Revit Template Families from Older Versions

[drewHattonSDG]

I've run an analysis on my company's template file to report to get the editable families' file path, which in turn tells me what version of Revit the file was created in.  I've found that the vast majority of the files are from 2016.  So, I ran another script to update the files to the current family files (2020 version in this case).  However, the file size grows by about 45% vs. the un-upgraded file version after updating about 300 family files.  I realize that the family files are slightly larger after they're upgraded to the current version, which is causing the overall template file size to grow.  My question is, is there a risk of the family files referencing the 2016 database, vs. upgrading them to the current file database?  FYI, as families are updated, we load them into the template from the new file location, so the "latest" version is always in the template file.  We just have a lot of families that apparently have not been modified over the years.  

[caroline.gitonga · Accepted solution]

Hi @drewHattonSDG ,

Revit has evolved and changed at a more rapid rate over the past 5 years and even more tools have beed enhanced and some completely revamped. Relatively, if you continue using elements created using older version it may become corrupted when just upgraded, if existing features have been enhanced changing the workflows you currently have.
If you have relively simple templates that are not using complex features, a straight upgrade would be fine.
You may also consider, maintaining multiple year versions of a single template. In this case, you may need a secondary “seed” file that holds just the things that would go into the latest version. This way you’re just maintaining the “oldest” version, upgrading to the next, and then adding the things that are different from the seed file.

Kindly refer to this resource for more details
https://www.caddmicrosystems.com/blog/revit-upgrading-vs-rebuilding-templates/

Not sure if this helps, if does not kindly reach out