Creating a Central File

Like most data files on a computer, Revit project files can be accessed by only one user at a time. To allow for multiple users, the project file must be made into a central file. This process starts when worksharing is enabled for a project. Any user can enable worksharing, and it needs to be done only once—by whoever is setting up the project. To enable worksharing, click the Worksets button on the Collaborate tab as shown in Figure 3.1.

This can be done at any stage of a project, but it is best to do so as early as possible. The later you do this, the more work is required because you have to assign elements to specific worksets after they have already been placed.

Worksets represent the division of a model into four groups:

• User-Created elements
• Families
• Project Standards
• Views

Each group contains a number of worksets, depending on the makeup of the Revit project. Each view of the model, component, and project standard (things such as settings and types) has its own unique workset. Every family that is loaded into the project is also assigned its own unique workset. This partitioning is done by Revit automatically when worksharing is enabled, to keep users from modifying or changing the properties of the same elements at the same time. The User-Created category allows you to create your own set(s) of model components in order to control access to those components as a group or to control their visibility.

For example, if you are working on a project that will contain the elements from multiple disciplines, you may decide to create worksets that correspond to those disciplines. In other words, there would be a workset for all the electrical components, one for the mechanical components, one for plumbing, and so on. However, the real world often dictates that multiple designers and drafters will be working on a project, so it may be necessary to divide the model into more specific categories based on the roles of the people assigned to the project. Perhaps one person will be working on the HVAC systems while another works on the mechanical piping. Likewise, a designer may be doing the lighting as another develops the power systems. In this type of scenario, it is wise to use worksets to divide the model into these categories to allow for control of these specific systems.

Figure 3.2 shows the dialog box that appears the first time you click the Worksets button in a project. This dialog box informs you that you are about to enable worksharing, and it contains some important information.

This dialog box also indicates the worksets to which the components in the model will be assigned (if any exist when you click the Worksets button). So if you have already begun to build the model and later decide to enable worksharing, Revit will assign all the model components to two default worksets. Revit assigns any levels and grids to a workset called Shared Levels and Grids. This is done because these types of elements are generally used by all disciplines and are typically visible in all model views. Everything else that exists (model elements) in the model is assigned to a workset called Workset1. You can rename these default worksets to something more appropriate to meet your project needs. However, I recommend that you don't rename Workset1 because it can't be deleted. You should, however, create your own worksets and reassign the objects to the appropriate one. If you enable worksharing in a file that contains no model, the default worksets will still be created; they will just be empty.

When you click OK in this dialog box, Revit creates worksets for each view, project standard, and family that are in the project file. If model elements exist, Revit assigns each component to the default workset. Once worksharing has been enabled, the Worksets dialog box is opened, as shown in Figure 3.3.

The first thing to notice is the drop-down list in the upper-left corner of the dialog box. This indicates which workset is active. When a workset is active, any components that are placed into the model are part of that workset. This is similar to more traditional CAD systems; when lines are drawn, they are on the layer that is set as the current layer. The Name column of the dialog box lists all the worksets in the project, depending on which category is being shown. The check boxes below the columns allow you to switch between the categories of worksets you are viewing. This keeps you from having to view the entire list of worksets at one time.

The Editable column in the dialog box has two options: Yes or No. When a workset is set to Editable (Yes), the user has what is known as ownership of that workset. This means that user is the only person who can modify the model elements that belong to that workset. Ownership can be taken only by the user; it cannot be assigned by someone else. If a workset is set to Non Editable (No), it does not mean that the workset cannot be edited. It simply means that nobody owns that particular workset, so anybody working in the model can modify elements that belong to that workset—as long as no one else is trying to do the same thing!

You will notice that, by default, the user who first enables worksharing and creates a central file is the owner of the default worksets. That user must save the file before being able to relinquish ownership of those worksets. This is a critical step when a central file is created, because the goal is to allow multiple users to access the model.

Next is the Owner column. Notice in Figure 3.4 that there are several owners of worksets, yet five are marked as Editable. These are worksets in a local file reflecting the changes made by user simon.whitbread; the action of making a workset editable means the person who performed the action is the owner. There cannot be two owners of a workset.

The next column in the Worksets dialog box is the Borrowers column. This displays the username of anyone who has worked on elements in the model that belong to that particular workset. As you can see in Figure 3.4, the username larry.lamb is listed in the Borrowers column for the workset E-630 Lighting because that user modified a model element or elements in that workset; in addition, you can also see that user JOHN.DOE is owner of workset A-314 Windows, and larry.lamb owns F-670 Fire Alarms, whereas user jane.doe has made the workset P-520 Drainage editable and is therefore the owner.

Also notice the three dots after larry.lamb in the Borrowers column (…) for the workset E-630 Lighting; this indicates that there are multiple borrowers in the same workset. You can see who those borrowers are by left-clicking in the right side of the Borrowers column.

This is the core functionality of worksharing. At all times, Revit is keeping track of who is manipulating the model and on what parts of the model they are working. The central file is keeping track of the work done in the local files. Two users cannot borrow the same model element at the same time; this is how multiple users can work on the same model simultaneously. If you select a model element such as a light fixture and another user has already selected and modified that light fixture, Revit will warn you with a dialog box that you cannot modify that model element until the other user relinquishes control of it. You will learn more about this workflow later in the chapter. Going back to the (expanding) jigsaw puzzle analogy, if you were to pick up a puzzle piece to place it somewhere, no other person at the table could do anything with that piece until you let go of it. Revit lists all the usernames of anyone borrowing elements on a workset.

The next column of the dialog box indicates whether a workset is open. If a workset is not open, Revit will not display its elements in any view of the project. When you open a Revit project that has worksharing enabled, you have the option in the Open dialog box to set which worksets will be open with the file. This can save file-opening time and improve file performance. For example, you could choose not to open the Lighting workset if you are working only on the plumbing systems and have no need to coordinate with the lighting portion of the model at that time. This may help with model regeneration time and improve your productivity.

The last column of the dialog box is the Visible In All Views column, which allows you to control the visibility of the worksets. You will see that when you create a workset, you can determine whether it is visible in all views. I'll explain this further in a moment.

Creating a New Workset

To create a new workset, click the New button in the upper-right corner of the Worksets dialog box. This displays the New Workset dialog box, which allows you to name your new workset, as indicated in Figure 3.5.

This dialog box has a check box allowing you to set the default visibility of the workset in your model views. When you give the new workset a name and click OK, it is added to the list of User-Created worksets. Whoever creates a workset is the owner of that workset by default. Once you have created the worksets necessary for your project and you click OK in the Worksets dialog box, you must save the file to complete the creation of a central file. Revit will warn you with a dialog box if you attempt to relinquish your control of the worksets prior to saving the file as a central file.

After enabling worksharing and establishing your worksets, click the Save button to create the central file. Because this is the first time you have saved the file as a central file, the message box shown in Figure 3.6 is displayed.

If, however, you want to change the name of the central file, use the Save As option. For example, some companies use one naming convention for nonworkset projects and another for those with worksets enabled. In the former, the project is named with a project number (12345-HVAC.rvt) and then, after worksharing has been enabled, the name is changed via the Save As process to contain the word Worksets or the letters WS (12345-HVAC-Worksets.rvt or 12345-HVAC-WS.rvt). Because this file has just had worksharing enabled, clicking the Options button shows you that this file is being saved as a central file, and the Make This A Central Model After Save check box is grayed out, as shown in Figure 3.7.

Once your file has been made into a central file, a backup folder is automatically created. This folder contains data files that will allow you to restore a backup version of your project if you should ever need to roll it back to an earlier date or time. Having several users on a project who are saving frequently can limit how far back in time you can go to restore your project. Therefore, I recommend that you archive your project file at intervals logical to the submittal of the project. It is also worth pointing out the difference between the nonworkset backups, which are copies of the old file before saving. If your project is 50 MB and you have 20 backups, you now have a project taking up approximately 1 GB of storage. However, with a worksharing-enabled project, this becomes less of an issue because the backups are recorded as the changes to the original file, and although they can be more in number, less actual data is represented because there is no need to have complete duplicates.

The first thing you should do after the file is saved is click the Relinquish All Mine button on the Collaborate tab. This releases ownership of all worksets and borrowed elements. The file should then be saved again so the central file is in a state where no user has ownership of any worksets. A more efficient way to achieve the same result is to use the Synchronize And Modify Settings option; here Revit saves the local file, synchronizes, and saves the local file again—in one action. However, if you have a central file open, you will notice that the Save button is inactive. To save a central file when you have it open, you must click the Synchronize With Central button on the Collaborate tab. This saves the file and creates a record of your actions in the backup folder of the project. Once the central file has been saved, it should be closed before any more work is done on the project file. From this point on, all work should be done in the local files of the project. In summary, follow this basic procedure for projects that have been already started:

1. Save the file.
2. Enable worksets.
3. Save the file again to commit changes.
4. Synchronize to relinquish ownership of everything.
5. Close the file.

The project is now ready for users to create local files and begin work.

To summarize, these are the steps to create a central file for a brand-new project (before any work has begun):

1. Choose New ⇨ Project from the application menu.
2. Click OK in the New Project dialog box or click Browse to choose a different template.
3. Click the Worksets button on the Collaborate tab.
4. Verify that the worksets Shared Levels and Grids and Workset1 appear in the Worksharing dialog box, and then click OK.
5. Create any additional worksets needed for your project in the Worksets dialog box.
6. Click OK. You will be asked whether you want to make one of your User-Created worksets the current workset. You can choose to do so, but it has no effect on the file creation.
7. Save your file to the desired location. Your file will be saved as a central file. You are the owner of all of the worksets until you relinquish them.
8. After you have saved your file, click the Relinquish All Mine button on the Collaborate tab. The Save button is no longer active, so you must use the Sync And Modify Settings button to save your changes.

Creating a Local File

The Create New Local option in the Open dialog box shown in Figure 3.8 is selected by default when you attempt to open a central file.

The Create New Local option can prevent users from accidentally opening the central file by automatically creating a local file when they click Open. This is the easiest way to create a local file. Using this method creates a local-file copy of the central file in the folder specified in your Revit settings. Also of note in Figure 3.8 are the files and folder. There are four project files: Project_12345.rvt is the original stand-alone project file, the ones with .0001 and .0002 appended to the filename are its backup files, and Project_12345-WORKSETS.rvt is the workset-enabled central file. The folder Project_12345-WORKSETS_backup is the backup store for the worksharing file. The filename of the new local file will be the same as the central file, with _username added to the end. Figure 3.9 shows the File Locations tab of the Options dialog box indicating the destination folder for project files, and Figure 3.10 shows the local file saved to the destination folder.

Utilities are available that automate the creation of a local file, and some companies develop their own routines that conform to their specific standards, such as file naming and project folder structure. If you do not have such a utility, another way to create a local copy of a central file is simply to browse to its location and copy/paste it to the desired location by using Windows Explorer (see Figure 3.10). Once you have placed the local copy, it is important to rename the file, removing the word central from the filename (if used) to avoid confusion. Having your username in the filename helps to keep track of who owns the local files. If you use this method when you open the copied file, you will receive a warning dialog box stating that the central file has moved or has been copied and that saving the file will make it a local file—which is the intent. Click Close on this warning, shown in Figure 3.11, and you will have a local file after you save.

One thing worth stressing is that users should not use Windows Explorer and double-clicking to open a project file. Although this has almost become the de rigueur way of opening other CAD files (or, for that matter, any format file), you can land in trouble if you use this method when opening a Revit central file. This approach does not create a local file. Invariably users forget to use Save As to create a local file, and when they select Synchronize With Central a few hours later, there is the potential to overwrite any changes made when others have synchronized their local files.

Synchronizing a Local File with the Central File

The Revit software is in constant communication with the central file and all the local-file copies in order to maintain coordination of the model elements. As you are working in the model, it is aware of the elements over which you have control. You have two ways of saving your work. The first is to save your local file by simply clicking the Save button or selecting Save from the Application menu. When these changes are saved, they are saved to your local file only. This gives you the freedom to save at frequent intervals without accessing the central file, except for any required communications in Revit. This also allows for a more efficient workflow, because minor changes and reworking of the design can be finalized before pushing them out to the entire design team.

The second method for saving changes is to synchronize with the central file. There are two parts to the Synchronize With Central button:

• Synchronize Now synchronizes with the central file and relinquishes control of any borrowed elements. User-Created worksets—and their objects—are not relinquished at this point if the user is the current owner. This means the worksets and objects assigned to them remain in your control.
• Synchronize And Modify Settings gives you additional options. Synchronizing occurs, and the user also has the option to relinquish control of any type of workset element, save the local file, and add a comment to the central file. This could be a note to other users or a reminder that the project was issued at a particular date and time. Additionally, you have the Compact Central Model option. This should be treated as a maintenance process and used when you can work in the central file while no one else is accessing it.

The Synchronize commands are on the Collaborate tab and the Quick Access toolbar (QAT) as shown in Figure 3.12.

Clicking either of these buttons saves any changes made in the local file to the central file. The Synchronize command also updates the local file with any changes that have been synchronized to the central file by other users. Thus, when you click Synchronize, you are updating your local file to the most current status of the project. Another very important thing happens when you synchronize with the central file: any items that you are borrowing in the model are relinquished when you synchronize. If you need to relinquish your control over items in the project but are not yet ready to save your changes, you can do so by saving your local copy and then clicking the Relinquish All Mine button on the Collaborate tab. If, however, these objects have been changed in any way, the only method for relinquishing control is using the Synchronize With Central option.

Synchronizing and relinquishing will become a regular part of your daily workflow when the project gets rolling. You should be aware of some important occurrences in this workflow. If two or more users try to synchronize with the central file at the same time, Revit will synchronize them in the order in which the synchronize actions occur. So whoever hits the button first will have their changes saved first. While the central file is being updated, other users who have attempted to synchronize may see a dialog box with a message that the central file is currently busy. They can cancel their attempt to synchronize or wait until the central file is available. Clicking the Cancel button means that no synchronization will occur. If they wait, the synchronization will happen as soon as the central file becomes available.

Local files can be deleted and new ones created at any time. I recommend that you create a new local file every day as you begin work. This limits the number of warning and error messages that are saved to the central file and ensures that you start your Revit session with an updated copy of the central file. If you do not choose to make a new local file each day, it is important to update your local file with any changes that other users may have made while you were gone. You can do this by selecting Reload Latest from the Collaborate tab. When another user synchronizes with the central file, keep in mind that your file will not update with those changes automatically. You must either synchronize your file or reload the latest version of the central file.

When you start working on a project and want to create a new local file, you can browse to the location of the central file and open it with the Create New Local option selected. If you already have a local file for the project, a dialog box will appear with options for creating the new local file, as shown in Figure 3.13. As you can see, there are options for overwriting and appending. If you choose the append method, it is a good idea to check your folder from time to time, just to make sure you are not running out of disk space. Refer to the section “Computer Maintenance” in the Introduction.

Depending on the changes made since the last time you worked on the file, your local file could become irreconcilable with the central file. Therefore, it is a good practice to create a new local file each day.

When the time comes to end your session of Revit MEP, it is best to synchronize your local file with the central file. If you forget or you choose not to by closing the program, you will see a dialog box with options for closing your session of Revit MEP. Figure 3.14 shows the options for closing a local file that has not been saved or synchronized with the central file.

Clicking the Cancel button in this dialog box will return you to your session of Revit MEP. Clicking the Synchronize With Central option will open a dialog box with settings for your synchronization, as shown in Figure 3.15.

Notice in Figure 3.14 that you have the option to save your local file before and after it is synchronized with the central file. There is also a setting to control whether you will relinquish any worksets or borrowed elements.

If you click the Save Locally option in the dialog box shown in Figure 3.14, another dialog box appears with your options for relinquishing any borrowed elements or owned worksets, as seen in Figure 3.15.

You can choose to relinquish any items even though your changes are saved only to your local file and not the central file, or you can choose to keep ownership of the items. Keeping ownership prevents others from editing those items even after you close your Revit session.

Selecting the third option, Do Not Save The Project, in the dialog box shown in Figure 3.14 will also open a dialog box, this time specifying that you are about to close a project without saving and that any changes will be lost. The options provided are identical to those in Figure 3.16 for relinquishing control of worksets and borrowed elements. So, even if you open the file to make changes that you don't intend to keep, be aware that you may affect others' use of the model by borrowing elements. It is important to relinquish worksets and borrowed elements when you are closing your Revit MEP session to allow others to work without running into the obstacle of not being able to edit an element because you have ownership.

Taking Ownership of Worksets

There are two primary reasons for making a workset editable. When you make it editable, no other user can edit any model elements that are assigned to that workset.

First, if you are concerned that someone else might inadvertently move or edit an element that is part of your workset, you can take ownership of the workset. However, this scenario can be detrimental to the efficiency of the team if other users need to make changes. You have other alternatives for protecting elements in a model, such as pinning them in place.

A second reason for workset ownership is to protect a group of elements such as a system or area of the model from changes while design decisions are being made. This most commonly occurs when you have to work on the project offline, such as when meeting with a client.

To take ownership of a workset, all you have to do is open the Worksets dialog box and change the value to Yes in the Editable column. It is best to synchronize your local file with the central file after taking ownership of a workset. Additionally, you can use the right-click context menu to choose Make Workset Editable when you select the element. Taking ownership of a workset, however, does not guarantee that you own everything assigned to it. If someone has already borrowed elements from it, they remain borrowed by that user. It is much safer to tell all users you are going to take things “offline” and instruct them to sync and get out of the project before taking control.

Working with Model Elements and Their Worksets

When a workset is set to be the active workset, any component placed into the model will be part of that workset. Annotative elements such as text, tags, or dimensions do not become part of a User-Created workset but rather the workset of the model view in which they are drawn. Each project view, including sheet views, has its own workset. When you are working in a view, adding annotation or detailing, you remain the borrower of those objects but do not become a borrower of the actual view until you alter something already assigned to that view's workset. Other users can annotate objects in the same view, but the reality is that most workflows would make this difficult unless the view was a multiservice one that had several engineers providing input to the design. They cannot, however, change the properties of that view until your changes are synchronized.

The User-Created worksets are ours to manage. The Views, Families, and Project Standards worksets are managed by Revit. They are created automatically for us and we cannot delete them; we can only choose to make them editable. Deleting a family or view will remove its workset from the project.

To delete a User-Created workset, you must first take ownership of it. You can do so only if no other users are borrowing elements on that workset. You also have to close the Worksets dialog box after taking ownership before you can delete the workset. You can then reopen the Worksets dialog box, select the workset from the list, and click the Delete button on the right side of the dialog box. If you are deleting a workset that contains elements, a dialog box presents options for those elements. As shown in Figure 3.18, you can either delete the elements from the model or move them to another workset.

If another user owns the workset into which you are trying to move your elements, you will need to have that user relinquish ownership of the workset before you can move your items to it.

When you place your cursor over an object in the model, a cursor tooltip lists information about that object, as shown in Figure 3.19. When worksharing has been enabled in a project, the first item in the tooltip is the name of the workset to which the object belongs (unless design options are in use, in which case that information will be first).

This is the easiest way to determine the workset to which the object belongs. This information can also be found in the properties of a model object or project component. The Workset parameter of an object is an instance parameter listed under the Identity Data group. If you need to change the workset of an object, you can edit the setting for the parameter in the Properties palette. Turning on Worksharing Display will also give you more information if you are displaying tooltips.

Apart from directly editing an object to make it editable, there are two other ways to make it editable. Select an object and you will see the Make Element Editable symbol appear, as shown in Figure 3.20; clicking this symbol gives you control of the object. Do this and you'll find your username listed in the Borrower column for the workset of that element of the Worksets dialog.

The alternative is to select one or more objects and right-click. This gives you the option to make either the object(s) or the entire workset(s) editable, as shown in Figure 3.21.

You can change an object's workset either by first borrowing the items in the model or by just selecting those elements. In either case, the Workset parameter is available, and you can change its value by selecting from the drop-down list of workset names, as shown in Figure 3.22.

You can change the workset of multiple items by selecting them all and then accessing the Workset parameter in the Properties palette. Keep in mind that nobody else will be able to edit items on that workset that you own until you relinquish your ownership, even if they are not items on which you are working. You may also have a conflict if one or more of the elements you want to change have already been borrowed by someone else.

As mentioned earlier, each model component has its own workset. So say you select a family item in the model and you then select the Edit Family option from the Modify tab. After you load the family back into the project, a dialog box notifies you that the family is not editable and asks whether you would like to make it editable. This will give you ownership of the workset for that family. Because this does not occur until you load the family back in, it is possible that two or more users could edit a family but only the first one to load it back into the project would gain access to the workset; therefore, only that user's changes would occur in the project. It is important to discuss things like this far more than you may be used to doing prior to using Revit.

If you are the owner of a workset and want to release your ownership, you can do so by accessing the Worksets dialog box and changing the editable value from Yes to No. If it is a User-Created workset that you are releasing, you will remain the borrower of any items that you have modified on that workset until you synchronize with the central file. If you attempt to use the Workset dialog box to release your ownership of a family workset, you will be notified that the local file must be synchronized with the central file in order to release that workset. This method, however, may not work efficiently in all cases, and the most thorough and reliable way of reconciling these differences is to use Synchronize And Modify Settings.