In Autodesk Revit, Design Options are used to explore multiple design alternatives within the same project environment. This feature is often employed by electrical designers to model different lighting layouts, circuiting approaches, or equipment placements without duplicating the entire project.
When an additional design option is created within the same option set, and the designer needs to include all the same elements that already exist in another design option, Revit offers two effective ways to duplicate these elements while preserving their type, parameters, and host relationships.
According to the Autodesk Revit MEP User’s Guide (Chapter: Working with Design Options), it clearly describes:
“To create a copy of an existing design option within an option set, open the Design Options dialog box, select the desired option, and click Duplicate. This creates a new option containing identical elements and maintains their relationships and constraints.”
This confirms Option C as correct because duplicating an option from the Design Options dialog automatically replicates all its elements into the new design option within the same option set.
Furthermore, the guide continues:
“Alternatively, when working with a specific design option view, you can use the Copy to Clipboard and Paste Aligned > Aligned to Current View commands to duplicate selected elements into another active design option. These elements are placed in the same location and remain associated with the new design option.”
This validates Option D as the second correct method, allowing manual duplication of elements between options while keeping spatial alignment intact.
Other options listed are incorrect for the following reasons:
A (Drag and Drop) is not supported between design options; it only works between views in the same option.
B (Reveal Hidden) only displays hidden elements; it doesn’t expose design option geometry for copying.
E (Add to Set) transfers elements into the same design option set, not between individual design options.
Therefore, the two valid and Autodesk-confirmed methods to duplicate all elements between design options are:
C. Duplicate from Design Options dialog, and D. Copy/Paste Aligned to Current View.
[References:, Autodesk Revit MEP 2011 User’s Guide, Chapter 13: Working with Design Options, pp. 364–367., Autodesk Revit Architecture 2020 Help, “Duplicating Design Options and Copying Elements Between Options.”, Smithsonian Facilities Revit Template User’s Guide (2021), Section 6.3.2: Managing Design Options in Coordination Views., ]
