Using BIM 360 Design with Revit Cloud Worksharing

4 minutes
2 years ago
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Worksharing is a design method that allows multiple team members to work on the same Revit project model at the same time.

Each user works in their local copy and saves their changes to the master model of the project which can be stored either on a local server, on Revit Server, or on the cloud with BIM 360 Design (see About Revit Cloud Worksharing).

In this article, we’ll provide you with an overview of key terms, how to enable worksharing to collaborate on a model stored in BIM 360, set up worksets and how to synchronize your work with the central model.

Key terms

These key terms will help you to understand how people use worksharing.

  • Workshared project – A project that several team members need to collaborate on simultaneously.
  • Central model – The master project model for a workshared project. It contains all the contributions from all the team members.
  • Local model – A copy of the project model that resides on the computer system of the team member who is working on the model.
  • Worksets – Collections of building elements in a workshared project.

Enable Worksharing

Enable worksharing to create a central model for your project.

  1. In Revit, create a new model file or open an existing one.
  2. In the ribbon, click the Collaborate tab > Manage Collaboration panel > Collaborate.
  3. In the Worksharing window, click Save the model and continue.
  4. The Save As dialog appears. To save your model to BIM 360, click Cancel.
  5. Then, from the File menu, select Save As > Cloud Model.
  6. BIM 360 opens. Select the project that you want to publish your model to and navigate to the desired project folder, name the file and click Save. This will save the model as a central into the cloud. Other project members will have access to open and edit this file. All changes will be saved back to that file on the cloud. The local file will still be saved on your computer.
  7. Your model is saved to your BIM 360 project on the cloud. Click Close. Multiple users can now work on the model at the same time. For the best experience, see Best Practices: Working on a Team Project.
  8. In the Collaborate tab > Manage Collaboration panel > Worksets to activate worksets.
  9. In the Enable Worksharing window, check the desired options and click Enable.
  10. By default, Revit will create 2 generic worksets. (see Default Worksets and The Worksets Dialog). To create new worksets, see Create Worksets.
    A best practice when you log out is to relinquish elements to allow others to edit them (see Relinquish Elements in a Workshared Cloud Model).

Synchronize local changes with the central model

At the end of the day, save your local changes to the central model.

  1. In the ribbon, click the Collaborate tab > Synchronize panel > Synchronize with Central drop-down > Synchronize and Modify Settings to specific options for the synchronization operation.
  2. In the Synchronize with Central window, relinquish the worksets and elements you want to make them available to other users.
  3. Click OK. Your local copy also updates with the latest changes other team members have saved to the central model.

Other options

  • To save your changes locally, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S.
  • To save your changes to the central model using the current settings, click the Collaborate tab > Synchronize panel > Synchronize with Central drop-down > Synchronize Now.
  • To get the latest changes from other team members without saving your changes to the central model, click the Collaborate tab > Synchronize panel > Reload Latest.
  • To release ownership of worksets and borrowed elements that have not been changed, click the Collaborate tab > Synchronize panel > Relinquish All Mine.
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