The following is a true story…

There once was an intern with a major architectural firm that was brought in for the summer.  A project (CD) that had started in the winter and finished in the spring needed to be updated.  So they assigned this intern to add a single detail. The intern opened the project and duplicated the detail view.  Next, he (that’s all the info I got, it’s a “he”) selected a note and Right Clicked. Select All Instances. Then he clicked delete.  Next, he re-typed the detail with new notes and dimensions. Printed and Saved.

For those that know Revit I can feel the collective “grown” or whispers of “oh no” even as I sit here at my desk.  For those slightly less familiar, you may realize that this act not only deleted the notes from that detail, it also deleted everything with that font across the entire project. Hundreds (if not thousands) of individual details, plans and elevations had suddenly been stripped of any note with 3/32″ text!!!!

The good news: the project was recovered off a backup and only that detail needed to be redone. Te bad news: everyone in town wants to know that intern’s name so they don’t risk hiring him. :-)

In Revit 2011 this has been slightly fixed as there are now two options, Visible in View and In Entire Project.  If Visible in View is selected then only those objects in your current view will be selected… if In Entire Project is selected, well then the most powerful and DANGEROUS command in Revit is once again officially activated… and something a certain intern may never live down.