Each element you place in a drawing is an instance of a family type. Elements have 2 sets of properties that control their appearance and behavior: type properties and instance properties.
Video: Working With Parameters
Type Properties
The same set of type properties is common to all elements in a family, and each property has the same value for all instances of a particular family type.
Changing the value of a type property affects all current and future instances of that family type.
Instance Properties
A common set of instance properties also applies to all elements that belong to a particular family type, but the values of these properties may vary according to the location of an element in a building or project.