This means that any families that are listed may be using materials that are in the project. The reason for this is when first using Purge Unused you can only see the items that are not being currently used in the project. When you consider using Purge Unused it is important to understand how this works, mainly because in most cases should you require to remove any unwanted families objects and views you would need to employ the 3 step Purge process. You should also replace in-place families with regular component families to further reduce the file size. Revit’s automated purging method only removes certain elements within your project therefore you still need to go through your models and manually remove any unwanted area schemes, views, groups, and design options. It is recommended that the model should be purged after every submittal and milestone to remove any remaining elements that have accumulated in the project. Purging a Revit model assists in removing unused families, views, and objects from a project. In the last few years Revit projects have become really complex which normally means big file sizes. This is where I have really learned to utilise the Purge Unused command. This helps to keep the file size down and makes it more fluid to work with, which in turn lessens the chances of file corruption occurring. Ensure that the elements within the file that are unused and surplus to requirements are purged periodically.I try not to over model, by only modelling what is needed to be shown.This meant either a heavy reliance on backup files or starting the project again when things went wrong, both of which can be extremely frustrating when deadlines are fast approaching.Īfter having to start again on more than one occasion due to large unmanageable over-modelled files I have learnt the hard way that it is important to have good file maintenance skills by making sure: As the model bloated due to increasing detail, the risk of the file becoming corrupted and unusable increased. When I was at university, I had just started using Revit 2010 for my project work and questioned how different it really is in comparison to AutoCAD? It then dawned on me that Revit files were going to be considerably larger than AutoCAD files and sooner or later I would have to get the file size down.