Revit 2014 - Central File Network Path and Access

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone,

I've got a question for the Revit Gods in the Forum *humbly bowing down to thee*, I believe I have found a solution to my problem,  and think I have a solution to the problem in-house but, if anyone can help me figure this out as to why Revit actually does this I would appreciate it beyond measure.

How come Revit (and in my case 2014) requires a full UNC path (such as \\server\project\001.rvt or \\192.145.1.123\project\001.rvt) instead of a Mapped Drive path (such as Z:\project\001.rvt), which would ultimately cause issues to the location and access of the central file between users? Is it simply the way Revit is programmed to locate and access central files?

P.S. again I'ld be grateful for any and all help the Revit gurus and gods can provide me in understanding this.

[LisaDrago]

Hello and Welcome to the Discussion!!

So from one humble revit user to another... (there are no gods here - guru's - yes, but not gods)

In a quick creation of a central file - the attached image is showing where the file is saved. I am not seeing the full UNC path you were talking about.. Now i fully admit - I saved this to my computer and not a server. That may have made a difference - not sure

Maybe we can get some others to chime in on this..

LD

[klaus.schumann]

Ni Nicholas,

The following thread may shed some light on the UNC path requirements of Revit.

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Revit-Architecture/Central-Files-and-UNC-paths/td-p/2793712

[Anonymous]

posted in a couple spots, hoping to find the right area with the right answer...

I have a central file which has worked for multiple users in our office, with one exception (the third user is unable to create a new local file)

When i look at the path to the central model, 2 of us have the same path, while the third is different. 

They're both pointing to the same end result, with just a slightly different way of getting there. (the user unable to create a new local file follows a path through an additional set of folders)

Im having trouble updating that path to match the rest of the office. Is it as simple as copying the working path to the third users computer? (under collaborate>synchronize and modify settings)? or am i missing something.

Thanks!

[David_Knight · Accepted solution]

my path, on the server, was not hard coded.  It was instead mapped.

perhaps when it was first saved and made into a central model, someone used a //machine/path name instead of Drive:/path

[Anonymous]

I was wondering if you ever found a solution to your problem. From what I have read, I think I am having a similar issue.

We currently have 3 people working on a project with no issue. I am trying to add a fourth person, Brooke, who has never worked on the project, to the team. When I try to create a new local file for her, it is grayed out, I am unable to create a new local. I then decided to create a new central from Brooke's computer. After doing so, the other three team members were unable to create a new local. When I try to open the project file from Brooke's computer I am given the error message that the central model has moved.

I checked the other three team members computers to see how they were mapping back to the Central, by going to Collaborate > Sync & Moddify Settings > File Name. All computers are mapping back to that location....even Brooke's. I am at a loss.

Any thoughts?

[SteveKStafford]

The person that creates the central file defines the path that all subsequent Revit users must also use to access the central file. Since there are a few ways that a shared resource on a server can be made accessible it is very important that ONE is used for Revit users. If one person is mapped to the shared resource via IP address and the others are mapped via their UNC named path the IP user won't "see" the file correctly. This also happens when using the relatively newer Named Locations that windows server can provide.

I've encounter circumstances where IT insists that everyone is mapped correctly but when they investigate closer they find the user that can't connect (create new local) has somehow missed their recent settings update (laptop was out of the office for example) or that the user changed the mapping themselves at some point.

Changing the path mapping on the computers after the central file has been made can also mess things up if that path isn't the same as the one the central file was created using.

Bottom line is that all users must have the same mapping to your shared resource on the server.

Earlier someone asked why Revit doesn't pay attention to the drive letter. Essentially its because of the inconsistent manner in which people do this stuff. The UNC named path is what Revit really cares (and what Windows is really looking at too) about because we can map that to drive letter R on one computer and drive letter Q on another and Revit will still find the resource.

[Anonymous]

Thank you Steve for the quick response. That was a lot of great information, but I am not sure how to go about fixing the problem. I am the project architect that set up the Central model. I work in Revit everyday and know enough to fix small issues, but this issue is out of my realm. Unfortunately, I work for a small firm that has no IT department to swoop in and correct it. Can you give me a little more information on how I can go about correcting this?

Thanks! I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help.

[SteveKStafford]

Let's start with what Revit reports at each user's workstation when you start Synchronize with Central. The field at the top of the dialog displays the path that points to the central file.

Next, a little more trouble... have a look at your journal. First, close Revit, reopen Revit, create a local file, sync with central, close the project and Revit. I had you do that so the journal file is for just one session, opening and closing one file. It's easier to scan less data. Now we are ready to look at the most recent journal file, most likely located here:

C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit 2015\Journals  (assuming 2015 here)

You can read a journal file with a text editor like Notepad. You'll have to scan down quite a bit because Revit stores a lot of diagnostic info first. Eventually you should see file open references and the path to the file. The path that you see there may just reference your drive letter but this is where Revit is finding the file. To be thorough you'll need to compare the values for each of the workstations, they all need to match.

You've already got a clue which computer has a problem because that's the one that can't "Create New Local" so you can focus on comparing yours with that one.

Let's see what you find...and see where to go next.