# Family IO — Load and Save **Panel:** Families | **Menu:** IO button icon Tools to load families into the project in bulk, or save loaded families back out to disk. --- ## Load Them All icon Load Them All Loads `.rfa` files from a directory into the current project. **Workflow:** 1. Pick the source folder. The tool searches it **and all subfolders**. 2. Revit backup files (`*.0001.rfa` and similar) are filtered out. 3. A list of the files found is shown — **select the families to load**. This is a multi-select list, so despite the button name you are not obliged to load everything. 4. The selected families are loaded with a progress bar. **Failure handling:** loading runs with rollback enabled for both warnings and errors. A family that raises either is **rolled back** — it is not loaded — and the message is printed to the output window. This is what happens when a family of the same name is already loaded. So the effective behaviour is "already-loaded families are left alone", but the reason is a rollback you will see reported, not a silent skip. **Use when:** Populating a project from a library folder in one pass. --- ## Save Out icon Save Out Saves families from the current project to a folder. **Workflow:** 1. Select the families to export from a list. Only families where Revit reports the family as editable are offered — in-place and system families are not. 2. Pick the destination folder. Files are written as `.rfa` directly into that folder, and **existing files are overwritten**. --- ## Save Out Advanced icon Save Out Advanced The same as **Save Out**, with a switch dialog after the folder pick offering two options: | Switch | Effect when on | |---|---| | Save out to a single directory | All families go into the chosen folder | | Overwrite existing families | Existing `.rfa` files at the destination are replaced | Turning **Save out to a single directory** off is what produces a category-organised library: subfolders named after each family's Revit category are created under the chosen folder and each family is written into the matching one. With **Overwrite existing families** off, a family whose file already exists at the destination is skipped. **Use when:** Building or refreshing a structured library. --- ## Notes - Each family is opened and saved in its own operation, so one failure does not abort the batch — failures are reported per family in the output window. - Ensure the destination folder exists and is writable before starting. - **Save Out Advanced** with category subfolders is the better choice for library work; plain **Save Out** always uses a single folder and always overwrites.