Revit Family Libraries

[RPU_eric]

Hello everyone. I'll start by apologizing for this long post. I am currently trying to convince the office that I work in that we need to implement a better way about organizing and utilizing our Revit family library. I have a few general questions about how other people handle certain issues with managing their Revit family libraries. Any input you may have is appreciated.

1. I assume most offices create their own library which is held on a server that is separate from all local PC machines so everyone has access to the same family library. Do most of you simply start with the out-of-the-box (OOTB) family library and then add content as needed? Or do you start with a fresh library with your own company standards regarding organization and add only the components you find useful for your office from the OOTB family library?

2. Going back to question #1, how do you handle updating your Revit family library with the new Revit releases. If you have created your own custom family library, how do you go about updating all the OOTB Revit families with the new OOTB families? If you've created a new custom family library with custom organization folders you cannot simply copy/paste the new OOTB families into your library without overwriting the custom folder organization. Do you individually go through and copy/paste the new "updated" OOTB families over the old?

3. How do you handle OOTB families which you have customized? If you made modifications to an OOTB family how do you update the family with the new release? If you copy/paste the new version of the OOTB family over the old, wont you loose the custom parameters you've made to the OOTB family? I ask this only for the slight chance that Revit may make drastic improvements to a family which you would want incorporated into your custom family. Wouldn't you have to start with the new updated Revit family and recreate the custom parameters which you've added to the older version?

4. When a new version of Revit is released, do you assign someone the laborious task of upgrading your entire family library to the newer version, or simply let the upgrade occur when the family is loaded into the project?

I know there are lot of somewhat open ended questions here, but I am just trying to get some input on what might be the best and most productive way to go about organizing an in-house Revit family library.

Again, thanks for any input you have!

[jsteinhauer]

1. We started with the OOTB Library & its organization. We add families as we modify/create/review them.
2. We look at the update to see what has changed & why. If there is a valid reason, we might replace content in our library with the new stuff. Otherwise, we might modify our content with a new feature (ie Connectors).
3. All content has been renamed and identified as 'Approved'. Any content that is manipulated needs to be renamed for future review and inclusion into the library.
4. Our content is a few versions behind our latest build. We do this because we have multiple versions of Revit being used throughout our firm. If I upgrade a family to the latest version, someone using any version prior has lost the ability to reload said family.

I suggest reorganizing your content to a folder structure similar to the detail items, instead of the OOTB structure.

Cheers,
Jeff S.

[Revitaoist]

I copied the OOTB family folder, went through and emptied it of all .rfa files, and put my custom families in there to mirror the organization. Under options>file locations you can add this folder location so when you insert a family that folder is default and the OOTB folder is also available. This also allows me to copy my custom families to a backup without bringing all the OOTB stuff.

[Mike Sealander]

We have a file directory that mimics the OOTB directories. Our Revit Library contains only customized content, no OOTB content unless I specifically found something OOTB that I liked. Where we have done the most customization is with windows and doors, casework, and detail components. I have subdirectories for windows by type, and doors by type (drywall framed, HM masonry, wood framed). We also have subdirectories containing families that were built for specific projects, like a custom cabinet or window. For detail components, we have CSI division subdirectories, and all our custom detail component families begin with their division number (04 CMU Section), so they sort nicely in the project browser.
Every year or so I seem to want to refresh the families, and that takes care of upgrading their Revit version status.
Some of the OOTB content seems to be a lot better now than it was five years ago, so we are warming up to using OOTB content, but right now I try to use only custom content.