This article is for making a copy of a Family Browser Library and re-pathing all folder references to a new folder path.  This is not linking an existing Library to make it available for other versions of Revit Family Browser.  To see the pros and cons of each situation please refer to this blog article.  Copying/Linking Family Browser Libraries to multiple Revit versions.


The "Copy Library" function that is found in the Database Manager Ribbon allows you to select multiple existing libraries for a Revit Version ie Revit 2019 and copy them to be available for another Revit version ie Revit 2021.   It creates a copy of the library, all groups and sub groups, all tabs and sub folders and then assigns the newly created library to all users that were assigned to the original library.


Please note, this tool does not upgrade your Revit families.  You need to do that as you normally would.


It is a simple three step process.



  1. Select the libraries that you want to copy
  2. Select the target Revit version.
  3. Input the base file paths of the existing library location and the new library path.
    1. The folders under the base files paths must be the same for this to work.
    2. If you have "System Families", Drafting Views etc setup, the Revit projects that contain these items must also be under the base file path.
    3. If you want to point your new library at the same location as the old library input "####" to both file paths
    4. If your library is located in your roaming profile for example if you use DropBox, OneDrive, Microsoft exchange then your file path to the families could look like this "C:\Users\phill\OneDrive\Revit Library\Sharing Centre - Library 2020".  If this is the case then the file path in the database starts with "%UserProfile% as shown in above screen capture.  If you are unsure check the file paths used in the Database manager to confirm.
  4. Click on "Copy Selected Libraries" to finish the copy process.