Revit® Add-In · Tab Tone

See the right Revit document at a glance.

Tab Tone applies consistent visual treatments to Revit Document, Template, and Family tabs so crowded sessions are easier to scan. It is free, compact, and requires no license key or activation.

Download Tab Tone →Setup & Usage
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Features

Visual organization without changing your Revit workflow.

Tab Tone works at the Revit tab-strip level. Configure the look once, save a rule profile, and keep the active document context readable without renaming views or modifying project data.

RVT

Independent document types

Enable and style Document (.rvt), Template (.rte), and Family (.rfa) tabs independently.

04

Four tab treatments

Choose Border, Top Fill, Bottom Line, or Background Fill for each document type, with adjustable lineweight.

18

Flexible color palette

Use the built-in 18-color palette and refine tone and lightness for readable results in your Revit theme.

LP

Live preview

Preview changes immediately in the active Revit window before committing a named profile.

#

Grouping and count badges

Tabs from the same file stay visually grouped, with an optional count badge to show how many related tabs are open.

↺

Ribbon master toggle

Click the Tab Tone ribbon button to suspend or restore the saved Document, Template, and Family enabled pattern. Shift+Click opens Settings.

Setup, documentation, and support

Everything you need is on this page.

Tab Tone intentionally keeps its guide compact. Follow the quick start, review the settings reference, and use the troubleshooting section below instead of navigating to separate documentation or product-support pages.

1 · Install

Install once for supported Revit versions.

  1. Close Revit.
  2. Download and run BIMGrove.TabTone_Installer.exe.
  3. Open Revit 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, or 2027.
  4. Open the BIMGrove ribbon panel and locate Tab Tone.

Tab Tone is free. There is no account, checkout, plan selection, trial, license key, seat assignment, or activation workflow.

2 · Configure

Set each document type independently.

  1. Shift+Click the Tab Tone ribbon button to open Settings.
  2. Choose Document (rvt), Template (rte), or Family (rfa).
  3. Turn Enabled on or off for that document type.
  4. Choose a palette, tab style, and lineweight.
  5. Turn on Live Preview to see changes immediately.
  6. Use Count Badge when you want grouped tabs to show their open-tab count.
3 · Tab styles

Choose the amount of color your workspace needs.

BorderColored outline around the tab.
Top FillStrong color treatment along the top tab body.
Bottom LineCompact color line along the bottom edge.
Background FillColor applied across the tab background.

Lineweight can be adjusted from 1 to 8. Tone and lightness controls help keep colors legible in both light and dark Revit themes.

4 · Rule profiles

Save reusable visual setups.

The <Default> profile is an immutable factory baseline. Editing it creates a new profile state. Use Save or Save As to create a named profile, then switch between profiles from the Rule Profile row.

  • Save: overwrites the selected named profile.
  • Save As: creates a new named profile.
  • Delete: is available only for stored named profiles.
  • Theme UI: choose Dark, Light, or System for the settings window.
5 · Ribbon behavior

Suspend and restore without losing your setup.

A normal click turns off all three tab types while remembering the exact enabled pattern. The next normal click restores that saved pattern. Shift+Click opens the Tab Tone Settings window.

This makes it easy to temporarily return to native Revit tabs without deleting or rebuilding a profile.

6 · Troubleshooting and support

Resolve the common issues first.

No tabs are colored

Click the Tab Tone ribbon button once to restore the saved enabled pattern. Then Shift+Click Settings and confirm the current document type is Enabled.

Settings changed but tabs did not

Turn on Live Preview or save the active profile. After a new installation, restart Revit if the ribbon or tab chrome was already loaded.

The Default profile cannot be saved over

That is intentional. The Default profile is read-only. Use Save As to create a named profile from your changes.

Colors are too strong or too muted

Adjust Tone and Lightness, then compare the result with your selected Dark, Light, or System Theme UI setting.

Still need help?

Use the general BIMGrove support form and include Tab Tone 1.0.0, your Revit year, the selected profile, document type, tab style, and a screenshot of the tab strip.

Open Support Form

A clearer Revit tab strip is one installer away.

Download Tab Tone 1.0.0 for Revit 2023–2027. It is free and has no licensing layer.

Download Tab Tone →Version Log →