Display Order Workflow

Kaio — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 03:45:24 GMT

I'm curious how everyone goes about modifying their element display order. My office has always had this issue where with the default order objects show up above walls or elements don't match what has been stated on the online guide. We understand there is a preferred order by Archicad however this doesn't look good if you have lineweights set up. For years we teetered on two different workflows:

Option 1: Users will lower the display order of objects twice (from display order 8 to 6) which has a chain reaction having to also drop the slab display order down once (from display order 7 to 6) and sometimes roofs down once (from display order 7 to 6).

Option 2: Users will raise the display order of walls twice (from display order 7 to 9).

Often Option 2 (modifying wall order) tends to be preferred as when the project changes over time its easy to remember what to modify. Additionally, with no way to find and select based on display order, this means we generally select all walls, reset their display order and then move them all up after significant changes. This can of course get more complex depending on the nature of the project and when lower level roofs are visible.

This whole process gets really confusing especially when onboarding as the Archicad online reference guide information on display order is littered with discrepancies:

The Mechanism of the Stacking Order stack level preference is stated in reverse order from display order levels and therefore the numbering does not match.
Stairs are listed as a Library Part, yet they actually don't get placed above 3D structures. Rather by default, they get placed on the same display order level as 3D Structures (7).
The display order of overlapping elements states that overlapping within the same class depends on the order in which you place the elements. However, there is clearly a latent hierarchy within the 3D Structures class where no matter which gets placed first with all being on the same display order level, this seems to be something like slabs < stairs < walls < roofs.

In an ideal world display order is based on relation to object height or elements within the 3D Structures class (such as walls) are further broken up and reorganized. However as this is not currently the case what works best for you?

Operating system used: Windows

Re: Display Order Workflow

Lingwisyer — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 01:41:42 GMT

If they just had thicker lines display over thinner, the main grievances would be resolved... In what situation would anyone want half a line that has a defined width covered by a thinner one...

Re: Display Order Workflow

Barry Kelly — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 02:07:09 GMT

Or have lines with a reference like walls.

So we can have left, centre and right offsets.

And of course then they need square ends as well.

Barry.

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Display Order Workflow

Re: Display Order Workflow

Re: Display Order Workflow