Open bim360 revit model from command line

Open bim360 revit model from command line

DanielKP2Z9V
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Open bim360 revit model from command line

DanielKP2Z9V
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Skippable introduction: I start every morning wasting 2 seconds of life navigating to the right folder in revit UI just to open the same central model from bim360. After a 6 months it turned into 240 seconds, whopping 4 minutes of waster time - enough is enough.

 

Question: Is there a way to pass to Revit.exe executable path to the revit model in bim360 to and make it open as a local copy (not central model!)?
Something like: "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit 2024\Revit.exe" adsk://project name/model name.rvt

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SteveKStafford
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No


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Message 3 of 6

EricaConcolino_Symetri
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If you have already opened and saved the model, you will have your local copy in in the Collaboration Cache folder.  The only thing you would need to determine is which file it might be, as they are all provided with unique identifiers.

So it would be "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit 2024\Revit.exe" "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit YYYY\CollaborationCache\...\...\....rvt"

Keep in mind that this will not have the most recent changes to the model, so you'd still need to manually sync, unless you also want to setup a macro or something to also do that.

Message 4 of 6

DanielKP2Z9V
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@EricaConcolino_Symetri thank you, that would work, it shouldn't be a problem to add an OnDocumentOpened IExternalApplication to sync when this particular model is opened. I'm slightly concerned about security/reliability though, wouldn't want to end up corrupting central model this way - is this method documented anywhere? I wouldn't imagine it gaining official support from Revit team, but are there any gotchas? I guess if BIM360 changed UUIDs at some point in the future the model just wouldn't load, but perhaps there are some other unexpected ways to shoot oneself in the foot?

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Message 5 of 6

EricaConcolino_Symetri
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Contributor

This cached file is the equivalent of the local file that is created when working with a central file located on a traditional file server.  When you open your project through the Autodesk Docs > Project Files>..., you're just overwriting your local cached file.  I'd just want to be sure that at the end of the day, you sync to central, so at least all of the work you've done up to that point has been synced.  So, the only risk I'd say that you run is that upon opening the next work session, your local cached file might end up not being compatible with the ACC version, for whatever reason (someone deleted the central and made a new one or something along those lines); in that case you'll get that error.  In that case, obviously go through the regular Autodesk Docs dialogue.

Like you said, because the files are employing GUIDs rather than a set path, if the GUID changes, then you won't be able to load the model at all.  Just remember that if a model is moved (into an archived folder or something), the GUID does not change, so it will just follow the new path; in that case you might end up doing work on an archived model, in error.

I DOUBT this method is documented anywhere, otherwise you wouldn't have come to the forum!

That being said, because you would be deviating from the recommended and documented way of opening the file, it's not "technically" accommodated for.  Fortunately, backup versions and published versions exist in case something DOES happen.

 

Message 6 of 6

DanielKP2Z9V
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Advocate

Thank you, running "path/to/Revit.exe" "path/to/local-copy.rvt" from cmd prompt (not powershell for some reason) seemed to have worked and model opened seemingly like it normally would.

 

However, I did some more digging through official autodesk documentation and found one mention of "Accessing these local files directly should be avoided where possible." I'd normally be keen on experimenting, but given the multi gigabyte size of the current model + linked models and lack of experience with performing rollbacks on bim360 I'll tend to lean towards playing it safe for now, as much as it hurts wasting all these seconds every morning opening the model through Revit Home panel.

 

I wish Autodesk could greenlight this method officially, so to avoid potential liability for such a simple convenience.

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