Open Revit, click New, and the template list shows three entries, none of them structural. That is what a freshly installed machine looks like, and it is why plenty of people model columns and beams before noticing the units are still in centimetres.
This article builds a revit structural template from scratch on Revit 2027: take the metric template shipped with the install, set units and line weights, save it as an .rte file and register it so you never have to hunt for it again. Fourteen steps, done once and reused. For the full route from model to drawing set, see our Revit Structure course.
What a structural template is and what it saves you
A template is an empty project with everything that is not geometry already set: units, line weights, text and dimension styles, view types, title blocks, schedules, and the components you always use. A new project started from it arrives with all of that in place.
A finished revit structural template solves three problems, in the order they usually bite:
| Task | Without a template | With a template |
|---|---|---|
| Units | Set again on every project, forget once and the whole set is wrong | Correct the moment the file opens |
| Line weights and symbols | Everyone does it differently, sheets disagree | The team shares one set |
| Common components | Load every family again | Already in the new project |
This article covers the structural side only. Templates in general, including how to move settings between projects already under way, are in Revit templates by discipline.
What you need to follow along
Three things: Revit 2027 installed, the Autodesk content installed with it, and a working folder on a local drive to keep your own template in.
If you are not sure what the structural side of Revit covers, read what Revit Structure is first, then come back.
Find and open the structural template that ships with Revit
The first five steps only fetch the right starting file. Do not skip them: picking the imperial set means starting over.
Step 1 — Open the Home screen and look at the right group
Start Revit and it stops at the Home screen. The left column splits into exactly two groups. Models, with Open and New, is for project files; Families has the same pair for component library files. A project template belongs to the first group.
Step 2 — Click New and read the default template list
Click New under Models. The New Project dialog is small: a Template file drop-down, a Browse button, and a Create new group offering Project or Project template.
Open the drop-down and a fresh machine shows three entries only: <None>, Imperial Multi-discipline and Metric Multi-discipline. Nothing structural.
Step 3 — Click Browse to look for another template
Click Browse. The Choose Template dialog opens, and it lands in the English-Imperial folder, the imperial set. The Files of type line reads Template Files (*.rte).
That folder does hold a Structural Analysis-Default, but its units are feet and inches.
Step 4 — Move to the metric folder and find the four structural templates
The metric set sits in the English folder next door. The default install path is C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RVT 2027\Templates\English; if the content went to another drive, the real path is readable in Options, see step 13. Autodesk's Options Dialog: File Locations Tab page names the same default folder.
That folder holds twenty five .rte files, four of them structural. Anyone searching for a template revit structure usually wants exactly these four.
| Template | Used for |
|---|---|
Structural Analysis-DefaultMetric.rte | The metric structural template. This article uses it |
Structural Analysis-DefaultMetric-Up.rte | The same set, different level numbering |
Structural Analysis-DefaultGBRENU.rte | Structural set to British practice |
Structural Analysis-DefaultUS-Canada.rte | Structural set to US and Canadian practice |
Step 5 — Pick the metric template and create the project
Select Structural Analysis-DefaultMetric.rte and click Open. Back in New Project, the Template file box now carries that name. Leave Create new on Project and click OK.
Step 6 — Inspect the template before changing anything
Revit opens an empty project called Project1 and lands on Structural Plan: Level 2. Properties shows Discipline set to Structural, a scale of 1:100 and Detail Level Coarse.
The Project Browser shows what the template already carries: a Structural Plans group with Level 1, Level 2 and their analytical companions, a 3D Views group with Analytical Model, four elevations, then Legends, Schedules/Quantities and Sheets.
Change units in Revit and the settings to finish before the first line
The next six steps turn the stock template into your own. Do them before modelling, because fixing them later means checking every number already written on a sheet.
Step 7 — Open the Settings panel on the Manage tab
Every project setting lives in the Settings panel of the Manage tab. Three places matter here: Object Styles and Snaps in the first column, Purge Unused and Project Units in the middle, and Structural Settings to the right.
Step 8 — Open Project Units and read the table
Click Project Units. The Discipline box at the top splits units by discipline: Common, Electrical, Energy, HVAC, Infrastructure, Piping and Structural. The table below has a Units column and a Format column.
In the metric set, Length is already 1235 [mm]. But Distance reads 1235 [cm], and Area is in m².
Step 9 — Switch Distance to millimetres
Click the Format cell on the Distance row. The Format dialog offers a Units box, Rounding at 0 decimal places, Unit symbol at None, plus tick boxes for Suppress trailing 0's and Use digit grouping.
Open Units and the list reads Centimeters, Decimeters, Feet, Inches, Meters, Millimeters and US survey feet. Choose Millimeters and click OK. The Distance row becomes 1235 [mm].
Click OK to close Project Units. For a box by box walk through, see units in Revit and the template file.
Step 10 — Set member line weights in Object Styles
Click Object Styles. The dialog has four tabs: Model Objects, Annotation Objects, Analytical Model Objects, Imported Objects. Type Structural into Category name search to cut the table down to the structural categories.
Each category offers four settings: Line Weight split into Projection and Cut, then Line Color, Line Pattern and Material. This decides how heavy columns and beams print. The New button under Modify Subcategories adds a subcategory of your own.
Step 11 — See what is unused with Purge Unused
Click Purge Unused. The dialog lists a tree: a Views group and a Families group carrying Structural Columns, Structural Foundations, Structural Framing and Structural Rebar among many others. The last line reads Number of items checked.
For the stock metric structural set that number is 590. The note above the OK button says plainly that only items not in use and free of dependencies can be deleted.
Do not purge everything by reflex. Reloading a family you deleted costs more than leaving it alone.
Save an rte file and register it in the template list
The last three steps turn the edited project into a reusable template.
Step 12 — File Save As Template to produce the .rte
Go to the File tab and hover Save As. The submenu offers five entries: Cloud Model, Project, Family, Template and Library. The Template entry states Saves the current Revit project file as a template.
Click Template. The Save As dialog opens with Files of type already at Template Files (*.rte). Point it at your working folder, give it a name you will recognise and click Save. Do not write it back into the Autodesk content folder, because reinstalling wipes that.
Step 13 — Register the template in Options File Locations
Having the rte file is not enough; without registering it you still click Browse every time. Go to the File tab, then Options, and pick the File Locations page.
The top table is Project templates, under the line The templates display in a list when you create a new project. It has a Name column and a Path column, with four buttons on the left: two arrows to reorder, a plus to add a row, a minus to drop one.
Click the plus, point at the .rte you just saved, then edit the Name cell into something readable. Click OK.
Below the table sit Default path for family template files, the folder holding family templates, and the Places button that registers component library paths.
Step 14 — Check it in the New Project dialog
Back on the Home screen, click New and open the Template file box. The list now has four entries, the last one being the template you registered. From here, every new structural project starts with two clicks.
A revit template file for local drawing conventions: what to set
Revit ships no template built to Vietnamese practice, or to most national conventions for that matter. What is in the box is Autodesk's own set, in British, US or international metric flavour. Making the output look like your local drawing set means setting it yourself, and this is the list.
| Item | What to set |
|---|---|
| Units | Length and Distance in millimetres with no unit symbol; levels in metres to two decimals |
| Decimal symbol | The Decimal symbol box in Project Units, matching office practice |
| Line weights | Object Styles per structural category, Cut heavier than Projection |
| Text and dimensions | Text and Dimension types preset to printed sizes |
| Grid and level heads | Round grid heads with numbers and letters, level heads with name above and elevation below |
| Title block | Your office title block with fields for project, package and sheet number |
| View types | View Templates for structural plans, slab reinforcement plans and sections |
| Schedules | Concrete quantity and bar schedules built ready to drop onto a sheet |
Building a title block is covered in creating title blocks in Revit; how a structural set is meant to read is in reading structural drawings.
When it does not work
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| New Project lists three entries, none structural | Fresh install, nobody registered one | Do step 13 and add it under File Locations |
| Browse opens an empty folder | The Autodesk content was never installed | Reinstall with the content option, or point the path at a downloaded copy |
| Units still imperial after picking a template | The file came from the English-Imperial folder | Go back to step 4 and take the one marked Metric |
The file saved as .rvt instead of .rte | Save As went to Project rather than Template | Redo step 12 and pick the Template entry |
| New projects still miss your usual families | The template never loaded them | Open the template, load the families, save over it |
| Editing the template leaves old projects unchanged | A template only applies when a project is created | Use Transfer Project Standards to push settings into a live project |
What people get wrong about templates
| What you often hear | What actually happens |
|---|---|
| Downloading a template off the internet is enough | Nobody knows what is inside it; one wrong line weight spoils the whole set |
| A template has to be finished before it is useful | Build it up project by project |
| Change the template and old projects update | They do not. A template only acts at creation |
| The more families the better | The heavier and slower it gets; keep only what every project uses |
| One template per discipline is plenty | Building types differ too; a house is not a factory |
Frequently asked questions
How does a template differ from a project file?
Different extension, different use. An .rte template only spawns new projects and is not opened to work in; an .rvt project is the real building being modelled.
Do I need a separate structural template, or will one file do for the whole project?
Separate is better. The structural set already carries analytical views, structural plans and a category list quite unlike the architectural one.
If I edit the template, do projects already under way change?
No. To push settings into a live project, use Transfer Project Standards on the Manage tab and pick the groups you want.
Can the template live on a network drive for the whole team?
Yes, and many offices do exactly that. Each machine still has to register the path once under Options File Locations.
How big should a template be?
The stock metric structural set comes to roughly seven megabytes once saved. It grows as families and schedules are added; when it starts opening slowly, review it with Purge Unused.