# What are untested elements?

An element is untested when no specification of the test applies to it, and untested elements lower the Model Correctness Index by up to 20 percent. Approve them when they are outside the requirement on purpose; if the requirement should cover them, the IDS needs a rule instead. The Untested tab also lists the classes that only general rules reach.

Updated 1 November 2026

## Review the untested elements

1. [Run a check](https://ifcchecker.com/help/check-a-model/).
2. On **Results**, choose the small **Tab ›** beside the number of untested elements in the **Model** table, or open the **Untested** tab of **Extended data**.
3. Read the line above the table. It says how many elements are untested and in how many classes. Each class is a group row with its elements under it.
4. Choose **Show in 3D** on a class's row to see its elements in the 3D view.
5. Decide: are they outside the requirement on purpose? Then choose Approve all on the class's row, which says how many it approves. Choose **Undo approval** to take the approval back.
6. If they should have been checked, do not approve them. Ask the owner of the IDS to add a rule, or add one yourself in the [IDS editor](https://ifcchecker.com/help/write-an-ids/).
7. Choose **Download untested as BCF** for a BCF of the untested elements: one topic for each class, closed where you approved it. The failures are in the downloads under the Model table, which carry the approvals too.

## Outside the requirement, or missing from it?

The **Untested** tab lists the elements no specification applies to, by IFC class. Some classes are outside what the requirement is about, and approving them says so. Others should have been checked: approving them would hide a gap, so the IDS needs a rule for them, which its owner adds in the [IDS editor](https://ifcchecker.com/help/write-an-ids/).

## What approval does

Approval lasts for this session. It removes the approved elements' cost from the [Model Correctness Index](https://ifcchecker.com/help/model-correctness-index/), and the approvals are written into the BCF and the spreadsheets when you export. Approved elements show as **Approved**, with a ✓ in a dashed box. In a check of several models, each row names its model, and an approval is for that model alone. Approvals are not saved with a result you [save and share](https://ifcchecker.com/help/save-and-share/).

## Classes only general rules reach

Under the untested classes, a second table reads "**Tested only by general rules**". It lists classes of the model that rules apply to, but only general ones, none aimed at them: for example a rule for every element's name reaches a footing, though no rule is written for footings. The elements still pass or fail, but the test is thin there. The table says for each class how many elements it has, which rules reach it today (**Reached by**) and which rules are about it. It is a note for the author of the test: the numbers of the index do not change. To fix it, add a rule for the class in the [IDS editor](https://ifcchecker.com/help/ids-live-counts/#thin).

## Without a 3D view

In a browser that cannot draw the 3D view, the buttons say **Select** in place of **Show in 3D**.

## Keep reading

Next: [How do I use the BCF topics section?](https://ifcchecker.com/help/bcf-topics/)

Related:

- [What does the Model Correctness Index mean?](https://ifcchecker.com/help/model-correctness-index/)
- [What do the status words mean?](https://ifcchecker.com/help/status-words/)
- [How do I see how my rules do on a model?](https://ifcchecker.com/help/ids-live-counts/)

[Workflows and help](https://ifcchecker.com/help/) / [The sections of Results](https://ifcchecker.com/help/collections/sections/)