CTC BIM Manager Suite™ User Guide
CTC BIM Manager Suite User Guide
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Contents
Suite Overview .................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Installation and Configuration ........................................................................................................................................................... 6
License Activation and Management ................................................................................................................................................. 6
Changing Licensing at Any Time ............................................................................................................................................................ 8
Borrowing a Cloud Shared License ......................................................................................................................................................... 8
Returning a Borrowed Cloud Shared License Early .............................................................................................................................. 10
Common Toolbar and Menu Buttons .............................................................................................................................................. 12
Getting Help ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Getting More Help: Videos ................................................................................................................................................................. 12
Submitting a Feature Request ............................................................................................................................................................. 13
Reporting a Bug ................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Contacting Technical Support .............................................................................................................................................................. 14
Getting Application Information .......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Suite Settings .................................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Starting Suite Settings ......................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Changing Which Ribbon Buttons are Visible and how they Appear .................................................................................................... 17
Seeing and Changing License Status .................................................................................................................................................... 19
Family Preview Manager ................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Starting Family Preview Manager ....................................................................................................................................................... 21
General Settings .................................................................................................................................................................................. 22
Appearance Settings ............................................................................................................................................................................ 22
Batch Processing Files .......................................................................................................................................................................... 24
Family Tools .................................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 26
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Starting Family Tools ........................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Delete Backup Files .............................................................................................................................................................................. 26
Type Catalog Tools .............................................................................................................................................................................. 28
Compare Shared Parameters ............................................................................................................................................................... 29
Merge Shared Parameters ................................................................................................................................................................... 30
Family File Version Detector ................................................................................................................................................................ 31
Project Cleaner ................................................................................................................................................................................ 32
Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 32
Starting Project Cleaner ....................................................................................................................................................................... 32
Removing Elements from the Model ................................................................................................................................................... 32
Purge ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 34
Saved Selections and Options .............................................................................................................................................................. 34
Revision Cloud Remover .................................................................................................................................................................. 35
Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 35
Starting Revision Cloud Remover ......................................................................................................................................................... 35
Remove Selected Revision Clouds ........................................................................................................................................................ 35
Remove All Revision Clouds ................................................................................................................................................................. 36
Dimension Checker .......................................................................................................................................................................... 37
Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 37
Starting Dimension Checker................................................................................................................................................................. 37
Search Filters ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 37
Working With the Search Results Grid ................................................................................................................................................. 41
Family Checker ................................................................................................................................................................................ 43
Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 43
Starting Family Checker ....................................................................................................................................................................... 43
Family Checker Configuration .............................................................................................................................................................. 44
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Saving and Loading Configurations ..................................................................................................................................................... 47
Checking Families ................................................................................................................................................................................ 47
Reports ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 49
Family Processor ............................................................................................................................................................................. 50
Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 50
Starting Family Processor .................................................................................................................................................................... 51
Tool Buttons ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 52
Family-Level Processing Tab ................................................................................................................................................................ 53
Lookup Tables Tab ............................................................................................................................................................................... 57
Change Materials Tab ......................................................................................................................................................................... 60
Change Parameters Tab ...................................................................................................................................................................... 68
Processing Order Tab ........................................................................................................................................................................... 78
Select Families & Begin Tab ................................................................................................................................................................. 80
Last Log Tab ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 85
Family Processor Best Practices ........................................................................................................................................................... 86
Import & Link Manager ................................................................................................................................................................... 87
Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 87
Starting Import & Link Manager .......................................................................................................................................................... 87
The Main Dialog .................................................................................................................................................................................. 87
Save Report .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 91
Load/Unload Files ................................................................................................................................................................................ 91
Find and Replace Paths ........................................................................................................................................................................ 92
Manage Revit Project Links ............................................................................................................................................................. 94
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 94
Starting Manage Revit Project Links .................................................................................................................................................... 94
Modifying Link Properties in Revit Files ............................................................................................................................................... 95
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Schedule Parameter Resolver .......................................................................................................................................................... 96
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 96
Starting Schedule Parameter Resolver ................................................................................................................................................ 96
Choosing a Shared Parameter File ....................................................................................................................................................... 96
Resolving Schedule Parameters ........................................................................................................................................................... 96
Options ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 97
Shared Parameter Manager ............................................................................................................................................................ 99
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 99
Starting Shared Parameter Manager .................................................................................................................................................. 99
Master Shared Parameter Files ......................................................................................................................................................... 100
Group Management .......................................................................................................................................................................... 101
Managing Parameters ....................................................................................................................................................................... 104
Source Shared Parameter Files .......................................................................................................................................................... 109
Filters ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 111
Exporting Parameters ........................................................................................................................................................................ 112
Selection Sets ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 114
Loading Parameters Into the Project ................................................................................................................................................. 125
Options .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 125
Type Swapper ................................................................................................................................................................................ 127
Starting Type Swapper ....................................................................................................................................................................... 127
Duplicate Families.............................................................................................................................................................................. 128
Swapping Elements............................................................................................................................................................................ 130
Approved Styles and Types ................................................................................................................................................................ 131
Saving and Loading Selections ........................................................................................................................................................... 132
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 133
Family Checker Rating Conventions ................................................................................................................................................... 133
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Suite Overview
The products from CTC Software offer many utilities for enhancing the productivity of users of Revit® software from
Autodesk®. Revit users launch these tools from within the Revit software.
Although written to function correctly with the international community in mind wherever possible, CTC Software
products are currently only tested on English USA versions of Revit running on English USA versions of Windows.
Installation and Configuration
The standard workstation installation requires little more than running the setup program. For more information
regarding topics such as automating workstation installations and preconfiguring workstation settings, please refer to
the CTC BIM Suites Installation and Configuration Guide document.
License Activation and Management
The productivity tools provided with light background colors are free tools that run without any special licensing. The
productivity tools provided with dark background colors are premium tools which require licensing.
Unless initially preconfigured by the system administrator, the first time any of the licensed tools are launched from the
Revit ribbon, the Product and License Information dialog will appear which requires acknowledging the licensing
requirements by clicking the OK button at the bottom.
CTC Software products support only cloud-shared licensing, and also free trial licenses that use CTC’s cloud licensing
engine. You must click the OK button to activate the cloud licensing and acknowledge using a CTC cloud account.
The licensing will automatically apply to all of the tools that are included in the suite which require licensing. So once
the first tool has configured the licensing, the other premium tools in the suite will automatically use the same
configuration.
Once you click the OK button, you may be asked to login, if you aren’t already logged in from using another CTC product:
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Either way, once you have logged in, the product will be configured for cloud shared licensing:
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and the licensing screen will be updated to show that:
At this point, you may borrow a license for offline use (if permitted by the administrator). You may also Sign Out from
the cloud licensing system in case a different user needs to sign in on this computer.
Changing Licensing at Any Time
Licensing can also be changed at any time using the “Suite Settings” tool, which is discussed below, or by using the
“Suite Licensing” menu choice in the licensed add-in tools:
Borrowing a Cloud Shared License
If a license is needed in anticipation of being disconnected from the Internet, borrowing a license can ensure that the
CTC tools are available for use when offline.
IMPORTANT: For normal use of the software, where you have a standard Internet connection, you DO NOT need to
borrow a license. Borrowing a license is normally only needed when you know you will need to use the software at a
time when you won’t have a reliable Internet connection. While you have a license borrowed, that is one less shared
license available to all other users.
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NOTE: Borrowing is only available for purchased cloud shared licenses. Borrowing is not available for trial licenses.
IMPORTANT: In the event your computer is lost, stolen or damaged (e.g. a hard drive crash) an administrator CAN
NOT recover a borrowed license. In that case, the license will be unavailable to all users until the borrow period has
naturally expired. As such, you only want to borrow a license for the barest minimum amount of time needed.
Begin by opening the Product and License Information screen from either the main pulldown menu of a premium tool, or
from the Suite Settings add-in. From here, click the ‘Borrow…’ button to begin the process of choosing the length of time
to borrow a Cloud Shared license.
The date selector should appear:
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Confirm the date selection and click the Borrow License button. A success message should appear.
Returning a Borrowed Cloud Shared License Early
To return the license early, in the Product and License Information form, find the Return Early… button and click it.
A prompt will appear confirming that the license should be returned.
Click the Yes button, then you should see:
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The license status should now show a ‘not borrowed’ message.
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Common Toolbar and Menu Buttons
Getting Help
In the toolbar, clicking the “Help” button will display this user guide.
Getting More Help: Videos
An alternate source of help is to click on the Videos button, which will display a list of tool-specific videos in your web
browser.
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Submitting a Feature Request
If you have an idea for enhancing a feature or would like to see a new feature added to the software, you can either use
the “Request Feature” button on the About dialog (seen below) or can access that functionality using the “Request
Feature” drop-down menu choice:
Selecting this option will open the Support page on the CTC web site, which allows you to add a request for a new
feature by selecting the Wish List option.
Reporting a Bug
If you encounter what you feel is an issue or incorrect operation in the software, you can report this as a “bug” by either
using the “Report Bug” button on the About dialog (seen below) or can access that functionality using the “Report Bug”
drop-down menu choice:
Selecting this option will open the Support page on the CTC web site, which allows you to submit the information about
the issue.
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Contacting Technical Support
In the toolbar, clicking the “Support” button will open the Support page on the CTC web site. This button may be hidden
by your system administrator.
Selecting this option will open the Support page on the CTC web site.
Getting Application Information
In the toolbar, clicking the “About” button will display a dialog which shows information about this tool.
This screen should look like this:
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Suite Settings
The Suite Settings tool allows suite-level changes to be applied.
NOTE: You may need to restart Revit in order to see any changes made with this tool take effect.
NOTE: Your system administrator may disable some features of this application.
Starting Suite Settings
On the Revit ribbon, click on the “Suite Settings” button.
Depending on how the ribbon buttons are configured, the button may be labeled “BIM Manager Suite Settings” and be
located under the “Free Tools” dropdown button on the CTC BIM Manager Suite panel.
This will launch the application, which should look something like this:
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Changing Which Ribbon Buttons are Visible and how they Appear
The first tab in the Suite Settings tool allows changing which ribbon buttons are available, if this feature has not been
disabled by the system administrator. The CTC Suites Installation and Configuration document explains how ribbon
button availability can be controlled more automatically using either configuration files or Active Directory security
group definitions.
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For any ribbon buttons that you don’t want to have available, simply clear the checkmark by their name and then click
the “Save” button.
If you turn off the button for this application itself, the following dialog will appear when you try to save that change:
Selecting the grouping checkboxes near the bottom of the dialog will condense the tools into a dropdown button. This is
the default behavior when the tools are installed on a new computer:
Note that if only one tool within a group is visible, the button for that tool will be placed directly on the panel. So there
will be no drop-down button if there would be only one tool to show underneath it.
Either free or premium tools (or both) can be ungrouped. For example, these settings:
results in this:
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Selecting the “Use small icons for ungrouped tools in the Revit ribbon” checkbox can save some ribbon space for
ungrouped tools. For example, these settings:
results in this:
Seeing and Changing License Status
The second tab in the Suite Settings tool allows seeing the current license status and changing the licensing:
The top portion of this screen shows how the licensing is currently configured for this suite. Clicking the “Change
Licensing…” button will show the dialog that allows changing how the suite is licensed:
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For more information on how the Product and License Information dialog works, please review the “License Activation
and Management” section of this document, above.
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Family Preview Manager
Overview
The Family Preview Manager can be used to set default preview images (thumbnail). It works on components, detail
items, annotations and most other Revit families that are stored externally to project. Preview images are used both by
Windows to show a thumbnail in Windows Explorer and by Revit when viewing the properties of a family.
Note that some families do not support thumbnail previews such as profiles.
The previews can be set up in the following ways:
• Default Appearance – if nothing is specified by category, use the view angle, display style and detail level set as
default
• Appearance By Category – determine the view directions display style and detail level based on category
Starting Family Preview Manager
On the “CTC Software” tab, in the BIM Manager Suite ribbon, the Family Preview Manager button will be located in the
Free Tools panel.
FPM can process the current family or a file/folder in batches.
Options has the settings which determines how the previews are created.
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General Settings
General Settings defines how all families will be processed.
• Preview Name: determines the view to use for previews. If the view doesn’t exist, it will be created.
• Set as active view: the view with the preview name will be set active.
• Enable preview visibility: approximates the appearance of the family as placed in a project – default values
shown in labels, for example
• Smooth edges with anti-aliasing: curved edges will look less pixelated
• Show dimensions: when applicable, dimension objects will appear in preview
• Show reference planes: entire extent of planes will be shown. May make actual objects appear very small
• Show reference lines: similar effect as planes
• Show levels: similar effect as planes – primarily applicable for level hosted families
• Show text notes: note objects will appear in preview (not necessarily labels)
• Show invisible lines: some lines normally invisible will appear in preview
• Show flip controls: controls such as the direction of openings or doors will be displayed
• Show room calculation points: similar effect as planes and levels – may force small object sizes
• Show host elements: a door and the wall, for example
• Show connector elements: the connections used in MEP elements will be shown
• Show void elements: normally invisible, useful for showing clearance elements for example
• Show light sources: for families with lighting, show the mesh
Appearance Settings
In addition to setting the default, it is possible to specify different settings by categories. This is especially helpful for
families which differ in display such as doors (preview in elevation) versus mechanical equipment (preview in 3D from
top left).
The Default Appearance options are analogous to Revit’s view type (View Angle equals plan, reflected, elevation and
3D), display styles and detail level properties. The settings chosen here will be used for categories which do not have an
Appearance Template defined.
Appearance by Category has functions to create many “templates” to apply to categories of families.
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To define appearance templates, first create one by clicking on the “New Appearance Template” tool button:
Choose the desired options in View Angle, Display Style and Detail level:
Finally, give the template an appropriate name and click OK to save it.
In the categories section, search for the door category and expand it in the list. To use the defined appearance template
for all of the host types in the category, first, select it then the appearance template Finally, click the right-pointing
arrow:
Select individual host types if desired. View types remaining in the category/type list will use the Default Appearance
settings:
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To save the configuration for later use, Browse to a folder and give the settings file (“*.fpmsettings”) a name.
Batch Processing Files
To add multiple families for processing, choose them individually or entire folders by using the appropriate buttons.
Here, a folder was selected. Each of the families contained in the folder and subfolders are added to list for processing.
The family’s current preview image is displayed (as it was when last saved).
Overwrite Family will save the family after processing.
USE CAUTION! Revit will upgrade the family if it is being processed in a version later than it was last saved!
Choose a location to save a copy of the family after processing. This will not modify the original but it will not re-create
the same folder structure. Therefore, it is recommended to copy the families first and then choose to overwrite.
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Click Process to begin:
When processing is complete, a log will show successes or failures.
Clear the list and add the folder chosen as the new location to view the result. Family Preview Manager will display the
preview as it was set.
Note: Windows Explorer may not show the same preview image under some circumstances.
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Family Tools
Overview
Family Tools makes it easy to work with files commonly used to create Revit Families. Family Tools provides
functionality to:
• Delete the “backup” files Revit creates when working on families
• Copy comma-delimited “csv” files to equivalent “txt” files, which makes type catalog creation easy by leveraging
Microsoft Excel to do most of the editing
• Compare the contents of two shared parameters files
• Safely merge selected contents from one shared parameters file to another
• List which version of Revit was used to create one or more families
Starting Family Tools
On the Revit ribbon, click on the “Family Tools” button.
Delete Backup Files
This tab makes it easy to find and delete selected backup files that Revit created.
IMPORTANT: Files that are deleted using this tool are deleted permanently. They will not be available in the Recycle
Bin.
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Use the “Browse…” button to find the top-level directory to be searched. If the “Recursive Search” checkbox is selected,
subdirectories will be included in the search for backup files.
The “Refresh List” button forces the tool to read through the directory again, displaying the current list of backup files
that exist in case the list of files has changed since the last time it looked.
Once it is done finding backup files, simply deselect the backup files that should not be deleted and then use the “Delete
Selected Backup Files” button to delete the remaining ones that are checked.
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Type Catalog Tools
Type catalogs are comma-delimited text files that Revit reads when loading a family file into a project. They must be in
the same folder as the family being loaded, and they must have exactly the same file name as the family file, but instead
have a “.txt” file name extension.
Typically the easiest way to edit type catalogs is by using a tool that can create comma-delimited text files, such as
Microsoft Excel. However, Excel’s native file name extension for these is “.csv” instead of “.txt”
One practice is to create master type catalog files in Excel and save them as “.csv” files from Excel. Simply double-
clicking on these files from Windows Explorer will usually automatically open them again in Excel for later editing. Once
the files are done being edited in Excel, they can be copied and renamed to the equivalent “.txt” file name.
However, this copying-and-renaming process can be very tedious, especially if many family files are being created or
edited.
The “Type Catalog Tools” tab automates this copying-and-renaming process:
As with the “Delete Backup Files” tab, files to not be copied-and-renamed can easily be deslected before the “Copy
Selected CSV Files to TXT Files” button is clicked.
IMPORTANT: This process will silently replace any existing txt files with the contents from their source csv files.
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Compare Shared Parameters
Shared parameters files are specially-formatted text files that define the names and data types for special parameters
that are used in Revit. For example, a shared parameter called “Voltage” might exist that is defined to be of the Revit
data type “Electrical Potential.”
Each of these parameters has other information, such as what group they belong to and, most importantly, a special
property called a Globally Unique IDentifier (“GUID”), which is a special set of characters that uniquely identifies this
parameter from all others that might be created by anyone. For example: ee1f8bb8-e503-49a8-bd5b-170d64400d82
Sometimes multiple shared parameters files come into play. For example, one company may create shared parameters
for use in the families that represent its products, whereas a design firm that is using these Revit families may have their
own shared parameters. Managing multiple shared parameters files can be difficult.
The “Compare Shared Parameters” tab makes it easy to see the differences between two shared parameters files:
In this example, at the bottom we can see the “Width” parameter defined in each file conflict with each other. This
means that Revit will treat them as two separate parameters, with different meanings, when it is likely the intention is
that they have the same meaning.
Near the “Compare” button is a “Generate Report” checkbox. When checked the results will also appear in a pop-up
window as a report that can be easily copied to the clipboard.
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Merge Shared Parameters
There are times when it is desirable to combine parameters from one shared parameters file into another shared
parameters file. When done, this will provide a single shared parameters file that can be referenced by Revit.
Autodesk strongly recommends that shared parameters files NOT be edited manually, for example using a tool such as
notepad. This is because it is very easy for a person to make a mistake, which would result in a corrupt shared
parameters file.
Fortunately, the “Merge Shared Parameters” tool makes it easy to safely copy shared parameters from one file to
another. This tool takes care of things like ensuring the parameter from the source file ends up in the correct group in
the destination file, even if the group IDs in the files are different. It also prevents the importing of parameters from the
source file that are in conflict with existing parameters in the destination file.
In this example, the 4 checked parameters seen plus the “Width” parameter were selected for importing. Only two
were found that didn’t already exist in the destination shared parameters file and didn’t conflict with any existing
parameters in the destination shared parameters file.
IMPORTANT: Clicking the “Merge and Preview” button DOES NOT update the destination shared parameters file. It
only does the merge in memory. You must explicitly click the “Save Merged Results” button in order to get the final
shared parameters file to be created.
If the “Sort Saved Params” option is checked when saving, the final file will have the parameters sorted by their names.
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Family File Version Detector
This detects the version of Revit that was last used to save family files. This is useful for determining if upgrading of
family files is needed, or perhaps if a family can be used in projects that are not on the current release of Revit. It will
also show the category of each family file.
If there are families that appear in the search results that should not be evaluated, simply Ctrl+click on the row header
to select multiple items in the list and click the “Delete” key on the keyboard. This will not delete the family files, but
instead will simply remove them from this list of families to evaluate.
Once only the family files whose information is needed are on the list, click the “Detect Versions” button to have it
analyze the families on the list and then display the results:
The “Copy Grid to Clipboard” button can be used to copy the data into the clipboard, which can then be pasted into
other applications, such as Microsoft Excel.
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Project Cleaner
Overview
Removing information from a Revit model is important to protect intellectual property and also to help reduce the file
size of models prior to being linked into projects or prior to sending projects to outside consultants. Project cleaner
removes views, view templates, view filters, images, CAD links, schedules and sheets from Revit projects.
Starting Project Cleaner
On the Revit ribbon, click on the “Project Cleaner” button.
Removing Elements from the Model
Project cleaner has multiple tabs which are used to select the Revit categories and object types for removal.
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Check the checkbox next to each element that should be removed. The check all and check none tools in the upper right
corner affect only the check boxes on the active tab.
Once all desired selections have been made on all tabs click the “Remove” button in the toolbar at the top of the dialog.
This will remove all checked items on all tabs.
Before deleting the elements, a confirmation dialog will be displayed:
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Purge
It can be helpful to purge a model to remove unused elements before or after cleaning. The “Purge” tool invokes Revit’s
“Purge Unused” feature and is provided as a convenience.
Saved Selections and Options
To save or re-load the list of elements to clean on the project, use the save and load tools on the menu.
This is particularly useful if this is a Revit model that will undergo the cleaning process regularly.
The options dialog controls default behavior of the add-in. It also contains sorting options for the lists of items in the
interface.
HINT: if Project Processor detects that the View Organization option selected could require a minute or more to query, a
message will be presented with information about that situation. In particular, the “On Sheets or Used/Type”
organization method is often the cause which should be taken into consideration.
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Revision Cloud Remover
Overview
Revision Cloud Remover deletes all non-issued revision cloud instances from each view in a Revit project.
Note: While the tool does not merge all the revision cloud schedules, the revision cloud information will be removed
from the sheets.
Starting Revision Cloud Remover
On the Revit ribbon, click on the “Revision Cloud Remover” button.
Remove Selected Revision Clouds
Click on the ribbon button and select the revisions you want to delete from all views in the current project:
Clicking ‘Remove’ will complete the process and all selected revisions will be removed.
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Remove All Revision Clouds
To easily remove all revision clouds from the project click the ‘Select All’ button at the top right of the dialog.
Clicking ‘Remove’ will complete the process and all selected revisions will be removed.
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Dimension Checker
Overview
This tool is only available for the 2013 and later versions of Revit. Dimension Checker identifies dimension strings using
the dimension override options and presents them for review. Additional filter options can be used to narrow the
search results.
Starting Dimension Checker
On the Revit ribbon, click on the “Dimension Checker” button.
Search Filters
The first step when using dimension checker is to select the search options. The three options for filtering search results
are “Dimension Value”, “Text Fields” and a list of specific characters to search for. These options are related directly to
the native Revit “Dimension Text” dialog that is used to configure dimension overrides in Revit:
In the “Dimension Value” box in the next image, select whether to search for dimension strings set to “Use Actual Value”
and/or dimensions set to use the “Replace with Text” option.
NOTE: When both “Use Actual Value” and “Replace with Text” are selected at the same time, no dimensions will be
filtered from the search results unless also including other search criteria, such as for text fields or those text values that
contain specific characters.
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The “Text Fields” filter can be used to only return dimension strings that have an override configured for the prefix,
suffix, above or below fields. Once enabled, select the checkboxes next to each override property for which to search.
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The “Text Fields” checkboxes will normally return any dimensions with any of the overrides configured (“or” logic),
however by checking the “Match all Fields” checkbox, only dimension strings that have all of the selected overrides
configured will be displayed (“and” logic).
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To search or filter for dimension strings that contain specific characters or phrases, use the Search controls:
Each phrase or character should be entered on its own line in the box below. Choose whether to include or exclude
dimensions containing the terms. Press the Enter key to start a new line. In this example the period, comma and dash
characters have been added as search criteria:
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The “Match Case” and “Match All Phrases” checkboxes can be used further narrow the search results:
Once all search criteria have been specified, click the “Search” button. To refresh the result, click the refresh icon at the
lower left corner of the window.
Working With the Search Results Grid
The search results will be displayed on the right side of the dialog. For each dimension the following information is
collected and displayed:
• Element ID – The Revit ID of the dimension
• Host View – Which view the dimension is located on
• Segments – List how many dimensions lines are of the same value
• Actual Value – The original value of the dimension
• Replace with Text Value – Shows the text value used to replace the dimension if configured
• Text Above – Shows text above if configured for the dimension string
• Text Below – Shows text below if configured for the dimension string
• Text Left – Shows prefix text if configured for the dimension string
• Text Right – Shows Suffix text if configured for the dimension string
The “Show” button can be used to find a specific dimension in the project. Select a single dimension and click the
“Show” button, or double-click on the dimension row. Dimension Checker will open the host view and zoom in on the
dimension.
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NOTE: The Dimension Checker dialog is modeless, so the Revit project is active and accessible while the tool is open.
The “Show” option can be used to help navigate around the model to find dimension strings for editing without closing
Dimension Checker between edits.
Search results can be saved to a spreadsheet format for later review. To save the search results click the “Save” button.
Select the desired file path and choose from .XLSX, .XLS or .CSV file format.
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Family Checker
Overview
Family Checker can be invaluable whenever there is a need to evaluate the consistency, completeness and overall
“health” of incoming and outgoing Revit families. As is often the case, collaboration and acquisition of useful content is
complex and time consuming. Ensuring that a piece of content functions correctly and contains accurate information
usually requires detailed, manual examination of each one by a content manager, regardless of the original source.
Use Family Checker to quickly evaluate Revit content from manufacturers, project collaborators, Revit content sites such
as Autodesk Seek and in-house libraries. To begin checking families, declare the common shared parameter file,
acceptable parameter groupings, allowable names and build the list of family files to check. The Family Checker will
open, gather information and produce a spreadsheet-based report without modifying the families themselves.
Based on the generated report, a content manager can identify and fix families which don’t meet the established criteria
and best practices.
Starting Family Checker
On the Revit ribbon, click on the “Family Checker” button.
When the Family Checker opens, the main form is presented:
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Family Checker Configuration
Prior to using the Family Checker, it is necessary to configure some of the application options. From the main toolbar,
click the options button. The first tab displayed contains the ‘General’ options that will be used when the selected family
files are processed:
User Initials: Specify what characters identify the user running the report. Click ‘Auto’ to get the logged in user
Main Parameter File: The path to the shared parameters file which contains the shared parameters that should be used
with the families being checked
The ‘Groups’ tab contains two panes which display the way parameters should be grouped in the family:
To add Parameter Types to Parameter Groups, simply expand the type and drag it to the desired group:
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Hold the SHIFT or CTRL key while selecting to drag multiple types to a group:
To reset the changes made to groupings, click the ‘Defaults…’ button.
The ‘Name Rules’ tab enables Family Checker to evaluate parameters for disallowed or non-standard characters in their
names:
This function can be helpful in identifying invalid characters or unwanted combinations of letters which may interfere
with useful data extraction, proper scheduling, or BIM standards. The check is run by matching parts of the parameter
names with the specified combinations. If a match is found, the name is declared valid or invalid, depending upon which
list the character combination is defined in.
To define valid or invalid name parts, simply type each combination in the appropriate list. Press Enter or Return to add
another item to the list.
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Custom Sub-Categories
Select items from the ‘Undefined Categories’ list and use the right arrow to include in the checking process.
Expand the category to include just some of the sub-categories in the checking process.
Remove items from the right pane by selecting and clicking the left arrow.
Family Rulesets
Choose options here to include when checking all of the families against the desired “custom” properties and
parameters.
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Saving and Loading Configurations
It may be necessary to use different rules for checking families. Family Checker can save and load its configuration
options stored in .fcs files. To save or load settings, click the ‘Load Options…’ or ‘Save Options…’ buttons on the Options
dialog:
When loading options, any previously unsaved changes made will be lost. Be sure to save any configuration changes
before loading settings from additional .fcs files.
Checking Families
Family Selection
Current Family: This checks the family that is currently open in Revit
Multiple Families: Use the multi-file selector interface to search through folders for families. Browse to the folder or
folders where the families to be checked are located. If the families are located within subfolders of the parent folder,
check the “Search in subfolder” box to see a list of all the files.
Select families from the top pane using the helper buttons or by holding CTRL/SHIFT while left-clicking.
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Continue browsing and adding families until desired list is complete. Click ‘Check Families’ to begin processing
Manufacturer Content: If families to be checked are obtained from or have been developed by a product manufacturer,
activate the ‘Manufacturer Content’ button to enable additional checks for consistent “Manufacturer” parameter
values.
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Reports
The reports produced by Family Checker contain several tables which summarize the checks and results for each family.
If multiple families were checked, each will have its own tab in the report.
Family Checker reports can be saved and reviewed in most common spreadsheet tools such as Microsoft Excel or other
analysis tools such as PowerBI.
Click ‘Save Report(s)’ to choose a destination and file name for the report.
The report for the families follows a basic Comma Separated Values (.CSV) structure with the column names in the first
The values or ratings given for each check range from 0 or NULL meaning it does not generally apply to 5 which means it
meets all optimal standards.
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Family Processor
Overview
Family Processor is a tool which allows you to define one or multiple changes to one or more Revit® family files. This
software can be used to make the following kinds of changes to Revit family files:
• Set the OmniClass value
• Change the category
• Set “Family Parameters” settings: Shared, WorkPlane-Based, Always vertical, Cut with Voids When Loaded and
Room Calculation Point
• Set the Keynotes file
• Clean up issues in the family by opening it with Auditing turned on
• Import all units of measure settings from another family file
• Change the text casing for all parameter values stored in text parameters (Text, Multiline-Text, URL, etc.)
• Sort the parameters by name within each group
• Delete one or more lookup tables
• Import one or more lookup tables from csv files
• Delete one or more materials, with a special option to delete the default materials
• Create materials and set their names, transparency values and basic red, green, and blue values
• Change the name, transparency value and basic red, green, and blue values for existing materials
• Delete parameters
• Add shared parameters and family parameters:
o Define whether they are instance or type
o Set their group
o Set or clear their default value or formula
o Define a family parameter’s name
o Define a family parameter’s type (e.g. length, area, temperature, pressure, etc.)
• Replace an existing parameter with a specific shared parameter
• Replace all parameters in a family that have identically-named shared parameters in a shared parameters file
• Change existing parameters:
o Value
o Formula
o Whether it is instance or type
o Name (for family parameters only)
o Change their group
This software also provides the following functions:
• Controlling the order in which the above steps are processed
• Save modified families to an alternate parent folder location, retaining the subfolder tree structure of the newly
processed families
• Re-save even if no changes were made, which can be useful for upgrading families to a new version of Revit
• Export all parameter information, for all types, to an XML file
• Override the preview image by building a new one from the view with a specified name
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• Create a new shared parameters file which contains all the unique shared parameters discovered during
processing of the families
• Create a type catalog file for each family processed, with the option of deleting the types in the family before
resaving it
• All family files saved by Family Processor are always compacted to their smallest possible file size.
The ability to automate these tasks with accuracy and consistency can provide enormous time and cost savings, as well
as reduce the likelihood of human errors inducing mistakes in the families.
Starting Family Processor
To launch Family Processor, you must have a family open in the Revit editor. This is necessary because a starting
family is used as a baseline for default values that may apply to other families. This also makes it easy if you only want
to automate changes to that single family. Once you have a family file open, click on the “Family Processor” button.
Once the button is clicked, Family Processor will open:
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Tool Buttons
Across the top of the Family Processor dialog are the following tool buttons:
The New Settings button clears out all of the current definitions of changes to one or more families that should be
made. Essentially, it simply clears out the settings to apply to each family.
The Open Settings button lets you load previously-saved settings from a file you select.
The Save Settings button lets you save your current settings to a file you select.
The Options button brings up the following dialog that lets you control how Family Processor works. These options
should be fairly self-explanatory:
The Help button launches this user guide.
The Videos button opens a list of videos which can be viewed to learn more about using this tool.
The About button will bring up a dialog which provides information about this application.
IMPORTANT: Unless you make changes on the “Processing Order” tab, the order in which changes will be applied to
the families matches the order that Family Processor presents the settings to you.
As we’ll see shortly, the information in the bottom half of most tabs defines the actual actions to take on one or more
families.
The top half of those tabs is used to select or specify what should go in the bottom half. For example, the “Only names
containing” field above the list of choices allows you to quickly filter down the list by typing in a part of the name. Only
those items that include what you type will remain on the list for selection.
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Family-Level Processing Tab
The first tab is the Family-Level Processing tab. This tab contains settings that apply to the entire family and not, for
example, just to a parameter or a material.
This tab contains settings that allow you to apply a value to the OmniClass property of the family. You can select to
make no change, to set a specific value, or to get the value to apply from an existing Text parameter in the family being
processed.
For example, the families to be processed may have been created with an older version of Revit which did not have the
OmniClass property on families. If a Text parameter called OmniClass Value exists in each family and contains the value
to be stored in the OmniClass property of families that now exists in Revit, you can specify that parameter name as the
one from which to get the value:
You can also have Family Processor delete the parameter once the value has been successfully applied.
Below this section are controls for changing the category of the family as well as the checkbox-based “Family
Parameters” from the “Family Category and Parameters” dialog in Revit:
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The category of the family being processed can be changed by selecting something other than “No Change” from the
list:
The “3D” and “Annotation” options are simply filters which change which category choices are in the list, to simplify the
list of choices.
IMPORTANT: Be careful when changing the category of a family! When the category of a family is changed,
subcategories will be lost and some category-specific parameters may be lost as well. Use this feature at your own risk.
The “checkbox” values below the category list can be set to ‘No Change,’ ‘Set Checked,’ or ‘Set Unchecked.’
Below this section is the section for defining the Keynotes file this family will use. This feature is only available in Revit
2015 and later:
This works like the equivalent dialog that is natively in Revit. To not set a Keynotes file, simply leave the “Set the
keynotes file” checkbox unchecked.
Below this section is a control for opening family files with Auditing turned on. This can be used to help clean up family
files which may have some corruption-type issues in them, to which Revit 2015 and later are particularly sensitive.
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Below this option is a setting for importing the units of measure to apply to the families being processed. For example:
With this option enabled, all the settings for units of measure from the “Metric Family Template.rfa” family file will be
applied to all the families being processed.
This option will NOT convert values to nominal values in the new units of measure. For example, if a value starts out
as 33mm in a family but the units of measure for length in the family being used for units of measure are inches, the
value in the family being updated will NOT change to a nice, round 1.25 inches but instead will be something like
1.29921 inches. So this process simply changes the working units of measure within the family in the same manner as if
that’s all that were to be changed in Revit manually.
Below this option is a setting to change the casing of all text-based parameter values. For example:
Text-based parameter values do not include a unit of measure, and include such parameter types as Text, Multi-line Text
and URL. This setting allows changing the values to all uppercase, all lowercase, or to use title casing. Title casing uses
capital letters as seen in the titles of most things, such as: My Awesome Parameter
A common use case for this option is to ensure all text values are all in uppercase letters, so schedules will appear in a
uniform manner.
IMPORTANT: As of the 20.0.0 release, URL parameters WILL NOT have their casing changed, because many web sites
have case-sensitive addresses.
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Below this setting is a setting to sort parameters within groups, as seen in the Family Types dialog when editing a family.
This setting is only available in Revit 2015 or later. This image shows the before and after results of turning on this
setting:
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Lookup Tables Tab
The second tab in Family Processor is the Lookup Tables tab:
This tab allows deleting lookup tables from the family being processed, or importing lookup tables from CSV files into
the family being processed.
This tab contains 2 subtabs:
Delete Lookup Tables Sub Tab
This tab allows you to define, by name, which lookup tables should be deleted from the families to be processed:
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As with the other tabs, information from the currently open family is used to provide starter choices in the top half of
this tab, and the bottom half of this tab is where the changes to actually apply to the families are listed. As items are
added to the bottom half, they are removed from the list in the top half.
In this example, the lookup table shown in the top half (“Fitting Sizes”) is in the currently open family. To add a single
item from that list to the actual list of lookup tables to delete from families you can:
• Double-click on the lookup table from the list
• Click once to select the lookup table and then click the “Add Selected Tables” button
To select multiple lookup tables from the current family, you can use the Shift and Ctrl keys to select the lookup tables
to delete from families, and then click the “Add Selected Tables” button.
We may also want to delete a lookup table in multiple families to process that doesn’t happen to exist in the current
family. We can do this by specifying the name in the “Type a lookup table name” field and clicking the “Add Lookup
Table” button.
This was done in the above example, where a “Test Lookup Table” value was entered and the “Add Lookup Table”
button was clicked.
Import Lookup Tables Sub Tab
This tab allows you to define, by file name, which lookup table files should be imported into the families to be
processed:
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Click the “Browse for Files to Add…” button to select which CSV files to import as lookup tables into each family to be
processed.
In the example above, the lookup table file D:\Temp\Fitting Sizes.csv was selected. During the processing of the family
files, this lookup table file will be imported into each family.
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Change Materials Tab
The next tab in Family Processor is the Change Materials tab:
This tab contains 3 subtabs:
Delete Materials Sub Tab
This tab allows you to define, by name, which materials should be deleted from the families to be processed:
As with the other tabs, information from the currently open family is used to provide starter choices in the top half of
this tab, and the bottom half of this tab is where the changes to actually apply to the families are listed. As items are
added to the bottom half, they are removed from the top half.
Currently no changes to apply are listed in the example above.
In this example, the materials that appear in the top half are those in the currently open family. To add a single item
from that list to the actual materials to delete from families you can:
• Double-click on the material from the list
• Click once to select the material and then click the “Add Selected Materials” button
To select multiple materials from the current family, you can use the Shift and Ctrl keys to select the materials to delete
from families, and then click the “Add Selected Materials” button.
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As with the other tabs, information from the currently open family is used to provide starter choices in the top half of
this tab, and the bottom half of this tab is where the changes to actually apply to the families are listed. As items are
added to the bottom half, they are removed from the top half.
Currently no changes to apply are listed in the example above.
In this example, the materials that appear in the top half are those in the currently open family. To add a single item
from that list to the actual materials to delete from families you can:
• Double-click on the material from the list
• Click once to select the material and then click the “Add Selected Materials” button
To select multiple materials from the current family, you can use the Shift and Ctrl keys to select the materials to delete
from families, and then click the “Add Selected Materials” button.
In the above example you can see that there are more materials after Default Wall. We can filter out all the other
materials by putting the word “default” in the Only names containing field, which will turn yellow when information has
been typed into it:
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In this example we’ll select Default Light Source and Default Wall and click the “Add Selected Materials” button:
We may also want to delete a material in multiple families to process that doesn’t happen to exist in the current family.
We can do this by specifying the name in the “Type a material name” field and clicking the “Add Material” button:
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Further, we can use one or more family files other than the currently open one to get material definitions from as well.
This can be useful in case you don’t know all of the material names that exist in other family files to be processed:
When the “Select Files” dialog appears (shown below), the “Browse…” button can be used to find a folder in which
family files exist.
Once family files are found, they are displayed in the top list. One or many can be selected in the top list, and the “Add
Selected Files” button can be clicked to copy the selected items to the lower list.
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Note that files can be added from very different folders, as selected items from multiple searches can all be consolidated
into one list using this dialog (search, add some, search elsewhere, add some, etc.).
Once the “OK” button is clicked, the family files in the lower list will be scanned and the list of unique materials found in
all the families will be shown on the previous screen:
One or many of these can be selected. Clicking the “OK” button will return the selected items to the list in the lower
section of the main Family Processor screen:
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Items can be removed from the list in the bottom half of the screen by either double-clicking on them or by using the
“Remove Selected Items” and “Remove All Items” buttons at the bottom of the screen (highlighted).
To use the “Remove Selected Items” button, you must first select the name(s) of the materials to remove from the list
by clicking on them. You can use the Ctrl and Shift buttons while clicking to help select multiple items.
Add Materials Sub Tab
This tab allows you to define new materials to be added to a family. The following values can be specified:
• Material Name
• Simple red value
• Simple green value
• Simple blue value
• Transparency percent value
If a material with the same name already exists on a family being processed it will not be modified with the values you
specify for adding materials. If a material with the same name already exists, this addition definition will simply be
ignored.
This tab works just like the Delete Materials tab, with the ability to set these additional values. For example:
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To select items to be removed from the bottom list, you click on their row headers. You can use the Ctrl and Shift
buttons while clicking to help select multiple items:
Materials to Change Sub Tab
This tab allows you to define new values for materials that already exist in families to be processed.
The following properties can be changed on materials to be edited:
• Material Name
• Simple red value
• Simple green value
• Simple blue value
• Transparency percent value
This tab works in the same way as the Add Materials tab. For example:
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Here you can see that we changed the Default material to be a lighter gray, and we changed the name of “Glass” to be
“Bulletproof Glass” and made it a lighter shade of blue with less transparency than regular glass.
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Change Parameters Tab
This tab contains tools for allowing you to change many aspects of the parameters to be found in the family files to be
processed:
An important thing to note regarding changing parameters is only ONE shared parameters file can be used when
adding shared parameters or replacing parameters with shared parameters. If you need to work with more than one
shared parameters file, you'll have to process the families once for each shared parameters file.
The shared parameters file to use is specified at the top of this tab. The first time you visit this tab, the empty area in
which to specify the shared parameters file to use will blink yellow 3 times.
You only need to specify a shared parameters file if you will be adding shared parameters or replacing a parameter with
a shared parameter.
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Delete Parameters Sub Tab
This tab allows you to define, by name, which parameters should be deleted from the families to be processed:
Remember that in Revit, parameter names are case-sensitive, so the correct use of upper- and lower-case letters
matters.
This dialog works the same as the Delete Materials dialog, except for the additional “Show all shared parameters”
checkbox. When unchecked it will show only those parameters that were found in the currently open family. When
checked it will also include in the list all the parameters defined in the shared parameters file specified as well, if any.
Also as with the Delete Materials dialog, the “Select from Family File(s)…” button allows selecting parameter definitions
from one or more family files other than the one currently open.
Add Shared Parameters Sub Tab
This tab allows you to add shared parameters to the families being processed:
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The definitions for the shared parameters can only come from the shared parameters file specified, so those are the
only ones presented as choices. Family Processor uses the names of the parameters listed in this dialog and the name of
the shared parameters file to tell Revit how to correctly add the shared parameters to the families being processed.
As with other parameter-oriented tabs, this tab has special features that are worth noting:
• The Parameter Types are shown to help you understand what kind of data is expected for each parameter
• The “Instance?” column in the bottom section allows you to control whether each parameter is an instance
parameter or a type parameter
• The “Formula” column allows you to specify a formula for the parameter. This formula should be entered the
same way you enter it into Revit.
• Just as in Revit, formulas may only reference other parameters that already exist in the family. So, for example,
a formula used on the "Add Shared Parameters" tab can NOT reference a parameter on the "Add Family
Parameters" tab, because the "Add Family Parameters" tab is processed later. For this case, specify the formula
for the new shared parameter on the "Parameters to Change" tab, which is processed last.
• The “Add to Group” column allows you to specify which parameter group the new shared parameter should be
placed in.
• Adding a parameter to an invalid group for the version of Revit being used will result in the parameter being
added to the "Other" group.
• The “Value” column allows you to specify a default value for each parameter. If you leave that value blank, Revit
will provide a default for you.
• If you specify a value for a parameter that has a units of measure associated with it, it is strongly recommended
that you also provide the unit symbols for that value, as can be seen in the example above. You can type the
value in just as you do in Revit
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• The “Validate Unit Symbols” button can help provide you with a list of valid symbols typically associated with a
particular parameter type. If, for example, we just type a value of “5” for Supply Fan Apparent load and then
click the “Validate Unit Symbols” button, we’d see this:
Selecting one of the choices and clicking the “OK” button will apply that unit symbol to the value in the grid.
• Family Processor will let you continue without specifying unit symbols, but the results in the final family files
may be unpredictable.
• An option exists to allow Family Processor to automatically warn you if you enter a value that should have unit
symbols, but doesn’t.
• Yes/No parameter values or formulas can be set to any of the following to mean Yes (case insensitive):
1 yes checked true
• Yes/No parameter values or formulas can be set to any of the following to mean No (case insensitive):
0 no unchecked false
• A material definition can be assigned to a Material parameter by setting the parameter’s value to the name of
the material. Example value: Glass
• A Family Type parameter value (not formula) can be set using the name of the nested family and type to set it
to. Use the exact text that you see for choices in the combo box list when changing the value manually.
IMPORTANT: Because one new parameter to add may require a formula that references another new parameter to
add, the order of the parameters being added can be very important. Just like when using the Revit user interface, the
parameter being used in the formula must be added first.
You can control the order of the parameters to add by using the up and down arrow buttons to the right of the list of
parameters to add:
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These buttons are enabled when you select one or more rows to move up and down the list by clicking on their row
header buttons.
In the example above, we may want to have the Supply Fan Apparent Load parameter added before the others. To
make that happen, we click on the row header for it, and then the up-arrow button twice:
When at least one parameter is selected, the “Set Group for Selected Items” and “Remove Selected Items” buttons will
be enabled. Clicking on the “Set Group for Selected Items” button will prompt you to select a group to apply to all
selected parameters. For example:
This allows you to change the group for many parameters in one step, without having to select it manually for each
parameter, one at a time.
Clicking on the “Remove Selected Items” button will remove those selected parameters from the list.
Add Family Parameters Sub Tab
This tab allows you to add family parameters to the families being processed.
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It works exactly the same way as the “Add Shared Parameters” tab, except the list of source parameters are the
parameters in the currently open family, plus you have the ability to add your own custom parameter definitions, or get
definitions from one or more other family files.
Replace with Shared Parameters Sub Tab
This tab allows you to replace an existing family or shared parameter in the families being processed with a specific
shared parameter from the selected shared parameters file.
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On this tab you define the parameter name and type to replace with a specific shared parameter. As with other tabs,
the list in the top section is built from the parameters in the currently open family, plus you have the option to show or
hide all the shared parameters from the currently selected shared parameters file as well.
Also as with other tabs, you have the ability to manually define your own parameter name and type to replace with a
shared parameter, or get parameter definitions from another family file.
Once a parameter to replace is in the lower section, you assign a parameter from the currently selected shared
parameters file to replace it with.
As can be seen in the next image, when you choose which shared parameter to use to replace the existing parameter,
you only get to choose from those shared parameters defined as the same parameter type as the one to replace:
This ensures that you can only choose a replacement parameter that Revit will allow to work.
If a shared parameter exists with the exact same name and parameter type as the parameter to be replaced, it will
automatically be selected by default from the list as soon as the parameter to be replaced is added to the list.
An option exists at the bottom of the list which can be used to automatically find all parameters in the family being
processed whose name and parameter type matches the name and parameter type of parameters that exist in the
shared parameters file and automatically replace them with those shared parameters:
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For example, if the family contains a Length parameter called Overall Length and the shared parameters file also
contains a Length parameter called Overall Length, the one in the family will be automatically replaced by the one in the
shared parameters file because they are both of the same parameter type and have exactly the same (case sensitive)
name.
If the parameter in the family is either a family parameter or a *different* shared parameter than the one in the shared
parameters file, it will be swapped out with the one from the shared parameters file. This would automatically occur for
all parameters in the family with matching definitions in the shared parameters file.
Parameters to Change Sub Tab
This tab allows you to make changes to the properties of existing family and shared parameters.
As can be seen in the above image, you can change the name (for family parameters), whether or not the parameter is
instance or type (or leave that setting alone), the value, the formula and the group in which the parameter should be
listed.
If no characters have been typed in for a value or formula (the cell in the grid is empty), the current value or formula will
NOT be changed.
To clear out a parameter's formula or a TEXT parameter's value, set the formula or value to one or more space
characters.
Just as in Revit, you may only change the value or formula for a built-in parameter. So you can’t, for example, change
the Model parameter to be an instance parameter.
When adding a FamilyType parameter (has a combo box allowing you to "swap out" one nested family for another) to
the list of parameters to change while a family is open with that parameter in it, by default a number will appear in the
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Value field representing the ID of the currently selected choice in this family. You MUST change that value to be blank
(not even spaces, to leave its value alone) or to the name of the type to apply, exactly as it appears in the list of choices
in the combo box list when changing the value manually in the family editor for the family being processed. This is
because ID values are likely to vary between families. Also, as normally seen in Revit, you cannot set the formula for a
FamilyType parameter.
When at least one parameter (row) is selected in the lower section, the “Set Instance/Type for Selected Items,” “Set
Group for Selected Items” and “Remove Selected Items” buttons will also be enabled. Clicking on the “Set Group for
Selected Items” button will prompt you to select a group to apply to all selected parameters. For example:
This allows you to change the group for many parameters in one step, without having to select it manually for each
parameter, one at a time.
In similar fashion, the “Set Instance/Type for Selected Items” button allows you to set whether the selected parameters
should be changed to be Instance or Type parameter, or set to “No Change” to ensure those parameters keep their
current instance or type status:
Clicking on the “Remove Selected Items” button will remove those selected parameters from the list.
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Handling Special Parameter Workflows
When adding parameters, the entire add will fail if a parameter with the same case-sensitive name already exists in the
family. If a parameter already exists with the same name, it will remain untouched by the add process.
However, it may be desirable to “add the parameter with my value if the parameter doesn’t exist in the family, or set my
value on the parameter if it already exists in the family.” Family Processor does NOT assume everyone wants to do this
at all times: add means only to add, not to change existing. This ensures there is no confusion.
IMPORTANT: But this workflow can still be achieved by defining the parameter in the “Add” list, and defining it AGAIN
in the “Parameters to Change” list.
The Add process will create it and set the value if it doesn’t exist. Whether or not it was just added, the Change process
will set the value because the parameter will now exist.
Another workflow might be “I’m adding dozens of parameters by selecting them from a complex mechanical family, and
the formulas for many parameters reference other parameters, but determining the order they need to be added in so
all the formulas work during the add would be difficult, time-consuming or error-prone.”
IMPORTANT: This workflow can also be achieved by selecting the parameters from another family in the “Add” list, in
any order, and selecting them from the other family AGAIN in the “Change” list, again in any order.
In this case the parameters will be added to the family even if setting the formula during the Add fails because another
parameter needed in the formula hasn’t been added yet.
However, when the Change command is run again later, all the parameters WILL be on the family at that time, so setting
the formulas again will always work.
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Processing Order Tab
This tab allows you to control the order in which the changes to be made to the family are applied:
By default, the order in which the changes are applied matches the order in which the settings are presented in the tool.
However, there are some workflows which cannot be done with the default order, or that could be done but which
would require multiple runs of Family Processor with different settings on the same families.
One example is the desire to replace an existing parameter with a shared parameter if the original parameter is found,
but if the original parameter is NOT found, to then add the shared parameter. This ensures the shared parameter exists
on the family, but has replaced an existing parameter if it had been there originally.
For example, “I want to replace parameter Volts with shared parameter Voltage, but if parameter Volts doesn’t exist,
then add shared parameter Voltage”
Using the default processing order, shared parameter Voltage would get added even if parameter Volts exists, then the
replace later would fail because shared parameter Voltage would already exist in the family, and you’d wind up with
both parameters on the family.
So in this case you’d want the Replace with Shared Parameters to happen before the Add Shared Parameters.
To change the order of processing, select one or more items in the list and use the green “Move Up” and “Move Down”
buttons. To make the example above work, these settings would be made:
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You can also disable the settings during processing by unchecking an item. For example, if we want to keep the settings
of the family parameters to add, but not apply them for the time being, simply uncheck that item:
IMPORTANT: The processing order is saved with the rest of the settings. If you disable an item by unchecking it and
save the settings, the next time those settings are loaded that item will still be disabled.
This button:
can always be used to reset the processing to the default order Family Processor uses.
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Select Families & Begin Tab
This tab allows you to control which family or families are processed, and configure any special processing that should
be done:
If selecting the current family file, as seen above, the currently open family will have the changes applied to it, but the
family will not be saved automatically. You must do that yourself once you have approved of the changes made.
At the bottom of the screen is an option to log only errors. The Last Log tab (discussed next) shows the log of all the
processing that was done during the last run of Family Processor. If this option is checked, it reduces the log to only
errors that may have occurred, such as trying to add a family parameter when there was already a parameter on the
family with that exact name.
If the option is turned on in the Options dialog, another checkbox may appear at the bottom of this screen that allows
exporting the parameter information for all types to an XML file.
When multiple families are to be processed, the screen looks like this:
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The upper portion of this screen is used to select which families to process. The lower portion of this screen contains
some options.
One of these options is the “Preview only” option. With this option selected, each family to process is opened and the
changes attempted on them, but the families are not saved once the processing on them is complete. The Last Log tab
will show both the successful changes that were able to be made to the families processed, as well as the changes that
were not able to be made.
The “Add prefix” and “Add suffix” options let you change the names of the saved families to have them start with, or
end with, text that you choose.
The “Save to alternate parent folder” allows you to save the changed versions to a completely different folder structure,
while maintaining the same set of subfolders as in the original parent folder.
NOTE: Saving to an alternate parent folder always saves family files, even if no changes were detected.
In the example above, when the first family in the list is processed, the updated version would be saved to:
D:\Temp\Processed\Samples\rac_advanced_sample_family.rfa
This is because the “Parent folder” specified at the top is “C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit 2017” but the family being
processed is in the further subfolder “Samples” – so that set of subfolders is appended to the alternate parent folder
selected, which was “D:\Temp\Processed”
There are more options available as well:
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The “Override the preview image using the view with this name (select or type the case-sensitive view name)” allows
you to specify a view to use to create a new preview image. If this option is unselected (the default) the preview image
will be regenerated from the last view used to make it, retaining the same preview image as was originally in the file.
If this option is selected, and a view with the specified name can be found in the family, the preview image will be
recreated using the specified view. The list of choices for views to use comes from the currently open family, however
you may type in any view name you wish. Just remember that view names are case-sensitive.
The “Create new shared parameters file from all unique shared parameters found in families” option, if checked, will
create a new shared parameters file that will consist of all the unique shared parameters found in all the families that
are processed.
There are some limitations:
• The shared parameters file to create must not exist. You will not be able to proceed until the name of a new file
to create has been specified.
• Some information, such as the descriptive tool-tip text for parameters, cannot be determined from the families
and as such will not be included in the resulting shared parameters file
• The shared parameters file WILL NOT be generated if the resulting file would have included bad data, such as
multiple parameters with identical case-sensitive names but different GUIDs. In a case like that, the log will
include the reason why the file could not be generated.
If, in the Options, the option for “When creating a shared parameters file, show the detail log” is enabled, a separate
window will appear after the processing is complete which shows which parameter was added from which family file,
and which parameters were skipped because they are duplicates of ones already added to the shared parameters file.
For example:
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The “Create Type catalog files” option, if checked, will create type catalog files next to the family files being saved.
NOTE: The type catalog files will NOT include built-in parameters, such as Manufacturer, Cost, etc. These are most
commonly seen in the Identity Data group.
If type catalog files exist, the new ones being generated will overwrite the old ones.
IMPORTANT: If you choose to “Delete the types in the families” be aware that once the types are removed from the
families, they are gone and cannot be used to regenerate type catalogs again in the future. For example, if you generate
type catalogs and delete the types from the families, then later add a parameter to the families and want to regenerate
the type catalogs, the old type catalogs will get overwritten with new ones that have no types in them.
If you leave the types in the families users can still benefit from this by only loading the desired types into the project
using the type selector dialog, thus keeping the project smaller and lighter and simpler to use than if all the types in the
family were loaded, which is what happens when not using type catalogs.
IMPORTANT: If you choose to “Delete the types in the families” be sure to test this process on some families with this
option turned OFF to ensure the type catalog files generated include all the data necessary. Once the types in the
families have been deleted, the only way to get missing data back is to revert to using backup copies of the families from
before the types were deleted.
If the option to sort the parameters is selected, the parameters in the type catalog files generated will be sorted
alphabetically. If it is not selected, the parameters will appear in the order returned by Revit. In 2015 or later, this is the
order seen within each group on the Family Types dialog in Revit, however the order the grouped parameters appear in
the type catalog file is determined by Revit. For example, the Identity Data group may be shown last in the Revit user
interface, but the parameters from that group may be listed somewhere in the middle.
If the option to sort the types alphabetically is selected, the types listed in the type catalog will be sorted alphabetically,
but this is a TEXT sorting. So if, for example, you have types that start with numbers, they may not appear sorted in
numerical order. For example, you might see something like this:
1
10
2
3
35
4
(Parameter sorting works the same way.)
If the option to sort the types alphabetically is NOT selected, the types will be listed in whatever order Revit provides.
The option to save the type catalog files to *.csv files (instead of the default *.txt files) may be useful if you want to edit
the type catalog files manually in spreadsheet software before finally saving them to *.txt files for production use with
Revit. For example, you may want to delete some parameters (columns) from the type catalog file before the final
renaming to *.txt files, and the easiest way to do that is likely in spreadsheet software.
The option to exclude parameters by name using wildcards can remove parameters from the type catalog that are not
desired.
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For example, you may have a naming convention for parameters which are used to control how geometry flexes.
Perhaps those parameters have names that start with CTRL. For example:
CTRL_AutoHeight
CTRL_ArrayCount
You may also want to exclude formula-driven calculated parameters whose names have “calculated” in them.
To filter both of these sets of parameters out of the type catalog, you’d type:
CTRL*|*calculated*
Note that there should be no spaces around the pipe (|) separator character.
IMPORTANT: Parameter names are case-sensitive, and as such these searches are case-sensitive as well. So
searching for parameters that start with
CTRL*
is different than searching for parameters that start with
Ctrl*
Once you click the “Begin Processing” button, the families will be opened and processed. A progress dialog that looks
like this will be displayed:
If the “Cancel” button is clicked, you will be asked if you want to stop processing the families. If processing is stopped,
any families processed up to this point WILL have been saved with the settings applied.
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Last Log Tab
This tab is automatically displayed once processing has completed. It shows a log of all the actions that were attempted,
and the success or failure of each action:
Buttons along the top allow you to turn on and off the different types of messages. For example, clicking the “Info”
button will not show any Info rows in the log. Only Error, Warning and Successful messages would remain in the list.
NOTE: If the “Log only errors” option is checked then only errors (and a few info messages such as separators) will
appear in the log.
The log can also be saved to one of several formats, including a spreadsheet format, comma-delimited text file, a tab-
delimited text file and as an XML file.
Logs for each run can be automatically saved as comma-delimited text (CSV) files to a specified folder. This can be
controlled by the Options settings.
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Family Processor Best Practices
Because of the complexity of the settings that can be applied and because they can be applied to many families, it is
recommended that you take great care when using Family Processor:
• Carefully configure your settings. By default Family Processor "remembers" your last settings between runs, so
if starting a new set of operations, use the "New Settings" button first. The option to remember settings
between runs can be turned off in the Options dialog.
• Test the settings by running the changes on the current family, or on multiple family files, but in "Preview Only"
mode, then review the resulting log. Neither of these modes will save changes to any of the family files.
• Test on a copy of one family to process, then open the processed family in Revit and check it to ensure it was
processed correctly.
• In order to keep the final family files as small as possible, Family Processor “rebuilds” the family files, which
results in no automatic backup files being created. As such, if not saving the processed families with the
“_(Edited)” suffix, and if not saving the processed families to an alternate parent folder, make sure you have
other copies of the original family files before processing begins, in case the processing results in any
undesirable changes and you need to go back to the original versions for reprocessing after changing the
settings accordingly.
• The currently open family will be used as a source for default values, such as for material definitions, and
existing parameters and the settings/values/formulas on them. So starting with a family open that already has
the settings to be applied to other families can save time and improve consistency across your content.
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Import & Link Manager
Overview
Import & Link Manager provides a more complete picture of the imports and links in a Revit model. Imported CAD
objects are notoriously difficult to find and remove, and this tool makes working with imports and links much easier.
Starting Import & Link Manager
On the Revit ribbon, click on the “Import & Link Mgr” button.
Once the button is clicked, Import & Link Manager will open.
The Main Dialog
The main dialog lists all of the imported or linked CAD or Revit files in the active project. For each file, the following
information is displayed (some columns have been turned off in Options):
Name – The value of the “Name” parameter under Identity Data for the import or link
Element ID – The Revit element ID of the import or link
Insertion Method – Displays Import or Link
Workset – Displays the import or link’s assigned Workset
Host View – Displays either the view hosting the import/link or “(All Views)”
Referencing Sheet – For some link types, the name of the sheet where it is placed.
Sheet Number – Number of the referencing sheet.
Type – The file extension of the imported or linked file
Pinned – Displays the Pinned status, a checked box indicates the element is pinned
Linked File Location – For linked files only, this field displays the path to the linked file
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Status – For linked files only, If the linked file can be found at the path a “Loaded” status will be displayed, if the file
can’t be found an “Invalid” status will be displayed.
The “Show Object” button can be used find a CAD object within the Revit model. To use this tool, first select the desired
CAD object from the list and then click “Show Object”
If an opened view that shows the selected CAD object cannot be found, the following message will be displayed:
Once a view has been found for the selected CAD object, that view will be made the current view and the view will be
zoomed in to the CAD object’s extents.
The “Pin” and “Unpin” tools can be used to toggle the Pinned status of each imported or linked CAD object. To use this
tool, first select the desired CAD object(s) from the list and then click either “Pin” or “Unpin.”
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The “Change Workset” button will only be available in a project that has Worksharing enabled. To assign an import or
link to a Workset, first select it from the list, then click the “Change Workset” button and select the desired Workset
from the dropdown list.
The “Reference Type” button allows the setting of .RVT links to either “Attachment” or “Overlay.
If a Revit link is selected, the room bounding option can be set or unset.
The “Reload” and “Swap/Reload From…” buttons can be used to swap or reload an import or link with an updated or
alternate file. To use this tool, first select the import or link from the list and then click “Swap/Reload From…”
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A dialog will open with the previous path to the file and options to handle the new import or link. Once the options are
configured, click “OK” to apply the changes.
“Swap/Reload From Folder…” allows the selection of a source folder from which to load multiple files.
“Find/Replace…” can be used to modify portions of paths to quickly change multiple links at one time. See the topic
“Find and Replace Paths” in this section.
When ILM is used to re-load a linked file, the existing link/import is removed and replaced with the updated file. Keep in
mind that changes in geometry may cause the locations to shift when using center placement options. In most cases,
placement according to origin (file origin - Revit origin) will produce the most consistent results.
Choose “Do Not Alter” or a specific view in the list to limit the placement of the link. Choose “All Views” to make the link
visible in all applicable views of the model.
The “Remove” button can be used to delete an import or link from the project. To use this tool, first select the import(s)
or link(s) to remove and then click the “Remove” button.
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Save Report
The “Save Report” tool is used to export the list of links as a spreadsheet. The report can be saved in either Microsoft
Excel OpenXML or Microsoft Excel version 8 (xlsx or xls) types.
Load/Unload Files
The “Load/Unload Files…” tool can be used to load or unload links in a Revit project. This tool can only be used on
documents that are not open in any Revit session.
IMPORTANT: Due to limitations when performing changes to Revit files without opening them, using this function on a
workshare enabled central file is not supported. It will set the state of the project such that it will require
recentralization.
Ensure the project to load or unload links from is closed, open a different project in Revit (or create a new project) and
launch Import & Link Manager. Click the “Load/Unload Files…” button.
Browse to the Revit model file, select it in the browser window and choose “Open”.
The list of Links contained in the selected project file will be displayed. The “Previous File Path” and “Previous State”
columns indicate link locations and the status of each link as it was when the file was last saved.
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The “Load”, “Load From…” and “Unload” buttons can be used to modify the links. Changes made to the links will be
displayed in the “Desired File Path” and “Desired Status” columns.
Once all desired changes have been made, click the “Apply” button. Changes to the Revit project will be applied the
next time the project is opened.
Find and Replace Paths
ILM can be used to correct portions of the paths to references on multiple links at one time. In the Load/Unload Files
window, click on ‘Find/Replace’.
In the “Find what:” text box, enter the part of the file path to search for.
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Type the part of the new path to use in the “Replace with:” text box.
The File Paths will be updated and saved to the Revit model.
The next time the project is opened, Revit may present a message that the model has been “transmitted” (due to the
externally modified paths).
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Manage Revit Project Links
Introduction
Manage Revit Project Links is installed as a shortcut in the Windows Explorer context menu. It can be used to modify link
paths within Revit files without first opening the files in Revit. It is a quick way to change references within .rvt files in
cases where the paths no longer match the locations of the files they previously pointed to.
Starting Manage Revit Project Links
To run it, open Windows Explorer and browse to the folder containing the .rvt file(s) whose links need to be updated.
Right click on the file (.rvt) to invoke the context menu.
Revit does not need to be open to use this tool.
The main interface will present a list of links found in the file.
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Modifying Link Properties in Revit Files
Using this interface, link path types, load statuses and file paths can be changed by selecting a row or rows and clicking
the desired action on the toolbar.
The result of the actions chosen are shown in the last three columns.
If the changes to be made appear as expected, click Apply to make them permanent. This will modify the file selected.
Be sure that it is not being used by any other program.
For more detailed information about link management and to learn about the more robust Import and Link Manager
tool, refer to that section in this guide.
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Schedule Parameter Resolver
Introduction
Schedule Parameter Resolver aids in properly mapping shared parameters to schedule parameters. As can often happen
while working on projects with other offices or disciplines or because of standards inconformity, parameters in a
schedule don’t properly display the expected data. Sometimes there’s a conflict in name, data type or shared
parameters. This tool makes it easy to sync schedule columns with the right parameter data.
Starting Schedule Parameter Resolver
On the Revit ribbon, click on the “Shared Param Mgr” button.
Choosing a Shared Parameter File
Begin by specifying the path to the shared parameter file which contains the parameters to map to the columns in the
schedule(s). Simply click the Browse button to locate the desired .txt file (must be a Revit shared parameters file).
Resolving Schedule Parameters
Choose the schedules that need to have their parameters synchronized with the selected shared parameters. The
parameters in the schedules will be listed in the ‘Parameters’ list in the ‘Parameter Name’ column. The action to
perform and available parameters in the shared parameters file will be available in the drop downs in ‘Replace with…’
column.
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Use the filter text inputs to reduce the schedules or parameters in the list by name:
Assign all of the relevant mappings by selecting the appropriate shared parameter. Any parameters left unchanged (<Do
Not Replace>) will remain unaltered.
When finished, click OK to apply the mapping or Close to exit without saving changes. Click the expand button to see the
details of the operation.
Options
Shared Parameters
Add as instance: create as instance parameters if they don’t exist
Add as type parameter: create as type parameters if they don’t exist
Do not add to project: if the selected parameters don’t exist, don’t add them
Replaced Field Headers
Always use original field header: don’t change the header ever
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Always change the header … : selecting this may cause unexpected changes in width if the names aren’t similar
Change only if the header matches the parameter in the existing field: default
Header Groups
Only add new fields with standalone headers: no header group will be created with the new field
Extend existing groups to the replacement fields: default
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Shared Parameter Manager
Introduction
Shared Parameter Manager expands upon the out of box shared parameter editing tools to more efficiently create and
edit shared parameter files, merge multiple shared parameter files, and efficiently load shared parameters into projects.
Starting Shared Parameter Manager
On the Revit ribbon, click on the “Shared Param Mgr” button.
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Master Shared Parameter Files
Create a new master shared parameter file by clicking the “New” button.
Browse to the desired storage location and provide a name for the new shared parameter file
Select “Save” to generate the new shared parameter file and have it selected as the master shared parameter file.
Selecting Existing Shared Parameter Files
To select the Master Shared Parameter file click the “Browse…” button. Only the Master Shared Parameter File will be
edited by this tool.
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Group Management
Adding Groups
To add a group, click the “Add…” button in the Groups box.
To add all default Revit groups quickly select the “Add Default Groups” Button. Any groups that already exist will be
skipped when creating new groups.
To add custom groups, type the names of each group to be created. Type each group name separated by a return or
pressing the enter key. When all names have been entered, click the “OK” button.
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The groups will be added to the shared parameter file.
Renaming Groups
To rename a group, select one or more from the list. Then click “Rename…” in the ‘Groups’ box.
In the “Rename Group(s)” dialog, type the new name for each group and click the “OK” button.
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Deleting Groups
To delete a group, select the parameter group. Then select the “Delete” button in the ‘Groups’ box.
A dialog will ask for confirmation of any group(s) selected for deletion
If the group selected has parameters in it at the time of deletion a dialog will prompt to either delete the group and
parameters, or to move to a new group
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Managing Parameters
Adding Parameters
To add parameters, select a group to host the new parameters. Then click the “Add…” button in the ‘Parameters’ box.
In the “Create New Shared Parameters” dialog select the Parameter Group, Discipline, Parameter type and (if applicable)
the Category. Type the names of each new parameter. All parameters created will use the settings selected. Once all
new parameter names have been entered click the “Create” button.
In “Create New Shared Parameters”, click the checkbox next to a parameter to make it visible or not visible.
Visibility checkbox allows the parameter to be invisible in the project. The parameter will still be schedule, however in
the properties dialog box; the parameter will not be visible. It is not recommended to load this parameter invisible as a
project parameter, it is recommended to load a parameter as invisible in a family, and then load into a project. The
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parameter will be visible in the family in which it was created; it will not be visible in the project, or when nested into
another family.
If a list exists externally or to enter parameter names in a different manner, select the “Batch Add” button. A dialog
similar to the Add Groups Dialog will appear and parameter names can be entered separated by an enter.
When finished adding parameters, select the “Create” button. The entered parameters will be added to the Shared
Parameter file.
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Modifying Parameters
To modify a shared parameter select a single parameter from the list. Then click the “Modify…” button in the
‘Parameters’ box
In the “Modify ‘parameter name’ Parameter” dialog, the name, group, Discipline, Parameter type, Category and Visibility
can be changed.
In this example the spelling error “Angel” has been corrected to “Angle.” Click “OK” to accept the new settings.
Any changes made to the Parameter name, Discipline, Parameter Type or Category will cause a new GUID to be
generated for the shared parameter. The following dialog is a warning of the ramifications of changing a parameter
GUID. Click “Yes” to continue or “No” to cancel.
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Deleting Parameter(s)
To delete a shared parameter select a parameter(s) from the list. Then click the “Delete” button in the ‘Parameters’ box
Deleting parameters is permanent and cannot be undone. A dialog box will be displayed asking for confirmation before
deleting parameters from the shared parameter file.
Hint: many of the actions that can be performed on groups and parameters are also available in the right-click context
menu.
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Saving The Master Shared Parameter File
Changes are only made permanent once the master parameters file is saved. After saving, it is possible to roll back
changes by using one of the backup files stored in the same directory as the master.
To save any changes to the master shared parameter file, select the “Save” button to the right of the master shared
parameter file name
Click close, after the “Save is Successful” dialog will confirm the save.
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Once saved, a back-up of the original master shared parameter file will be saved in the original file path. In the file path,
the back-up will appear with a .1.txt file name extension. (I.E. File name is Shared_Parameter1.txt, back-up will appear
as Shared_Parameter1.1.txt). Number of back-ups saved is defaulted to 1. To change, go to options.
Source Shared Parameter Files
To open the source shared parameter file, click the “Browse…” button. The source shared parameter file will not be
edited.
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Copying Parameters or Groups from the Source to the Master
To copy shared parameters from the source to the master, select the desired parameter(s) and drag and drop them onto
the desired group in the master shared parameter file.
The parameter(s) will be copied into the master shared parameter file, retaining all settings and GUIDs.
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Parameters from multiple groups can be dragged simultaneously into a single group.
Groups can be dragged and dropped as well. When dragging and dropping a group, all parameters contained in that
group will be copied too.
Filters
Filters can be used to show conflicting, duplicate and unique parameters as well as identify naming issues in parameter
names for both shared parameter files, click the “Filter” dropdown box.
To show only parameters that match the filter criteria, click the “Show All” Checkbox.
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Search
To search for specific parameters, click in the search bar and type in parameter name or parameter Type. The search will
break down as a new character is added.
Click “Clear” to remove the search criteria and show all parameters.
Exporting Parameters
Shared Parameter Manager has the ability to export all shared parameters from a project and (optionally) any family
content loaded into the project. To export parameters, click the “Export Shared Parameters” button and select either
the “From project” or “From project and families” option.
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A dialog will prompt for the location to save the new Shared Parameter file. Select the location and file name and click
the “Save” button.
A dialog will confirm that parameters have been exported successfully.
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Selection Sets
The “Load Shared Parameters” tab is used to create selection sets. Selection sets are saved collections of Shared
Parameters from one shared parameter file and all of the settings required to create project parameters from them.
Opening Shared Parameter File
To open a shared parameter file, click the “Browse…” button.
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Alternatively, the “Open Master” button can be used to use the same master shared parameter file from the “Manage
Shared Parameters File” tab. If no master shared parameter file is selected on the “Manage Shared Parameters File” this
option will be disabled.
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Creating Selection Sets
To create a new selection set, click the “New…” button in the ‘Selection Set’ box.
Name the selection set and click the “Create” button.
Note: Multiple selection sets can be created, using this same process.
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To add groups or parameters from the shared parameter file to the selection set, select the group or parameters then
click the add arrow.
Note: Group name will copy over as well.
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Modify Selection Sets
To rename a selection set, chose the selection set from the drop-down menu and click the “Rename” button.
Type in new selection set name and click the “Create (OK)” button.
Deleting Selection Sets
To delete a selection set, click the “Delete…” button.
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Click “Yes” to delete or “No” to cancel.
To copy a selection set, click the “Copy…” button.
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In the “Copy Selection Set” dialog, name the selection set and click the “Create” button.
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Sorting Shared Parameters File
The organization of the shared parameter file can be changed to make locating parameters easier. To organize the
shared parameter file by shared parameter groups, click the “Group by…” drop down menu.
The shared parameter file can also be organized by parameter type. This will group, for example, all of the “Length”
parameters together. To group by parameter type, select “Group” from the “Group By” dropdown menu.
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Parameter Settings
The parameter settings are used when loading the selection set into a project as Revit project parameters. To configure
parameters, select them from the list and define the discipline, type of Parameter, “group Parameter under”, and
whether the parameter is instance (green) or type (blue). Multiple parameters can be configured simultaneously.
Default parameter groups can be configured to help automate the process of configuring parameters. These settings
will help automatically assign the “Group parameter under” value. To setup default parameter groups click the
“Configure Default Parameter Groups” button.
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The “Set Default Parameter Groups” dialog has all parameter types on the right, and grouping options for those
parameters on the left. Simply drag and drop each parameter type into the desired default group. For example,
“Length” and “Angle” type parameters are typically grouped under the “Dimensions” group.
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With default parameter groups configured, as parameters are added to the selection set they will be assigned their
parameter group automatically. These groups can always be changed after the fact.
Loading Parameters Into the Project
Once all parameters have been configured the “Load Parameters…” button can be used to load each parameter in the
selection set into the project as a shared project parameter.
Click “Yes” to load new selection set, click “No” to cancel.
Options
To access options, select the “Options” button at the top of the ‘Shared Parameters Manager’ dialog
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There are several options to control the default behavior of Shared Parameter Manager
All options are user options, meaning they will be remembered per computer
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Type Swapper
Type swapper provides the ability to change the type or style used for existing instances of text, dimensions and line
elements in the active project. Duplicate family elements, usually the result of copying elements from one file to
another, can also be swapped out for the original family and type.
Starting Type Swapper
On the Revit ribbon, click on the “Type Swapper” button.
The Type Swapper dialog will appear:
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Duplicate Families
The “Duplicate Families” tab identifies families in the project that follow a naming convention of
“<Family Name><number>” which is usually the result of Revit duplicating the family definition when elements are
copied from project to project. For example “Baluster – Round4” at the top of the list:
Type Swapper will suggest the original family (typically <Family Name> without the number) from the project as the
default “Swap With” option. In this example the “Baluster - Round” type has been selected by default.
The list of families shown can be filtered by category by using the “Category” dropdown. By selecting the “Doors”
category only duplicate doors are shown in the dialog below.
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If a promising candidate for swapping can be found, it is selected in the “Swap With” column automatically. In the
example above, “Single-Flush” is a promising candidate for the “Single-Flush1” family that was found.
To prevent an unwanted swap, simply select the “<No Change>” option from the dropdown for each family.
Once all families have been configured with the desired “Swap With” options, click the “Swap” button at the bottom of
the window to swap the types used on the instances of the families in the project. The “Delete duplicate families”
option will remove the duplicate family once all instances have been swapped for the mapped type.
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Swapping Elements
The “Text Types”, “Dimension Styles”, “Line Styles”, “Line Patterns”, “Fill Patterns”, “Materials” and “MEP System Types”
interfaces work in a similar way to the “Duplicate Families” tab, however no mappings will be suggested by default.
To map a change, select an option from the “Swap to” dropdown menu for each text type. In this classic example
332 Arial is being swapped for the 3/32” Arial text style.
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Approved Styles and Types
Administrators can specify by name which text types are approved for use by checking the “Approved” checkbox for
each type or style. This provides clarification to ensure users are swapping unwanted types for the company standard
types. Either check the boxes individually or use the right-click menu to check/uncheck several at a time.
Note: The list of approved types and styles can be both locked and deployed, preventing users from editing which items
are approved or not. For more information about securing these settings, please consult the CTC Suites Installation and
Configuration guide.
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Saving and Loading Selections
Each of the tabs contain a ‘Save Selection’ button. This can be extremely useful to recall swap selections that are often
needed on multiple projects. Each tab creates a file type corresponding to it’s function. For example, saving a selection
set from the Duplicate Families tab creates a .tsdf file. Other tabs save to extensions which follow a similar convention.
To load a previously saved selection set, simply click ‘Load Selection’ and browse to the specific file. If a style or type
from the saved selection does not exist in the current project, it will be ignored and omitted from the list.
Process Logs
After each swap operation, a log of the swapped elements and their status is displayed. This log can then be saved to a
file which is readable by most common spreadsheet applications.
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Appendix
Family Checker Rating Conventions
Properties
HIVE Rating - Average of all ‘Global Review’ scores
Organization Rating - Average of all ‘Corporate Review’ scores
FilePath - The path to the Revit family file
FileName - FamilyName.rfa from file being reviewed
FamilyType - “Model” or “Annotation”
Category - Family Category Value
ReviewDate - Date the Family Check was run in MM/DD/YYYY format
ReviewNumber - GUID generated at time of Run
Scoring
IdentityData
Score 5 if URL, Manufacturer and Model values are used
Score 1 if one of the parameters do not have a value
Null or no value if family is Annotation or Category is Detail Component, Mass or Profile
DetailLevel
Score of 0 until all check is completed
5 if each detail level has something different showing in plan view
3 if Coarse is different from Medium and Fine but Medium and Fine are the same
1 if no change is detected for any detail level
NULL (Empty in Excel) if Family type is Annotation or family category is a Mass or Profile
Detail_Level3D
Score 5 if Coarse, Medium, and Fine show different levels of detail in the family while in a 3D view
• Solids and model lines should not have the same settings to not show or show at varying levels of detail
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• There should be at least one solid or model line that shows and doesn’t show at each detail level
• Solid X doesn’t show at medium and coarse
• Solid Y doesn’t show at Coarse
• Model Line Z shows at all detail levels
• Model Line A doesn’t show at medium and fine
Score 3 if Medium and Fine are the same but Coarse is different
Score 1 if all levels show no change in the family
NULL or no value if Annotation, Profile or Detail Component
VisibilityPlan
Score 0 until further evaluation
Score 5 if All Solid Geometry is off in RefLevel Floor Plan or RefLevel Ceiling Plan views and a detail Item, generic
annotation, detail lines or filled region is visible in plan view (Ref Level)
Score 3 if any solid is visible in plan at any detail level, but 2D components also exist in plan… See Optimal rules to
determine if 2D content exists in plan
Score 1 if only solid geometry is visible in plan view at any detail level
NULL or no score if Annotation, Detail Item, Mass or Profile
VisibilityGeneral
Score 5 if the family is visible in all views including sections
Score 1 if geometry is not showing in any of the views
NULL or no score if Annotation, Detail Item, or Profile
ImportedContent
Score 5 if no trace of imported content is left behind. (Materials, Sub-Object Styles, etc..)
Score 1 if: Traces of Imported geometry remains in the model
GeometryFlex
Score 5 if the geometry in family is constrained
• Solids must have sketch locked to reference planes and non-sketched faces locked to reference planes
• Detail/Model Lines must have ends soft constrained to other linework and position locked to a
reference plane
• Detail Items must have sketch locked to reference planes
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• Nested model families must follow same rules for internal geometry and have placed instances locked to
a single reference plane in X, Y and Z directions
• Nested Detail/Annotation families must follow same rules for internal geometry and have placed
instances locked to a single reference plane in X and Y directions
• Any arcs in families may be directly dimensioned
• No geometry should be locked to any geometry other than reference lines or reference planes
Score 4 if the family should be reviewed by a person
o If any of the ‘Optimal’ criteria is not able to be validated for a specific piece of geometry the related
_Comments field should state “MANUAL REVIEW RECOMMENDED: ” and list any element ID of the
component that is being questioned.
o If the component is in a nested family, list the name of the nested family
Score 1 if the family has geometry that is not constrained per rules in Optimal settings
o If Action required is used the related _Comments field should state “MANUAL REVIEW REQUIRED: ” and
list any element ID of the component that is being questioned.
o If the component is in a nested family, it will list the name of the nested family
NULL or no score if Family_Type is Annotation Symbol
TypeFlex
Score 5 if No error show when loading a family into a project and family is generating all available types without error
Score 1 if Errors appear when loading or if when the type is changed the model flexes with errors
HostFlex
Score 5 if family is able to be placed in host and host can flex 30% larger and smaller with no warnings
Score 1 if optimal rules are not met
Null or no score if Family is un-hosted or is line based, Annotation, Profile or Detail component
MEPConnectors
Score 5 if connections exist in the family
Score 1 if ‘Category’ is MEP related based on discipline association settings but no connectors exist in family
Null or no score if ‘Category’ is not MEP related based on discipline association settings and no connectors exist in family
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MEPConnectorDescriptions
Score 5 if (a) Connector Description field is populated and linked to a parameter in the family
Score 4 if description is not populated
Score 3 if Description is populated but no parameter is linked
Score 1 if Description is not populated and no parameter is linked
Null or empty value if ‘Category’ is not MEP related based on discipline association settings
MEPConnectorMapping
Score 5 if all linkable Connector parameters are linked to parameters in the main family
Score 4 if:
• not all the important parameters are linked to parameters in the family
• Important connector parameters are parameters not in the ‘Identity Data’ group in the connector properties
• Currently Utility and Connector Description are the only parameters in the Identity Data group
• In related _Comments, “Action Recommended: “ and List element ID values for each connector where action is
recommended
Score 3 if Important parameters are linked to parameters in the family
• Important connector parameters are parameters not in the ‘Identity Data’ group in the connector properties
• Currently Utility and Connector Description are the only parameters in the Identity Data group
Score 1 if no connector parameters are linked to parameters in the family
Null or empty if ‘Category’ is not MEP related based on discipline association settings
MEPConnectorDirection
Null or empty if ‘Category’ is not MEP related based on discipline association settings and no connectors exist in the
family
Also NULL if all connectors in the family are electrical connectors
Score 5 if Duct, Pipe, Conduit or Cable Tray connectors have the arrow (Connector Direction) pointing away from the
solid on which they are hosted
Score 1 if Value 5 and NULL rules are not met
MEPConnectorLinking
Null or empty if ‘Category’ is not MEP related based on discipline association settings
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Score 5 if the system type is set to “Global” or “Fitting” and there is more than one connector in the family of the
matching system type, then there is a link between 2 connectors of the type fitting or of the type global
Score 3 if connectors are linked but are not of type fitting or global
Score 1 if more than one connector of type fitting or global exists but there is no link
MaterialApplication
Score 5 if all solid geometry has the ‘Material’ parameter linked to a material parameter in the family and material is not
‘By Category’
Score 4 if all solid geometry has the ‘Material’ parameter linked to a material parameter in the family and any material is
‘By Category’
Score 3 if any solid geometry has material assigned but not linked to a parameter
Score 1 if any geometry doesn’t have a material assigned to it and is not linked to a parameter
Null or empty if FamilyType is Annotation, Profile or Detail Component
Score 1 If Structural Material value exists and is NOT filled with a non-‘Default’ Material
Null or empty If Structural Material Value does not exist or is not using Structural Categories
MaterialPhysicalProperties
For Categories Structural Columns, Structural Framing, Structural Foundations, Structural Connections,
Score 5 If all materials referenced by types in the family have physical properties
Score 3 If more than 50% of materials referenced by types in the family have physical properties
Score 1 If no materials referenced by types in the family do not have physical properties
Null or empty if family is not using Structural Categories
MaterialThermalProperties
For categories Doors, Windows, Curtain Wall components and Structural elements:
Score 5 If all materials referenced by types in the family have thermal properties
Score 3 If more than 50% of materials referenced by types in the family have thermal properties
Score 1 If no materials referenced by types in the family do not have thermal properties
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Null or empty if family is not using Arch Categories Categories
TypeCatalogUsage
Null or empty if FamilyType is Annotation
Score 5 if a type catalog exists in the same directory as the family and the family has fewer than 2 types OR (no type
catalog exists AND the number of types in the family is equal to or fewer than 5)
Score 4 if a type catalog exists, but the types in the family are the same name as the types in the type catalog
Score 3 if the number of family types in the family is equal to or fewer than 10 and no type catalog exists
Score 2 if the number of family types is equal to or fewer than 15 and no type catalog exists
Score 1 if the number of types is greater than 15 and no type catalog exists
OmniClassNumber
Null or empty if FamilyType is Annotation
If FamilyCategory is Detail Items or Mass:
Score 5 if NULL Rules do not apply and OmniClass Number has value
Score 1 if NULL Rules do not apply and OmniClass Number has no value
AssemblyCode
Null or empty if FamilyType is Annotation
If FamilyCategory is Profile, Detail Items or Mass:
Score 5 if NULL Rules do not apply and OmniClass Number has value
Score 1 if NULL Rules do not apply and OmniClass Number has no value
Warnings
Score 5 if no warnings are found in the family
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Score 1 if any warnings are found in the family
Corporate Review Information
MasterSharedParamater
Score 0 at start until one of the following values update it
Score 5 if the Shared Parameter is found in the Master shared parameter files and
• Shared parameter name matches
• Shared parameter GUID matches
• Shared parameter data type matches
Score 3 if:
• the parameter is a family parameter (not a shared parameter) and
• the parameter name is not found in the Master shared parameter file
Score 1 if a parameter is a Shared Parameter and is NOT from the master list
Null or no value if Family type is Annotation or Family Category is Profile
CustomParameter
Score 5 if the parameter:
• Is a Family parameter
• Does not use any of the values found in the invalid name parts list on the Name Rules tab in Options
• Is grouped properly per the valid groups tab in Options
• Is prefixed with a valid name part
• Is group in the ‘Other’ parameter group
Score 4 if the parameter
• Is a family parameter
• Does not use values found on the Invalid Name Parts
• Is Grouped in ‘Other’ parameter group
Score 3 if the parameter:
• Is a Family parameter
• Does not contain any of the values found in the invalid name parts list on the Name Rules tab in Options
Or
• Is not grouped properly per the valid groups tab in Options and is not prefixed with a valid name part
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• Is prefixed with a valid name part and is not Grouped in the ‘Other’ parameter group
Score 1 if Parameter
• Is a shared parameter but is not found in the Master shared parameter file
• Is a shared or family parameter and a similar parameter exists in the master list but one of the following
conditions apply
• Same Name / different GUID
• Same GUID / Different name
• Same Name / Different Data Type
• Is a shared or family parameter and contains any of the values found in the invalid name parts list on the Name
Rules tab in Options
Null or no value if Family type is Annotation or Family Category is Profile
ParameterGrouping
Score 5 if all parameters are grouped appropriately and appropriate groupings determined by the settings on the Valid
Groups tab in options
Score 1 if parameters are not group appropriately per settings in Valid Groups tab in options
FileSize (KB)
Score 5 File Size less than or equal too setting by category
Score 1 file size is greater than setting
SubcategoryStandard
Score 5 If no sub-categories exist in families not available from the Sub-Categories Settings and no custom subcategories
are empty/unused (Company Specific)
Score 3 if no sub-categories exist in families not available from the Sub-Categories Settings but at least one custom
subcategories is empty/unused
Score 1 Sub-Category is custom (Not built in) and is not in the Sub-Categories Settings list
SubcategoryUnused
Score 5 if Each custom Sub-Category has geometry assigned
Score 3 if Sub-Category is listed in the Sub-Categories Settings list, but has no geometry assigned
Score 1 if Sub-Category is custom (Not built in), not listed in the Sub-Categories Settings list and has no geometry
assigned
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ApprovedParameter
Score 5 if more than 50% of custom parameters match shared parameters or if there are no custom parameters
Score 3 if more than 0, but less than or equal to 50% of custom parameters match shared parameters
Score 1 if custom parameters exist and no parameters match the shared parameter file
Null or no value if:
• Family_Type = Annotation
• Family Category = Profile
ParameterName
Score 5 if
• parameter name has no special characters: + ‐ / \ * ( ) “ ‘ < > | ^ $ { } [ ],
• Has no other parts from the ‘Invalid name parts’ list
Score 1 if any of the above rules are broken
Preview
Score 5 if family preview settings match HIVE Preview Generator settings
Score 1 if any of the above rules are not met
Score NA if family is not sourced from HIVE
ReferencePlaneName
Score 5 if every reference plane has a value in the name parameter
Score 4 if less than 25% of the reference planes are not named
Element ID of unnamed reference planes recorded in related comments field
Score 3 if less than 50% of the reference planes are not named
Element ID of unnamed reference planes recorded in related comments field
Score 1 if greater than 25% of the reference planes are not named
Element ID of unnamed reference planes recorded in related comments field
Null or no value if FamilyType is Annotation