Post updated 5 July 2021 with the latest links
Revit Lookup is a free, open-source add-in for Revit, which you can use to explore the Revit API.
You will find it invaluable if you are using Dynamo or pyRevit, and also if you are using my Revit Add-in, PropertyWizard.
In this post, I am going to explain how to download and install Revit Lookup, and then in future posts I’ll explain how to get started with Revit Lookup, how to use it in Dynamo and pyRevit, and how to use Revit Lookup with PropertyWizard.
How to download Revit Lookup
The quickest way to get Revit Lookup for Revit 2019-2021 is to download and run this installer from GitHub:
Just click on the image to go to the GitHub installer page, and then click the Download button (highlighted in yellow in the image) to start the download.
Once you have downloaded the installer, you can Open or Run it. It’s a pretty straightforward installation – there’s no complex configuration to do! When you restart Revit, you should find the Revit Lookup button on the Add-Ins tab of the ribbon:
Once you have installed Revit Lookup, go to this post for details on how to get started, or carry on reading here for more background on Revit Lookup and how to install it for other versions of Revit.
Revit Lookup background
This section has more background on Revit Lookup, and details of alternative ways to download and install it – including how to install it for Revit 2022 and Revit versions before 2019.
Revit Lookup is an open source add-in for Revit, maintained by Jeremy Tammick of Autodesk, on GitHub:
The installer we downloaded above is maintained by Harry Mattinson of BoostYourBIM. He posts in his blog whenever there is a new update:
Other ways to install Revit Lookup
Since Revit Lookup is open-source, you can download the source code from GitHub and compile it yourself.
There are also compiled builds available at Lookup Builds. These don’t come with an installer, so you have to install them manually.
This is where you can download installable builds of Revit Lookup for Revit 2022 and versions before 2019. The ‘Key’ column shows you which version of Revit the build applies to. I’d use the most recent one available for your version (i.e. 2022.0.0.9.7 for Revit 2022). You’ll need to scroll down to see the builds for 2018 and 2017.
Each build is stored as a compressed 7zip file, so you will need a copy of 7zip to unpack them.
Within each build package there are three files:
- RevitLookup.dll, which is the compiled code of the add-in
- RevitLookup.addin, which is the ‘manifest’ file for the add-in
- RevitLookup.pdb, which is a debug file
To install Revit Lookup, place the three files for each Revit version into the relevant Addins folder on your computer:
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\<RevitVersion>
That’s all for this post: Next, you could have a look at the post on Getting Started in Revit Lookup, or on how to use Revit Lookup with PropertyWizard.