Great, you have explained the principle of details but not addressed the technical issue / bug at the time in AC21. We are now on AC24, the software & my workflow have changed. The original post from October 2017 is no longer relevant and could have remained buried.
On a more general note, updating the view settings and the view content remains problematic in details. This is why I no longer use them and why there are growing calls for AC to deliver live details retaining their BIM data and put presentation control back in the hands of the user. Hopefully the restrictive workflow you described will be gone in the near future.
Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)