Finding Your Families in Revit

When Revit 2015 ‘R2’ update was released (subscription only) it gave us an extremely productive tool, “Search”. The search tools are now available as standard in Revit 2016 giving us the ability to search in the following areas:

• Type selector
• Properties palette
• Drop down list from the 'Reference Other View' option
• Drop down lists for values in tables such as object styles

This is great as it makes looking through a very expansive group of families and views (especially on larger projects) so much easier and faster. (Recently I have been working on a project on Revit 2015 without the R2 update and its been a real drainer trying to find families without it).

Did you know though, over on the Systems ribbon, you can isolate this list to a select few categories thanks to some tools available to the HVAC team. On the Systems ribbon you will notice Mechanical Equipment (ME), Plumbing Fixtures (PX), Electrical Equipment (EE) & Lighting Fixtures (LF) as separate tools. So if you choose plumbing fixtures, then you will only see a list of families that have been designated under that particular category.

You can also select and place your families using the 'family browser'. (The family browser I am referring to is the list of families in the project browser). Here you will see all the types available and I often go to this area of the project browser to modify type properties for multiple families.

If you are still not satisfied, you may be interested in an add-on fit for purpose. Kiwi Codes having been releasing their own family browser for a number of years now. The beauty of their product is the ability to customise palettes of families. You can create project specific tabs, favourites, as well see the family thumbnail. 

There is plenty of other functionality as well, to learn more visit their website. They also have other tools that may be of use to your everyday work including a completely custom project browser.