Best practices for template creation

Solution:

This is not intended to be a comprehensive list, but many of the following suggestions will help you to optimize effectiveness and performance:

• Create a new, blank drafting view that will be used to open and close the project. Before saving and closing your project, open this view and close any other open views. This will prevent unused views from being loaded at startup, freeing up RAM memory and increasing speed.
• Do not load too many families into the template. Just load the families that will be used frequently in the project (for example, your top windows and doors), in order to minimize project size.
• For any families you include in your project, preset all the parameters in those families and give them all a keynote if your company uses keynotes.
• Do not include too many wall types. Only include the 5-6 types that your company uses the most. Include a few generic walls as well to help with conceptual design.
• Set all the parameters for the Wall types that you include (for example, type marks, fire ratings, etc.).
• Set up a few default sheets that you can use repeatedly (for example, the title sheet for a set). Typically, this sheet looks the same from project to project, so include it, leaving spaces for images, schedules, etc. The same applies for detail sheets.
• Create view templates to set up standards for your project when creating new views.
• Load a few standard title blocks. Include one or two for presentations and have your standard construction document title block loaded. Include standard title blocks for addendums. 
• Set up your standard schedules. Create Room, Door, Window, and Hardware schedules with all the standard fields that you use. This will allow you to have schedules on the fly as you work on the project.
• Create some drafting views for your standard details, such as door and windows details that you use from project to project.
• If you often work on renovation projects, set up phases and graphic overrides. Do not make a user do this later.
• Use the Transfer Project Standards command on the File menu to compare and import elements from one template to another.
• Update your templates to the latest Revit format before starting a new project.