Nesting Shared Elements

Combining a bunch of stuff into a single family (nesting) makes modeling more efficient, and can be less of a processing hit than groups – but there are some things to consider – specifically, if the nested elements should be SHARED.

By default, component families are not set to be shared. This setting is in the general parameters of each family.

When not shared, the nested element is not recognized as separate from the overall family it is placed in, and only the entire collection can be selected, tagged or scheduled.

A decision should be made UP FRONT on if the individual elements of a nested family need to be tagged/scheduled. If this is required, each nested family must be SHARED.

This is a modification you want to do sooner rather than later, as when the modified element is reloaded into the respective multi-element family, and then that parent family is loaded into the project, the other nested elements in the other multi-element families do NOT update automatically. This can result in differing appearance/behavior across what you THINK is the same element. Chaos ensues.