Upgrading template to 6.0

[nrenfro]

How dose one go about upgrading template files 6.0? I thought it would be as simple as opening the template in the newer program, but it's not.

[Paul Monsef]

Well, after much deliberation with myself i decided to just modify the standard 6.0 templates... I ran into way to many problems when upgrading my template files (like Grid-Circle1, Level-Head1,, etc. etc.)... not to mention the line weight issue.

Luckily for me, i keep things simple. Rename some levels, load some families, import a few View Templates... and BaDaBingBaDaBoom.

Sorry, i'm sure u didn't wanna hear that. Maybe someone else had better luck.

[shaunv68276]

Nrenfro sorry to say this but I opened my 5.1 template renamed it for R6.0, and had no problems. I supose keeping my DIR structure the same might have helped. You might need to spend the time in opening all your custom stuff in R6.0 which will upgrade it, and then do a save as. I had to do this to all our local content libraries from R4.5-R5.0-R5.1-R6.0 to save the frustration of when loading the family it comes up with "this is a one time upgrade process only" which its not! Everytime you load it in another project the same thing comes up even though its the same session of Revit. So yes it is frustrating. But mabey due to the process I managed to have no hassles when it came to saving the template.

[nrenfro]

Will do.
However, dose it make scene that I do not have the full features of things like Stairs? Actually this is clued me into the fact everything was not up to par.

[Steven Campbell]

Will do.
However, dose it make scene that I do not have the full features of things like Stairs? Actually this is clued me into the fact everything was not up to par.
To upgrade your stairs to 6.0 versions open the stair type properties box and duplicate the existing type . This will create a 6.0 version of your existing stair. The same process is true for railings.

You can also purge out the old styles for the file/purge unused command, make sure you hit the check none button then only select the stairs and railings you want to remove.

Also you will need to reload the baluster families into the upgraded template because they have been tweaked to work with the 6.0 stairs and railings.

Steven M. Campbell
Autodesk Revit

[David Conant]

When we upgrade a project, our prime directive is to avoid any changes to existing documents. We must sometimes retain older settings in order to avoid changing things you have already created. We try to avoid this, but if the value of the changes is high enough they may warrent this approach.
In 6.0, the changes to stairs and railings are substantial. We leave any existing stairs and railing types unchanged. Any new types you create will have the 6.0 features. The old types can then be deleted.

[Chad Smith]

So is there a list of types that aren't upgraded, so when we upgrade our template we know what we have to do manually? Is it just stairs and railings?

I've started many new projects with what I thought was a newly upgraded 6.0 template but have been missing out on the new parameters because I didn't know.
I don't want to have to go hunting through the Elements heading in the online help to find out what I need to upgrade manually.

Maybe in the help another header under 'What's New in This Release' called 'Manual Upgrade' is needed, or everytime you use an old template a message box pops on screen explaining the differences.