Disapearing elements

[STHRevit]

Hi all,
We are having some issues with elements simply disapearing fromm our model and we cannot find the cause.

To put it simply, we have 3 people working on one project, using worksharing.
It would seem that for no apparent reason, random elements keep vanishing and not in the area that the team is working on. ie if we are detailing a ground floor wall junction, a thrird floor slab will vanish. Curtain walls too tend to delete themselves whenever the project is opened/closed. The wierd thing is that they are different items each time.

Has anyone else had this happen or can explain why this might occur?

[Scott Womack]

I have rarely if ever experienced "random" objects disappering due to the software. 99.99% of the time someone has in-advertantly selected something, usually in a 3D view that they entered to look at something, and then tried to select something, and mistakenly selected other things deeper in the model, and then deleted them, or ignored a warning about something, where an item might be deleted. Heck, I've even done it myself recently. The vast majority of the users (myself included) do not check the selection filter to verify what we have selected, prior to performing an operation in Revit.

[twiceroadsfool]

Exactly what Scott said.

More often than not, when the "lost" items are Roofs or floors, its because someone nudged a wall or an object that had a line of the sketch associated with it, and they get the "Line is too short" (cancel or delete) warning. Since they say *hmm, i wasnt drawing a line, its got to be nothing* they hit delete, and then the entire floor goes away, since that line was part of the sketch of the floor or roof...

[Phil Read]

Andrew - if you'll spend some time on this now you may save a lot of time in the near future:

1. Go to an earlier version of the file and select the slab.
2. Via Tools>Element IDs>ID of Selection and take note of this number.
3. Collect everyone's Journal files around the time the element disappeared. They'll be located around: C:\Program Files\Revit Architecture 2009\Journals
4. Use the search function in Notepad to find the Element ID. You're looking for the delete command after the element was selected (as well as the last time the Element ID shows up in the Journal). It'll look something like the following (I've highlighted the Element ID):

137457 (-4.467574, -5.386288, +4.000000)
' 0:< Shortcut 80 "" issued
'E 15-Apr-2009 07:13:59.796; 0:<
Jrn.MouseMove 0 , 659 , 322
'E 15-Apr-2009 07:13:59.796; 0:<
Jrn.Command "KeyboardShortcut" , "Delete the selection , ID_BUTTON_DELETE"
'H 15-Apr-2009 07:13:59.890; 1:<
Jrn.Data "Transaction Successful" _
, "Delete Selection"

Basically - the Element 137457 has been selected, and then I deleted the selection.

Now you know who is responsible for deleting the object. And if you go back to earlier "disappearing" elements and query those journals, you'll likely find a pattern.

-Phil

[twiceroadsfool]

Phil-

I havent spent a ton of time digging through journal files, so im curious: If they get am error pertaining to a line of the sketch, or a "cant draw footprint roof" warning, and click delete, does it still show up with that elements ID in the journal?

[Phil Read]

Possibly. That warning usually refers to the Revit refusing to make an illogical form based on the rules of it being a roof. Typically this has to do with slope issues that would result in un-joined faces.

-Phil

[STHRevit]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.
I was thinking that it was usere error, but just wanted to see if anyone else had an issue with this.
Phil this is great advice and I will go searching for journal files.

Cheers