Select All Instances - not available/working?

[jo_3_]

Hi, I have two related questions which I think are related:

1. In the Project Browser, I see my list of families. Sometimes when I select a family and right-click, "select all instances" is greyed out. This would tell me that there are no instances of this family in my project. But when I try to delete the family, it tells me there are 2 instances that will be deleted. How can I find out where these instances exist, and if they do exist, why can't I "select all instances?"

2. And sometimes I AM able to select all instances, but when I go to change their family, the element properties are greyed out and I can't change them to a different family or type. Why is this?

[Scott Womack]

1. In the Project Browser, I see my list of families. Sometimes when I select a family and right-click, "select all instances" is greyed out. This would tell me that there are no instances of this family in my project. But when I try to delete the family, it tells me there are 2 instances that will be deleted. How can I find out where these instances exist, and if they do exist, why can't I "select all instances?"

"Select All Instances" does not selct items that are in Legend views. So that is a possibility. It does not select detail component families used in Repeating details. It does not select nested shared families, nor does it select wall styles that are used in a Stacked Wall.


2. And sometimes I AM able to select all instances, but when I go to change their family, the element properties are greyed out and I can't change them to a different family or type. Why is this?

This occurs in a workset enabled file, because the selected items are not made editable, again it can occur with some of the items in the list above.

[jo_3_]

interesting. the families in question are not in legends, not stacked walls, and not in detail components. but this project IS workset enabled, and we have a number of nested shared families, so i suspect that's it.

Thanks!

[bulletproofdesign]

This is good information to know.

I suggest however that 'nested families' won't be a problem unless they are nested in 'in place families' (asumption). Families nested in a another family are incoroprated in the file, and need no external references.

Peace

[wmullett]

Nested families are loaded along with their host and are available in the project. Be aware that groups that were defined but then not placed may also have instances in them.