Share and learn how-to tips, workflows, and general knowledge articles about Informed Design and the future of the Industrialized Construction industry.
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What's New?
Previously, keeping Revit shared parameters consistent across a product line meant every designer had to add and configure them by hand, family by family, using Revit's native tools.
Parameter Standards lets a hub admin source parameters directly from the Autodesk Parameters Service in Forma, choose a product release, and then decide — per parameter — whether its value is controlled by the design team or driven by the release's manufacturing data. This one-time setup will offer the standard to designers automatically whenever they insert the product in Revit.
Note: any value you enter in an Informed Design Revit Family File is already retained when you replace or update a variant through the Informed Design workflow — that's a general Informed Design behavior, not something unique to Parameter Standards. What Parameter Standards adds is the ability to make selected values genuine Revit Shared Parameters (with the cross-family identity Revit uses for scheduling and tagging), governed centrally by an admin instead of set up by hand per-family.
Why This Matters
When you replace or update a variant through the Informed Design workflow, any value you've entered in that Revit Family File is carried over to the newly generated family file — nothing you've typed in gets erased.
Parameter Standards builds on that by letting a hub admin turn selected values into genuine Revit Shared Parameters — the kind Revit itself uses for cross-family scheduling and tagging — as a governed, reusable set, instead of every designer creating them by hand family-by-family using Revit's native tools. The admin also decides, per parameter, whether it's manually entered by the design team or automatically driven by the product's manufacturing data.
Benefits
For Hub Admins
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Define a governed, named standard once instead of relying on every designer to configure shared parameters consistently by hand.
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Choose, per parameter, whether it's Design Only (the design team types the value in themselves while working in the Revit project, and Informed Design retains it) or BIM Property (the value is automatically driven by the product's manufacturing data instead).
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Move a standard through Draft → Approved → Archived, so standards only reach designers after admin review and confirmation.
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Duplicate an approved standard to create a new variation rather than editing it in place, keeping already-placed families stable.
For Designers / Revit Users
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When you insert a product in Revit, any parameter standards your hub admin has defined for that release are available to choose from — select a standard once, and it's applied automatically to every instance placed in the project.
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Values you type into a Design Only parameter are retained when you replace or update a variant. BIM Property-driven parameters update automatically from product data instead.
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You can view any approved standard read-only, so you understand what's being applied to your model even if you can't edit it.
How to Use It (Today) — Hub Admin
1. Open Parameter Standards and create a new standard
From the Informed Design ribbon in Revit, open Parameter Standards. This opens the Standards list shown below. Click Create standard.
2. Name your standard
On the Standard tab, enter a Name (this is what designers will see when choosing which standard applies to a family) and an optional Description.
You'll also see a Complete / Incomplete label near the top-right. It reflects whether every required field across all four tabs (including every parameter's Behavior resolution — see step 5) has been filled in, and updates automatically as you work — it isn't something you click.
3. Select shared parameters
Switch to the Shared Parameters tab. This pulls parameter definitions directly from the Parameters Service in your Forma Hub — you're not creating new parameter definitions here, only choosing which existing ones belong to this standard. Select the checkbox next to each parameter you want to include. The filter (funnel icon, top right) narrows the list — already limited to the categories allowed by the hub’s existing shared parameters — further to specific categories. The gear icon lets you customize which columns are shown in the table.
You must select at least one shared parameter before you can save a draft — the platform won't let you save an empty standard.
⚠️ The parameters you pick here can narrow your Product options later! See "Why don't I see the product I expected?" below before you move on to step 4.
4. Associate a product release
Switch to the Product tab. Choose whether to browse Public products or Forma Data Management, then select the release this standard should apply to.
The list is automatically scoped to releases compatible with the categories of the parameters you selected in step 3 — see "Why don't I see the product I expected?" below if this list looks smaller than you expect, or empty.
5. Resolve each parameter's Behavior — Design Only or BIM Property
Switch to the Behavior tab. "Design Only" and "BIM Property" are Informed Design terms, not standard Revit ones — here's what each means. For every parameter you selected in step 3, decide:
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Design Only — check this box if the design team should be able to type the value in themselves while working in the Revit project. When instances of a variant are replaced or updated, Informed Design retains whatever values were entered.
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BIM Property — leave the Design Only box unchecked and instead, pick a property from this dropdown to have the parameter's value automatically driven by your manufacturing/product data instead of being typed in by hand. For Type-level shared parameters, values update automatically when the product data changes. For instance-level shared parameters, product data sets the default values but if designers overwrite these defaults with manual entries, those entries are retained when instances are updated or replaced.
These two options are mutually exclusive per parameter. Every parameter must be resolved as one or the other before you can approve the standard — the "Resolved" counter at the left tracks your progress.
Both controls are disabled until you've selected a release on the Product tab (step 4) — if you open the Behavior tab first, you'll see an empty, disabled table like this:
If you (or another admin editing a standard) do not have access to the associated product, the BIM Property column is masked with an "inaccessible" notice instead of real values:
6. Save as draft, then approve
The Save draft and Approve buttons stay visible in the top-right corner throughout all four tabs (see the header in the step 2 screenshot above). Click Save draft to save your work at any point. Once every parameter is resolved (step 5) and at least one release is attached (step 4), Approve becomes available — click it to make the standard usable by designers. Approved standards can't be edited — if you need to make a change later, duplicate the standard to create a new draft rather than editing the original.
You can manage existing standards from the list by selecting a row and using Duplicate, Archive, Delete (Draft standards only), or reopen (Open) a standard depending on its current state.
Why don't I see the product I expected? (Shared Parameters ↔ Product tab interaction)
Selecting shared parameters can narrow what shows up in the Product tab. In the Parameters Service, each shared parameter lists a subset of Revit categories it is allowed to bind to.
Once you've selected parameters, the Product tab's release list is automatically scoped to products whose categories are within the allowed binding scope of all selected shared parameters.
This is also enforced in the other direction: once you’ve selected a release on the Product tab, all shared parameters that do not bind to that product’s category are filtered out of the list on the Shared Parameters tab.
You have the option to show these incompatible parameters in the list, but they won’t be selectable until the product’s category is added to their allowed binding scope in the Parameters Service.
If your parameter selection has no category overlap at all, you'll see a clear error right on the Shared Parameters tab:
If your selection narrows things down but doesn't eliminate everything, you won't see an error on the Shared Parameters tab — the Product tab will simply show fewer results than an unscoped browse would. Compare an unscoped Product tab (before any parameters narrow it):
… against the same tab after scoping narrows it:
… and after scoping empties it out:
You'll see a "No results in browsing scope" message with a "Show Categories" button that lets you see which categories are common across the current selection of shared parameters, and therefore limiting the list to products in those categories. There's also a caption on the filter panel itself explaining the scoping whenever it's active.
Practical takeaway: if you go to the Product tab and don't see a product you expected, check which shared parameters you selected and what Revit categories they're tied to, before assuming something is broken.
After your second shared parameter selection on the Shared Parameters tab, an Eligible products message displays to inform you that your product options are now limited to only products in those categories that are common across the shared parameters you’ve selected.
Before saving your draft standard for the first time, it’s worth checking the Product tab right after making Shared Parameters selections to ensure that your intended product is available. If it’s not, you’ll need to resolve this — by either adjust your shared parameter selection, or by modifying the category binding scope in the Parameters Service then refreshing the list on the Shared Parameters tab — before the first save locks in your shared parameter selections for this standard.
How to Use It (Today) — Designer / Revit User
1. Viewing standards
If you're a Hub Admin, the Standards list shows full detail with checkboxes, bulk actions, and standards in all lifecycle states: Draft, Approved, and Archived. If you're not a Hub Admin, you'll see the Approved list in read-only mode — no checkboxes, no bulk-action toolbar — but you can still see every approved standard's name, description, associated product/release, and parameter count.
If a standard references a product you don't have permission to access, you'll see a warning icon with a tooltip explaining that product data isn't visible to you — the standard itself is still listed, just with limited detail.
2. Inserting a product with a standard
When you insert a product from a release that has an associated standard, that standard is offered in the Insert dialog's standard selector.
A standard only appears when you're inserting from the specific release it's associated with — not automatically across every release of a product. If you don't see a standard you expect, confirm you're working from the release it was associated with.
3. Changing the standard already applied to a release — read the warning carefully
If families from a release already exist in your project and you change which standard applies to that release, Revit shows a warning before proceeding:
"Change current standard? Families of this release already exist in the project. Confirming will change their standard to match this selection. This may remove shared parameters and permanently delete existing values."
(This warning applies to every family belonging to the release you're changing, not just the one instance you have selected.)
This is a more consequential action than a routine variant replace (see step 4) — it can affect every already-placed instance of that release at once, and can genuinely delete values, not just update them. If you're not sure whether to proceed, use View current to check what's applied today, or check with your hub admin first.
4. What happens to your data on a routine variant replace
When you replace a variant (rather than changing the standard applied to a whole release, as in step 3 above), any value you've entered in that Revit Family File is carried over to the newly generated family file — this is true generally, not just for shared parameters. For parameters governed by a standard specifically: values you've typed into a Design Only parameter are retained the same way, while BIM Property parameters update automatically to match the replacement variant’s product data.
Known Limitations
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Selecting a shared parameter can silently narrow your product options. See "Why don't I see the product I expected?" above — this is real, in-product behavior, not a bug, but it's easy to miss the first time.
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Changing the standard applied to a release (not just replacing a variant) can permanently delete existing parameter values — Revit warns you before this happens (see Designer step 3 above). This is different from, and more destructive than, a routine variant replace.
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Category filtering is limited to categories already in use. The Shared Parameters and Product tabs only show categories already represented by your existing shared parameters — there isn't a broader category browser yet.
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Only Approved standards ever apply to a family. Standards in Draft and Archived state cannot be applied to instances, even if the instances' release is selected within the Draft or Archived standard.
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Standards are immutable once approved. To change one, duplicate it into a new draft.
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Only Forma Parameter Service-sourced parameters are supported. Standards can't be built from a shared-parameter text file.
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Applying or changing a standard affects every instance/variant sharing that release — not just one you have selected. This mirrors how Revit's native family/type parameters behave.
FAQs
Can non-admins create or edit standards?
No. Only Hub Admins can author, edit, or approve standards. Non-admins can view approved standards read-only.
Will my instance-level edits ever be deleted?
It depends which action you're taking. A routine variant replace is designed to retain your manually-entered values for Design Only parameters. Changing which standard is applied to an entire release (when families of that release already exist) is a different, more consequential action — Revit explicitly warns that it may remove shared parameters and permanently delete existing values. Read that warning before confirming.
Can a standard reference a product published under a different hub?
Yes — access to the underlying product is permission-based (view/download or insert permission on the relevant Forma project folder, or public), not restricted to a single hub.
Does switching standards affect other releases of the same product?
No — a standard applies to the specific release it's associated with. Instances from other releases of the same product are unaffected.
Can I make a parameter's value come from my manufacturing data instead of the design team entering it by hand?
Yes — this is exactly what the Behavior tab's BIM Property option does. See How to Use It (Today) — Hub Admin, step 5 above.
I selected parameters but the Product tab is empty or missing products I expected — is that a bug?
Probably not — see "Why don't I see the product I expected?" above. It's almost always because your selected shared parameters bind only to Revit categories that your intended products do not use.
Get Started
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Confirm with your hub admin whether Parameter Standards have been approved in your hub.
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Hub admins: see the How to Use It (Today) — Hub Admin section above to create your first standard.
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Questions or feedback? Comment below or visit the Informed Design Forum to share your thoughts with the Informed Design team.