Family Upgrades

[tashaco]

Dear All,

I was very much under the impression that as long as the families were not saved in a later version of Revit, then they would not permanently upgrade. Discussions with my peers tells me that some seem to think that even if you so much as open up the family in 2018, it is automatically upgraded and there is no going back. Is someone able to clarify which of these is true? In which case, are we supposed to be looking at keeping a library of 2017 families and 2018 families? In an ideal world I wouldn't double up on all this information unless necessary.

Apologies if this is a terribly basic question, our practice is relatively new to the Revit world, we're still trying to find our feet...

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Twiceroadsfool]

It does not save it permanently if they OPEN it or LOAD it in to a project with the new version. If someone hits save, it does. That includes if they right click in the project browser > Save Family, and forget to repath it somewhere else.

Yes, i keep different libraries for each version.

[tashaco]

Thank you for your advice, it's much appreciated.

[DaveP]

And yes, you're going to end up keeping a library for each version.
There will be some management to keep track of changes in both, but that's probably going to be far less than having everyone in the office watch the "File is being upgraded" screen EVERY TIME they load a new family.