A cluttered or inconsistent plan view usually traces back to one setting: View Range. Understanding it gives you precise control over what shows up in a plan, and how it displays.
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The three planes
Every plan view's View Range is defined by three horizontal planes: Top, Cut Plane, and Bottom. Together they define the view's primary range. The Cut Plane sets the height at which elements display as "cut," using cut line weight, versus shown in projection below it.
View Depth extends the range
View Depth is a separate plane below the Bottom plane. By default it matches Bottom, but you can extend it to reveal additional elements below the primary range. Elements picked up by that extended depth display using the view's line style rather than a category-based line weight, so they read differently than elements within the primary range.
Anything completely outside the top, bottom, and depth planes combined simply doesn't display, unless an underlay is set to show a level outside that range.
Depth Clipping
A related setting, Depth Clipping, sits in the Properties palette under Extents. It controls whether geometry below the cut plane appears at all, with three options: Clip without line, Clip with line, or No clip. Adjust this when you want depth-plane geometry to show without also showing where the clip occurs.
One exception to remember
Floors, structural floors, stairs, and ramps use an adjusted range that extends 4 feet below the bottom of the primary range before standard view depth rules apply. That's why these categories can appear differently than other elements near the bottom of your range.
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