2009

Table Of Contents
2.3FAMILYNAMINGCONVENTIONS
FamilynamesaretheprimarymeansofidentifyingfamiliesinAutodeskSeekandintheRevitsoftware.Autodesk
familynamingconventionsensurethatfamiliescanbeidentifiedinAutodeskSeekandtheRevitsoftwarebythe
realworlditemsthattheycreate.Thenamingconventionsincludedescriptorsthatallowtheusertosearchfor
familiesbyelement,bymanufacturer,and/orbaseunits.
GUIDELINES:
Createuniquenamesforeachfamily.
Forexample,afixedwindowfamilyandafixeddoorfamilycannotsharethesamename.
Usenaturallanguagetonamethefamily.
Thefamilynameshoulddescribehowthefamilyisidentifiedintherealworld(i.e.,incatalogs,by
manufacturer,etc.).
Ifpossible,donotincludethefamilycategoryinthefamilyname,unlessthefunctionaltypeisthesame
asthecategory(e.g.,window).
Use‘titlecasing’(aswiththetitleofabook)forfamilynames,astheyarecasesensitive.
Keepfilenamesasshortaspossible.
FamilynamesmustdisplayindialogsandintheTypeSelector.
Whenaddingoptionaldescriptorstofamilyfilenames,considertheorderinwhichthedescriptorsare
listedtoensurethatthefamilyfilesdisplayintheProjectBrowserinthemostlogicalandintuitiveorder.
Do not use spaces between words in file names. To separate words within a syntax element (e.g.,
ManufacturerorDescriptor),usetheunderscorecharacter(_).
If a hyphen () is used to include a performance range, enclose the range in parentheses, for example,
(230250_Ton).
Ifatypecatalogistobeusedwithafamily,namethetypecatalog(.txtfile)withthesamenameasthe
family.Seesection2.10foradditionalinformation.
FORMAT
<FunctionalType>‐<Subtype>‐<Manufacturer>‐<Descriptor1>‐<Descriptor2>‐<2Difnecessary>
Note:RefertotheRevitMasterPartTypeList(includedinthedownloadpackage)forinformationonapproved
FunctionTypesandSubtypes.
Descriptionoffields:
Field/Component RequiredorOptional Description
FunctionalType Required Namestheelementthatthefamilycreates(forexample,
DoororWindow)
Subtype Asneeded Namestheparttype,forexample,foraWindow the
subtypecouldbeCasement.
Manufacturer/Generic Optional Manufacturername,genericfamiliesmaysubstitute the
Manufacturernamewith“Generic.”
Descriptor Asneeded
2D Required Useonlyfor2Dfamilies
Version2.1RMCSG31