All elements in Revit are organized in a hierarchy of,

• Elements
  • Categories
    • Families
      • Types
        • Instances.

Understanding Revit elements is very similar to understanding real world elements in a typical building project.

• There are mainly three types of Elements in Revit:
  • Model Elements include categories that have 3D geometry such as Walls, Doors, Windows, etc.
  • Datum Elements include categories that are used as references for the project such as Levels, Grids, etc.
  • View-Specific Elements include categories that describe or document the project on a specific view such as Dimensions, Text, Annotations, etc.

Let’s take an example of Model Element category such as Door.

• A specific design of a door is known as Family such as a Single Flush Door.
  • Each family of this element can have multiple types within it. For example, the Single Flush Door family with 0.8m, 0.9m and 1.0m width types.
    • Now, when you place a particular type of door at a particular location in your project, it is known as the Instance. So, if there are 4 Single Flush Doors with 0.8m type in the project, then we can count 4 instances of 0.8m Type of Single Flush Door family in the project.

To make it yet easier to understand, let’s take the following example of chairs in a room:

• Element Type: Model Elements (because they contain 3D geometry)
• Category: Furniture
• Family: There are two different design of chairs in this example:
  1. Executive Chair
  2. Desk Chair
• Type:
  • Executive Chair Types:
    1. Blue Chair
  • Desk Chair Types:
    1. Blue Chair
    2. Black Chair
• Instances:
  • Executive Chair -> Blue Chair -> 6 Instances (around the table)
  • Desk Chair -> Blue Chair -> 5 Instances (in the left)
  • Desk Chair -> Black Chair -> 4 Instances (in right)

I hope these examples make it more clear for you to understand how elements are organized in Revit.  To further understand Revit elements, please review About Element Behavior in Revit

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