, so Revit knows which changes belong to which issue. That is what lets the title block list revision numbers, dates and descriptions without anyone typing them by hand.
Use a cloud when a change affects what someone builds, prices or coordinates: a moved wall, a changed door type, a revised dimension, an updated note. Leave clouds off purely cosmetic edits such as tidying a tag position, unless your office standard says otherwise. Too many clouds make the real changes harder to spot.
Because a cloud is a view annotation, it belongs to the view where you drew it. If the same wall change shows in a floor plan and a section, you cloud each one. Revit does not carry a cloud from one view to another.
How to add a revision cloud
The process follows Autodesk’s steps for adding a revision cloud:
Open the view where the change is visible: a plan, section, elevation, detail view or a sheet.
Go to the Annotate tab, then the Detail panel, and click Revision Cloud.
In the Draw panel that appears, pick a drawing tool. The rectangle is the quick choice for most changes. Use the line or polygon-style tools when the changed area is an irregular shape.
Sketch around the changed elements.
Click Finish Edit Mode (the green check) to place the cloud.
Two details save time. While you are sketching, pressing the Spacebar flips the direction of the arcs, which fixes clouds whose bumps point inward instead of outward. You can also sketch more than one cloud before you finish, so a batch of related changes on one plan can go in a single editing session.
One sketch behavior surprises people. Autodesk’s API documentation notes that a revision cloud is built from sketched curves that do not have to form a closed loop, and self-intersections are allowed. That means you can leave a cloud open to wrap a run of wall along an edge. It also means a messy sketch will not be rejected, so check the result visually. A cloud that crosses itself looks careless on an issued drawing.
Drawing tips from the studio
Zoom in before sketching. A cloud drawn at a tight zoom hugs the change; one drawn zoomed out tends to swallow half the room.
Cloud the change, not the neighborhood. Include the changed elements and their tags or dimensions, and nothing more.
Draw the cloud in the view where you made the edit, then check any other view that shows the same change.
Which views accept revision clouds
You can place clouds in most graphical views, but not in 3D views or graphical column schedules, while direct placement on a sheet is possible. Autodesk’s user guide says the same about 3D: you can sketch revision clouds in all views except 3D views.
This shapes how you issue. If a change only reads clearly in a 3D view, for example a complex roof junction, you will not mark it there. Put the cloud on the plan, section or detail that carries the information a contractor works from. If the change lives in a view that is not on a sheet, remember that nobody reading the issued set will see that cloud.
A cloud drawn directly on a sheet is useful for a change that belongs to the sheet itself, such as an updated note block or a revised legend. The cloud then belongs to that sheet rather than to a view placed on it.
Assigning a cloud to a revision
A cloud without the right revision is just decoration. The assignment is what drives the schedule.
By default, Revit assigns a new cloud to the latest revision assigned to any view on that view’s sheet. The sheet’s Current Revision parameter tells you which one that is. If the default is not what you want, select the cloud and choose another revision in its properties. Autodesk states that each cloud takes one revision, and the same revision can be assigned to several clouds.
There is one rule to know before you start drawing. According to the API documentation, a cloud can be created only against a revision that has not yet been issued. The practical reading: once you mark a revision as issued, you start a new revision for the next round of changes. Do not try to reuse the old one.
A sensible habit is to create the next revision in the Sheet Issues/Revisions dialog before you begin the edit round. Give it a date and a short description, then draw your clouds against it.
Editing a cloud: boundary, scale and appearance
Changing the boundary
Select the cloud, click Edit Sketch, and drag the endpoints of its segments to reshape it. Then click Finish Edit Mode. This is the method in Autodesk’s guide to modifying a revision cloud. It is almost always faster than deleting and redrawing, and it keeps the revision assignment intact.
Changing the size of the scallops
This is the question behind many searches about cloud scale. The size of the arcs is not set per cloud. The minimum arc length is controlled by the Arc Length option in the Sheet Issues/Revisions dialog, and that setting applies to every revision cloud in the project.
In practice:
If clouds look too small and busy on your 1:50 plans, increase the arc length.
If they look too coarse on 1:5 details, reduce it.
Because it is project-wide, pick a value that works across your usual scales, or agree it with the team before the first issue. Changing it late will alter every cloud already drawn.
Changing line weight, color and pattern
For a single cloud, use Visibility/Graphics Overrides: in the view, go to Override Graphics in View > By Element and change the line weight, color and pattern. Autodesk lists this in the same modification guide. Use it sparingly. Your office standard probably wants one cloud look across every sheet, and per-element overrides are easy to forget and hard to audit.
Tracking clouds in a revision schedule
Clouds become genuinely useful when you list them. There are two different schedules, and they are easy to mix up.
The revision schedule in the title block
A title block that contains a revision schedule shows the revision information on the sheet. When a placed view contains revision clouds, the schedule automatically shows information for those revisions. That is the table of numbers, dates and descriptions in the corner of your sheet. You do not fill it in by hand.
The same Autodesk page indicates that a revision can appear in the schedule even when no cloud represents it in the view. So a revision row on a sheet does not prove there is a cloud on that sheet, and a missing cloud does not remove the row.
A revision cloud schedule for the whole project
If you want a list of every cloud, build a schedule of the Revision Clouds category. Go to View tab > Schedules drop-down > Schedule/Quantities, then select Revision Clouds. Add fields such as the revision, the sheet and the comments, then sort by revision.
A few limits apply. The same Autodesk page says these schedules can include keys and shared parameters, but only instance shared parameters and project parameters are available for revision clouds. Type parameters are not.
This is a good quality check before an issue. Sorted by revision, the schedule shows you in one table which clouds belong to the revision you are about to send, and whether any are sitting on the wrong one.
A useful habit: write a short, specific entry in each cloud’s Comments field, such as “Door D14 type changed” rather than “updated”. The comments then read as a change log in the schedule, which helps when a contractor asks what exactly changed on a given sheet.
Why a revision cloud disappears
A cloud that was there yesterday and is gone today is a common support question. Work through these checks in order.
Is it the right view? Clouds belong to the view where they were drawn. A cloud on a plan will not show in a section of the same area.
Is the revision visible? Each revision has a visibility setting in the Sheet Issues/Revisions dialog. If it is set to hide clouds and tags, the cloud will not display, even though the element still exists. Set it to show clouds.
Is the revision the one you think? If someone reassigned the cloud, it may now follow a revision that is set to hidden.
Is the view’s visibility or filter hiding annotation? Check the view’s Visibility/Graphics Overrides for the Revision Clouds category on the Annotation Categories tab.
Is it a 3D view? Clouds do not work there, so you will not find any.
Was it deleted? Select the cloud category in a schedule. If it is in the schedule but not on the sheet, it exists somewhere else.
The schedule trick is the fastest diagnosis. A Revision Clouds schedule lists every cloud in the project, so you can tell in seconds whether the cloud was removed or simply hidden.
A clean revision workflow you can copy
This is the sequence we teach on real projects. It prevents the usual mess of orphaned clouds and wrong revision numbers.
Create the new revision first. Open Sheet Issues/Revisions, add a row, and set the date and description.
Set the arc length once. Agree it with the team before the first issue and leave it alone.
Make the change, then cloud it. Draw the cloud while the change is fresh, and add a specific comment.
Check the assignment. Select each cloud and confirm the revision. Remember the default follows the latest revision on the sheet.
Run a Revision Clouds schedule. Sort by revision and read the comments as a change list.
Review each sheet. Confirm the title block revision rows match what you expect.
Mark the revision as issued. After that, start a new revision for any further change.
A worked example: you move a partition in the second-floor plan and change two door types. You create Revision 3, draw one cloud around the partition and a second around the doors, and write “Partition P12 moved 300 mm east” and “D14, D15 type changed to fire-rated” in their comments. Both clouds are assigned to Revision 3. The schedule lists two clouds on that sheet, and the title block shows a Revision 3 row. A checker can match every cloud to a line in your transmittal in a minute.
Our perspective
Most people learn revision clouds as a drawing tool: you click, you sketch, you move on. We teach them as part of a data system, and that changes how you use them.
The cloud is the visible tip of a revision record. When it is drawn against the right revision, with a clear comment, the schedule and title block do the paperwork for you. When it is drawn against the wrong revision or with no comment, the sheet looks fine but the record is wrong, and you only find out when a contractor asks about a change that was never logged.
We are also firm on restraint. A sheet covered in clouds says nothing. Cloud the changes that matter, keep your arc length consistent, and let the schedule carry the detail. In our project-based training, revisions are not a last-week topic: students set up the revision workflow at the start of the project, so by the time they issue drawings the habit is already built in. It is also why we pair revision work with worksharing, since a team model with several people issuing changes needs agreed rules on who creates revisions and when.
— Steve
Build the habit on a real project
Revision clouds make sense fastest when you use them on a drawing set that actually changes. Our Revit course is project-based, costs €79 one-off, and includes direct trainer support and lifetime access to the materials. If you are new to the software, the Revit Introduction course at €20 is the place to start, and our Intermediate course, from €100, goes further into sheets, annotation and documentation. If you are still deciding between programs, our comparison of Revit and AutoCAD explains where each fits.
FAQ
How do I add a revision cloud in Revit?
Go to Annotate > Detail > Revision Cloud, choose a drawing tool, and sketch around the changed area. Click Finish Edit Mode to place it. Press the Spacebar while sketching if the arcs face the wrong way.
How do I edit a revision cloud’s shape or revision?
Select the cloud and click Edit Sketch, then drag the segment endpoints and finish the edit. To change the revision, select the cloud and pick another revision in its properties. Each cloud can carry only one revision.
Can I draw revision clouds in a 3D view?
No. Revit allows clouds in most graphical views, but not in 3D views. Place the cloud on the plan, section, elevation, detail or sheet that communicates the change.
Why did my revision cloud disappear?
Usually it is hidden, not deleted. Check that you are in the view where it was drawn, that its revision is set to show clouds in the Sheet Issues/Revisions dialog, and that the Revision Clouds category is visible in the view. A Revision Clouds schedule will confirm whether it still exists.
How do I list all revision clouds in a project?
Use View > Schedules > Schedule/Quantities and select the Revision Clouds category. Add fields such as revision, sheet and comments, then sort by revision to get a change list for each issue.
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