"Can't make type" or "Failed to apply Family Parameters" message when working with Revit models

Autodesk Support

Sep 4, 2024

Products and versions covered

Issue:

Users reported that when working in a Revit model (interacting with family instances such as adding, copying or mirroring family instances, changing their properties, drawing duct/pipe, connecting/disconnecting families) or when upgrading Revit models, the following message appears:

Autodesk Revit <Version>

Error - cannot be ignored

Can't make type "<Family Name: Family Type.>"


Error Message: Can't make type "<Family Name: Family Type.>"

 

Autodesk Revit <Version>

Warning 

An error occurred in family <Family name> that cannot be automatically resolved.
Error information:
"Failed to apply family parameters."
Error Message: An error occurred in family <Family name> that cannot be automatically resolved

Additional symptoms might include: 
  • Revit crashing with CER (Customer Error Report).
  • Revit crashing with the "A serious error has occurred. The current action has been canceled." Or "A serious error has occurred. It is recommended that you use Save As to save your work in a new file before continuing." Error message.
Error Message: A serious error has occurred

Solution:

Rename DDGraph

  1. Close all Revit Sessions on the affected machine. 
  2. Rename the following file: C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit <Version>\DDGraph
  3. Restart Revit. 
  4. If issue still persists, copy and paste a healthy DDGraph file from another machine, where the issue is not reproducible.
 

Reset Revit to Defaults

If renaming DDGraph doesn't clear the error, go through the following steps to reset most of Revit's settings/options to default values:
  1. Close Revit (if open).
  2. Find each of the following locations on your system, and rename the folder by adding “_Backup”:
  • C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit <Version>
  • C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit <Version>
  • C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RVT <Version>
  1. Launch Revit (the folders renamed should be recreated (using default values).

Products:

Revit Product Family;

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