Built-in dimensions in Family templates

Here's a quick one.....

So you've probably built a few families and noticed that some dimensions and reference planes that are part of a template cannot be deleted (ex: the EQ constrained dimension in the casework family template). There's really not much you can do about them. You could move them to the side and ignore them. But when it comes to labels/dimensions, there are a few options at your disposal:

a) You can use the dimension/label and re-assign it to another label. "Oh, really clever Dave, I knew that!". Ok granted that might be obvious, but it's amazing how many times users overlook the fact that they can do just that. Using the casework template as an example, you're able to delete the center ref. plane, thus turning the EQ constrained dimension into a regular dimension. Now you can assign it to any length parameter of your choice.

b) If the center ref. plane couldn't be deleted in this case, you could create a new ref plane or a line, and edit the dimension's witness lines to reference your new ref. plane/line. Since you can delete this ref. plane/line and dimensions cannot exist without the referencing element, this seemingly "undelete-able" dimension is forced to go away. There, you out-smarted Revit!

Built-in dimensions in Family templates