DWG moves in Revit, after it's been saved in AutoCAD. How to stop it?

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This is an issue we have with site plans which we're getting from surveyors as a DWG.

We link them in Revit, position it where it needs to be in relation to the building, acquire coordinates, true north is set automatically, coordinates are correct and everything works fine.

But when you need to change something in DWG and save it, things fall apart. Here I'm drawing a single line in AutoCAD and saving the DWG.

Now when I open Revit file with the site DWG, this is how it looks, completely moved away from its previous position.

It's not just this Revit or AutoCAD file, happens with all and any of them.

What needs to be done in Revit, or AutoCAD, to prevent this?

[vitorbortoncello]

Try pin the dwg in revit

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@vitorbortoncello wrote:

Try pin the dwg in revit

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Tried it already, doesn't help.

[ToanDN]

After acquired coordinates, select the DWG link and disable location sharing.

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@ToanDN wrote:

After acquired coordinates, select the DWG link and disable location sharing.

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Like this? Because this didn't help, same result after clicking save in AutoCAD, dwg displaced in Revit.

[ToanDN]

Did you link it in a True North view?

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@ToanDN wrote:

Did you link it in a True North view?

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No, I always get true north by acquiring coordinates from surveyors dwg, so I don't even touch it before that.

Tested it now, just in case, same result when linking in project north or true north. After save in AutoCAD dwg displaced in Revit.

Some other things that might be helpful (or not):

- I always unlock survey point before acquiring coordinates.

- You don't have to actually change anything in AutoCAD, just clicking save is enough to mess it up in Revit.

- Tested on three PCs, two with Revit 2024, one with Revit 2025.

I can provide one of our surveyors dwgs if you think that could be helpful, and record a video of the process.

[rakotoarisoa_m]

Example files and videos would definitely help

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@rakotoarisoa_m 

@ToanDN 

Here's the video and surveyor dwg.

Video started with default Revit template, nothing changed in it.

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Additional info: turns out it's not surveyors dwgs. Even when I start a clean dwg with AutoCADs template, same thing happens after saving it.

Back to me doing something wrong?

[rakotoarisoa_m · Accepted solution]

It is a known wrong behaviour of revit, shared coordinates and true north doesn't work well together in revit.

It moves because when you reopen it it tries to reimport the dwg in the view at shared coordinates, but there is a bug when you link a shared coordinates dwg in true north view, always link it in project north.

See the two video attached.

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@rakotoarisoa_m wrote:

It is a known wrong behaviour of revit, shared coordinates and true north doesn't work well together in revit.

It moves because when you reopen it it tries to reimport the dwg in the view at shared coordinates, but there is a bug when you link a shared coordinates dwg in true north view, always link it in project north.

See the two video attached.

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Oh, I see, you have to switch to project north before closing the project!

It does complicate things a bit (have to remember to do it on all site plans before closing, switch it to true north for printing, switch it back for closing...), but it is a solution.

Solved, thank you!