Hide, Isolate and Lock help you control what you see and what you can change while you model. Hide temporarily removes objects from view, Isolate shows only the objects you pick, and Lock protects objects from accidental edits. All three work the same way on spaces in Design Mode and on BIM objects in BIM Mode.
Hide objects
Select the objects you want to hide.
Right-click the selection and choose Hide, or press
H.
The objects disappear from the canvas but stay in the project. Use Show All to bring them back.
Isolate objects
Isolate is the opposite of Hide: everything except your selection is hidden, so you can focus on one part of the model.
Select the objects you want to keep visible.
Right-click the selection and choose Isolate.
Everything else is hidden until you use Show All.
Show all hidden objects
Show All brings back everything you hid or isolated. Use any of these:
Right-click an empty area of the canvas and choose Show All.
Press
U.Type Show All in the Search tools & actions box at the bottom centre of the screen. Searching for Visible, Unhide or Unisolate also finds it.
Note: Layer visibility is controlled separately, in the Layers section of the left panel. If an object is on a hidden layer, turn that layer back on there to see it.
Lock objects
Select the objects you want to protect.
Right-click the selection and click the lock icon.
The selection box of a locked object turns red, so you can tell at a glance that it can't be edited.
Tip: Lock imported CAD drawings, PDFs and images you are tracing over, so you don't move or delete your reference by accident.
Unlock objects
Right-click the locked object.
Choose Unlock.
The object can be edited again straight away.
What locked objects can and can't do
Locking blocks changes to the object but not your ability to view it.
Blocked: move, copy, edit, delete and flip. Quick rotate (
Spacebaror Rotate 90° in the Right-click menu) skips locked objects.Skipped by story moves: if you change the Story dropdown in the Properties panel for a selection that includes locked objects, the locked objects stay on their current story and a message tells you they were skipped.
Still allowed: selecting, hiding and isolating locked objects.
Lock a whole layer
Object lock applies to the objects you select. To protect everything on a layer at once, lock the layer in the Layers section of the left panel instead. Layer lock is a separate control from object lock:
A layer's lock is shared with everyone working on the project, while a layer's visibility is saved per view.
Your active layer must be visible and unlocked, because new objects are placed on it.
Hidden layers are left out of exports.
Note: The lock icons next to Footprint Area and Height in the Properties panel are different features. They keep a space's area fixed while you resize it, or keep its height tied to the story height; they don't stop you editing the object.
Related articles
Layers
Keyboard Shortcuts
Right-click Menu
Selecting Objects
Stories