1. Purpose and key benefit

The key advantage of REVIT.ClashViewer is the time it saves specialists. When opening a report, it checks whether clashes are still relevant and automatically filters out and hides records that do not represent actual clashes:

• false duplicates in which both participants are the same model element;
• clashes that have already been resolved, whose elements no longer intersect;
• clashes in which one or both elements have been deleted from the model.

If the second element belongs to a linked model that is unloaded or not linked at all, the plugin warns you. An unavailable link is not treated as a deleted element or a resolved clash.

The plugin also lets you transfer responsibility to a specialist working in the second model and discuss the clash with attached files, screenshots and other materials. Specialists spend their time on current tasks and approvals, rather than manually checking outdated issues.

The plugin supports any coordinate system and Navisworks report format. It can filter clashes by the IDs of their constituent elements, allowing you to see only clashes involving your own model, regardless of whether the Navisworks model was assembled from individually exported Revit files or exported from a combined model in a single operation. Consequently, BIM specialists do not need to prepare separate reports for each designer, and designers do not have to filter out other people's clashes manually: each person always sees only clashes involving elements in their open model.

REVIT.ClashViewer opens the report in a persistently available dockable Revit panel. Designers stay in their working model, select the required row and click “Go to”. The plugin prepares a 3D view, creates a local section box around the clash area, matches elements by ID, selects them, and temporarily isolates them if required.

This turns a Navisworks report from an external issue list into a working model navigator. Instead of searching by coordinates, copying IDs and creating 3D views manually, the specialist immediately sees the localized area in which the clash can be checked and resolved.

Figure 1. The “Navisworks Clashes” command is on the RS-Systems tab and opens the dockable clash panel.

2. How the clash review workflow changes

3. Supported Navisworks report formats

The current implementation reads the main report types generated by Navisworks Manage:

• XML reports using the exchange structure → clashtest → clashresult;
• XLSX reports, including multipage and multisheet workbooks; the plugin reads and processes report data from all relevant sheets in the same file;
• tabular HTML reports with results collected in a single table;
• nontabular HTML reports in report/viewpoint format;
• HTML files with the .html or .htm extension; the file type is also identified from its contents.

The report provides the test name, clash name, GUID, status, distance, clash point, object IDs, layer, element name and type, comments and image links. Images support relative links to JPG, JPEG and PNG files located alongside the report.

Figure 2. The report is open in the dockable panel on the right: the clash list remains available alongside the Revit model.

4. Coordinate systems and units

The plugin offers three ways to locate the working area. This lets the same tool accommodate different NWC export conventions and project shared coordinate settings.

For XML reports, the code accounts for units recorded in the report: meters, millimeters, centimeters, feet and inches. For HTML reports, the current version assumes meters.

Figure 3. Selecting a mode: shared coordinates, internal coordinates, or element-based positioning using IDs.

5. Filtering clashes by element IDs in the open model

The plugin's key feature is the “My model only” checkbox. After loading a report, the plugin checks each clash object by attempting to find an element in the open Revit document with the numeric ID specified in the report. A clash belongs to the current model if at least one of its objects is found in the host document.

Filtering does not depend on the NWC filename, model name, test name or how the BIM coordinator assembled the Navisworks file. The criterion is the ElementId stored by Navisworks in the object data.

If no clashes are found in the open model, the plugin does not leave the user with an empty table: the filter is automatically cleared, all results are displayed, and a warning explains that IDs may not match or the report may belong to another model.

Figure 4. The “My model only” filter, coordinate mode, isolation and the first report rows.

6. Matching elements in the host model and linked files

When navigating to a clash, each ID is checked in the active host model first. If the element is not found there, all loaded linked Revit models are searched. This allows the plugin to work in both a single-discipline working file and a federated coordination model with links.

• Host model elements are selected directly.
• If an object is found inside a link, the corresponding RevitLinkInstance is selected and isolated.
• Unloaded links are not searched.
• Internal elements and types without a geometric category are not treated as clash objects.

7. Navigating to a clash in Revit

Navigate using the “Go to” button in a row or by double-clicking a clash. The plugin performs these steps in order:

1. Uses the active 3D view. If the current view is not 3D, it attempts to switch to the first suitable printable 3D view.

2. Matches report objects with elements in the host model and loaded links.

3. Determines the center of the working area using the selected coordinate mode.

4. Activates the section box and sets its bounds.

5. Selects the elements or link instances found.

6. Enables or resets temporary isolation according to the checkbox setting.

7. Zooms deterministically to the section box bounds.

The user immediately sees a limited volume rather than an overall 3D view of the entire model. This is especially noticeable on large projects, where standard Zoom to Fit can make the required area almost invisible because of distant geometry or an incorrectly placed link.

Figure 5. Navigation result: a local section box, selected matching elements, and optional temporary isolation from the rest of the model.

8. Section Box, point refinement and working area size

The working area is specified as half the side length of a cube, in meters. A value of 0.5 means a cube extending ±0.5 m along each axis. Users can increase it for large building services systems or reduce it for tightly packed junctions.

In Shared and Project modes, the plugin does not simply rely on the Navisworks coordinate. If host model elements are found by ID, the report point is refined using their bounding boxes: it is snapped to the intersection of the pair's bounding boxes or, if they do not intersect, to their combined bounding box. This algorithm compensates for a constant offset between the federated model and the open discipline model.

In “By elements (ID)” mode, the box is built directly around the bounding boxes of the elements found, with the specified margin. If no host elements are found but the report contains a point, navigation falls back to that coordinate.

9. Selecting and temporarily isolating elements

The “Isolate” checkbox controls temporary Hide/Isolate mode in the active 3D view. When it is selected, choosing another row immediately updates the isolation, so designers do not need to click a separate command each time.

• Host model elements are selected and isolated directly.
• For objects inside linked models, the corresponding link instance is isolated.
• Clearing the checkbox turns off temporary isolation but keeps the section box that was created.
• The checkbox state is remembered and used the next time the plugin starts.

This mode is useful when fixing densely packed building services junctions: only the objects involved in the clash remain visible, but designers can quickly turn off isolation to see the surroundings without losing the local section box area.

Details of the selected clash and a message confirming isolation.	An isolated model fragment within a local section box.

10. Statuses, search, and quick filtering

The report can be filtered by standard Navisworks statuses: all, new, active, resolved, approved, and reviewed. Statuses from Russian and English HTML reports are normalized to a common internal scheme.

The search field checks more than the clash name. It searches:

• clash names;
• brief descriptions of the objects involved;
• element IDs;
• element names and types;
• layers from the report.

The status filter, search, and “My model only” work together. For example, an engineer can display only new clashes in their model, then find conflicts involving a particular riser, equipment type, or ID.

Figure 6. Filtering by status: new, active, resolved, approved, and reviewed clashes.

11. Automatic detection of resolved clashes

• false duplicates in which both participants are the same model element;
• clashes that have already been resolved, whose elements no longer intersect;
• clashes in which one or both elements have been deleted from the model.

If the second element belongs to a linked model that is unloaded or not linked at all, the plugin warns you. An unavailable link is not treated as a deleted element or a resolved clash.

12. Details, snapshots, comments, and table columns

When a row is selected, the lower part of the panel displays the clash data: name, test, distance, coordinate, and each object's ID, name, type, and layer. If the report includes a linked snapshot and the file is available alongside it at the specified relative path, the image is loaded into the preview without locking the source file.

The table is compact by default, but additional columns can be enabled through the header's context menu:

• Test;
• Status;
• Distance;
• Point;
• Objects;
• Comment.

The selected columns are saved in the user's settings. This lets designers keep a minimal list, while BIM coordinators can enable test, status, distance, and comments to analyze the report.

Figure 7. Detailed information for the selected clash: the coordinate, ID, name, type, and layer of both objects.

13. Report history and personal settings

The plugin stores a list of up to 12 recently opened reports. Users can reopen the required XML or HTML file from the dropdown without returning to the file selection dialog.

The following are saved for each user:

• section box size;
• coordinate mode;
• default isolation state;
• the state of the “My model only” filter;
• the set of displayed columns;
• recent report history;
• window positions and sizes.

Settings and history are stored separately for each Revit version. Users can have different working settings for Revit 2021 and Revit 2027 without mixing them.

Dropdowns, including “Recent”, support search as you type: only matching entries remain in the list, Enter selects the match, and Esc clears the search.

Figure 8. The recent reports list lets you quickly switch between clash sets.

14. Practical workflow for designers

1. Obtain the shared Navisworks XML or HTML report together with its image folder, if one was generated.

2. Open your working Revit model and launch “Navisworks Clashes” on the RS-Systems tab.

3. Open the report. Leave “My model only” selected.

4. Select the coordinate mode. Start with Shared; if the coordinates do not align, use Project or “By elements (ID)”.

5. If needed, filter for new or active clashes and use search.

6. Enable “Isolate” and click “Go to” for the rows.

7. Fix the model, moving through the clashes in sequence.

8. After issuing the updated model, send it to the BIM coordinator for another clash test.

15. Practical workflow for BIM specialists

BIM specialists can maintain a single report generation workflow instead of preparing separate files for each discipline.

1. Create a shared set of clash tests in Navisworks covering all models and disciplines.

2. Export the report to XML or HTML with object identifiers; include snapshots and comments if needed.

3. Distribute the same package to all project participants.

4. Specify the recommended coordinate mode for the project and a standard section box size.

5. Collect the updated models and run a new Navisworks clash test after each round of corrections.

The BIM coordinator is responsible for the quality of the shared report and the follow-up geometry check, while designers independently obtain their own working set of clashes directly in their files.

16. Limitations and key features of the current version

• The solution reads the report but does not write changed statuses back to Navisworks or provide two-way synchronization.

The solution checks whether report entries are still relevant against the current state of the available models, including whether the elements still exist and continue to intersect. Final coordination checks of updated models are performed by running a new clash test in Navisworks.

• Model filtering depends on the numeric ElementId stored in the report. If the report contains no ID, or the ID has changed because the object was recreated, matching is impossible.
• Searching within linked files is available only for loaded links.
• For an object inside a link, Revit allows the link instance to be selected and isolated; the nested element is not necessarily treated as an independent host object.
• The “By elements (ID)” box mode uses the bounding boxes of the host model elements found; if none are found, navigation falls back to the coordinate.
• Navigation requires a suitable 3D view. If one is not available, create or open one.
• The HTML parser supports the tabular and non-tabular Navisworks structures implemented in the code; substantially modified third-party HTML may not be recognized.
• The RS.CDE folder beside the model, the discussion and assignment databases, and the cumulative clash database are created only when a user first writes data: a message, assignment, report import into the cumulative database, status change, transfer, or attachment. Opening the model, panel, or report creates nothing on disk.

17. Compatibility, themes, and interface languages

The project includes builds for Revit 2021–2027. Revit 2021–2024 uses .NET Framework 4.8, Revit 2025–2026 uses .NET 8, and Revit 2027 uses .NET 10.

The panel and all solution windows support “Auto”, “Light”, “Dark”, and RS-Systems themes; their colors follow Revit's appearance, and in “Auto” mode the theme changes instantly with Revit, including in windows that are already open. The interface follows the Revit language and includes localization tables for 16 interface languages, including Russian, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Czech, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.

The panel can be docked beside Project Browser or Properties, keeping the clash list visible while the model is being corrected.

Buttons and lists in the solution's windows support the keyboard: Enter performs the primary action and Esc cancels. The windows do not create their own buttons on the Windows taskbar and remember their position and size between sessions.

The “⚙ Settings” gear at the bottom of the panel opens the solution settings: theme, license, updates, and Revit view tab coloring. A dot on the gear indicates an available update, and the “Updates for all RS-Systems solutions…” button checks all installed plugins in the range and displays them in one window.

View tab coloring helps distinguish open documents: tabs use the project or file color, either as a full-tab fill (the default) or as a strip along the top. The active tab is no brighter than the others; it is marked by a strip in the project color.

The panel can also be opened from RS.BIMManager using a command equivalent to clicking the ribbon button.

18. Benefits and summary

REVIT.ClashViewer bridges the gap between checking models in Navisworks and resolving issues in Revit. The solution does not replace Navisworks Manage as a geometry-based clash testing tool; it turns its report into a convenient working tool for every designer.

The main benefit for the design team is that a BIM specialist creates one high-quality shared report, and each participant obtains a personal set of clashes from it without additional manual sorting. Designers spend their time correcting the model instead of finding issues and preparing views.