Opening the Family Editor

Use the Family Editor to make changes to existing families or to create new families. The method you use for opening the Family Editor depends on what you want to do.

You use the Family Editor to create and edit loadable families and in-place elements. The tabs and panels change depending on the type of family that you are editing. You do not use the Family Editor to edit system families.

To edit a family from a project

Do one of the following:

• Select an instance of the family in the drawing area, and click Modify | <Element> tabMode panel (Edit Family).
• In the Project Browser, right-click the family and click Edit.
• Double-click an instance of the family in the drawing area.
  Note: The double-click editing behavior is determined by the setting for the Family element type in the Double-click Options. See User Interface Options.

To edit a loadable family outside a project

1. Click OpenFamily.
2. Browse to the file containing the family, and click Open.

To create a loadable family from a template file

1. Click NewFamily.
2. Browse to the template file, and click Open.

To create an in-place element

1. On the ribbon, click (Model In-Place).

   Where is it?

   
   Architecture tabBuild panelComponent drop-down (Model In-Place)
   
   Structure tabModel panelComponent drop-down (Model In-Place)
   
   Systems tabModel panelComponent drop-down (Model In-Place)
2. In the Family Category and Parameters dialog, select the family category, and click OK.
3. Enter a name for the in-place element family, and click OK.

To edit an in-place element

1. Select the in-place element in the drawing.
2. Click Modify | <Element> tabModel panel (Edit In-Place).