A free dockable palette for Revit that lets you browse, search, and place any loaded family type with a single click. In Revit, hover over the Family Browser button and press F1 to open this page.
Family Browser installs with a standard Windows installer (.msi) and requires Administrator access.
ValorVDC_FamilyBrowser_1.1.0.msi from the Autodesk App Store.The installer covers all supported Revit versions on the machine (2024–2027). You do not need to run it separately for each version.
Click Family Browser in the Add-Ins › Family Tools panel. The palette opens as a dockable panel — you can float it, dock it left or right, or pin it next to the Properties panel. Click the button again to hide it.
The palette loads automatically when you open or create a Revit project. If you switch to a different project, click the ⟳ refresh button to reload from the new model.
Open a Revit project — the palette shows every family type loaded in that model as a visual tile with a thumbnail preview. Click any tile to immediately start placing that family type in the model.
The placement command stays active so you can click multiple times to place several instances. Press ESC when you are done placing.
While the placement command is active, the palette gives visual feedback so you always know Revit is in placement mode:
The indicator clears automatically when you press ESC (Revit 2025–2027), or when you click another tile or use the refresh / setup button (Revit 2024).
Type in the search box at the top of the palette to filter by family name or type name. The list updates as you type. Clear the box to show all families again.
Search only works in browse mode. The search box is hidden when the palette is in Setup mode.
Use Setup mode to choose exactly which categories and family types appear in the palette.
Click ← Browse at any time to go back without saving. Your previous settings are restored.
Settings are stored inside the Revit file using Revit's extensible storage. They travel with the .rvt file and are visible to any team member who has Family Browser installed. Use this when everyone on the project should see the same palette.
Settings are stored in %AppData%\ValorVDC\FamilyBrowser\ on your machine and apply the same palette configuration to every project you open. Use this for personal preferences that should follow you across projects.
If both project and user settings exist for a project, project settings take priority.
Make sure the installer was run as Administrator. Close Revit, run the installer again, then restart Revit. Also check that no old version of the plugin is installed in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\<year>\ — delete any ValorVDC_FamilyBrowser.* files there if you find them.
Open or create a Revit project. The palette reads family data from the active model and cannot show anything until a project is open.
Click ⚙ Setup, then use the global All button to make every category visible, and save. If the project has no loadable families, load some through Insert › Load Family first, then click the ⟳ refresh button.
An older installation may still exist in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\<year>\ from a previous release. Delete any ValorVDC_FamilyBrowser.* files in those folders and restart Revit.
Hover over the Family Browser ribbon button until its tooltip appears, then press F1. On a laptop keyboard you may need to hold Fn at the same time.
This is a known Revit 2024 API limitation — the full background tint isn't available in that version. A blue banner at the top of the palette is shown instead. This is expected behaviour.
Close Revit, then open Windows Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find ValorVDC Family Browser and choose Uninstall. All plugin files are removed automatically.
User settings stored in %AppData%\ValorVDC\FamilyBrowser\ are not removed by the uninstaller. Delete that folder manually if you want to remove them completely.
Email support@valorvdc.com, or open an issue on GitHub. To help us fix a problem quickly, please include: