clean up the nested shared families within the project

[Ning Zhou]

i don't know if anyone had similar issue before, we had quite a few parent families using SAME nested + shared families, due to time gap between developing these families, naming of these SAME nested + shared families is not consistent, so we have quite a few models need to be cleaned up, for example:
1) "Line Based GM.rfa" are used in various parent families, nested + shared.
2) "CH_Batten line based" are also used in various parent families, nested + shared.
both families are exactly the SAME, so now project models have both versions of batten family existed which are nested and shared, but seems you cannot simply swap it, and i don't want to delete / recreate in project models.
maybe API is the way out, but before i resort to that last option, any easy way around this issue? thanks.

[Alfredo Medina]

I would try this:

Open one of the host families in the family editor; for example, the one that hosts component "A". Then load component "B" into this family. Replace "A" with "B" both graphically and parametrically; rebuild any constraints, labels, etc. Since families "A" and "B" are identical, it should not be difficult to rebuild everything. Then purge component "A" from the family editor. Test your family to see that everything works again. Then load this host family into the project. Always use the second option when Revit asks how to overwrite elements. (override sub-components). If there are more parents using "A" you would need to repeat this process in those families. After overriding these families with the new definition, you should be able to purge component "A" from the project.

I hope this helps.

[Ning Zhou]

thanks Alfredo.
that's exactly what i've tried before, but somehow old version of that nested/shared family still cannot be removed, my guess is that some parent family instances still host that old stuff somewhere, i may need more throughly search for these instances.

[Alfredo Medina]

In the project, some instance parameters might still be referring to the old "A" component. These need to be updated manually, since they are by instance.

[Ning Zhou]

right, found a few instances still referring to old stuff, i just manually change it, thanks again Alfredo.