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Revit 2019.1 new home: option for disable/enable "hidden local file"

Revit 2019.1 new home: option for disable/enable "hidden local file"

Revit 2019.1 bring good new UI but also a bad function: hidden local file. My company workflow is central file and local file are placed on server. New feature of new UI force me do more steps to open right local file. It is very annoying! There is a dangerous case when users don’t sync to central before they leave office, then they will lose all un-synced work if they just click to create new local file by habit.

So, I really need an option to disable/enable this feature. And disable should be default.

23 Comentarios
Nurlan-A.
Advisor

Show last local file on the home page if it was not synchronized! Emoticono feliz

 

For precaution in our office there is a rule: always click "Append timestamp to existing copy" instead of "Overwrite..".

dplumb_BWBR
Advisor

Closing your Local file without Synching to Central is a dangerous habit.

We've lost work many times when for one reason or another, the Central file had to be rebuilt & everyone's Locals were no longer compatible.

There's really no reason NOT to SWC before you close.

The new Home should make this process more transparent & less error-prone.

IMHO, the whole "Create Local file" process should be invisible to the user.

Opening a worksetted RVT file should ALWAYS make a new Local, and Saving should ALWAYS do a SWC

 

minjie.wang
Autodesk

 If you close the Revit model without SWC, a warning dialogue would pop up. We will always recommend don't ignore the warning dialogue and choose "Close the local file".

Unsaved Change.png

purvigirwin
Advocate

I agree with the commenters above. You should NEVER close your local with syncing back to central and you really shouldn't be opening a local file except for very specific model management tasks (Creating a new central, etc.) 

 

I also don't recommend putting your local on the server. Part of the point of having your local on your harddrive is so that if you have any server connectivity issues, you don't lose your work. 

 

NurlanAdsk, I hope that you also have a protocol for deleting all those extra local files periodically so that people aren't filling up their harddrives...
joslindave
Advocate

@dplumb_BWBR and @purvigirwin both hit it on the nail - the process you are describing is dangerous and should be avoided, and is probably one of the reasons the product team has made this change.

 

Also, when working with central models, you should always use the "Sync to Central," don't use the regular save button. Syncing automatically saves the local, and makes sure changes are pushed to and pulled from the central file. And sync regularly!

Ryan
Enthusiast

Im just a 1 user situation, but still use worksets for my workflow. In my case i would prefer to open the local file, rather than create a new local every time. I always SWC to save any changes anyways. 

 

Is there a hidden parameter in the revit.ini file we can enter for revit to show the recent files?

minjie.wang
Autodesk

Not included in the Revit.ini setting. But when you hover on the central model, the tooltip will tell you where is the local file located at.

Meelis123
Enthusiast

 I don't get it. Why should I create a new local file every time I open a workshared project? Why not just open your most recent local file and do Reload Latest if it's required? Because that's what I have done for years and have not noticed any problem.

purvigirwin
Advocate

@Meelis123 the reason is to avoid someone forgetting to reload latest and just starting to work. If enough becomes different, then you won't be able to sync back to the central file anymore and you'll loose all your work.  Also, this gives you a fresh file so that the model has received regular maintenance (compact/purge/warning cleanup) you are getting the cleanest, smallest file. 

 

What is your reasoning for wanting to just open the local file and keep working? It doesn't really save a lot of time, and there isn't any harm in making a new local every day vs. the possibility of loosing work if you don't. This also avoids an issue where the model manager has cleaned up the central file and now you're using an older version that's not as clean.

Meelis123
Enthusiast


I have never had any problem with reloading latest. I guess it depends on the habit. I like to keep my project folder clean but Revit just creates the local file to the projects root folder and that's it, I cannot change that. Sooner or later the default project folder is a mess. Again, maybe that's the way it should be, user may never need to even look at the project folder, since there are only local files, right? Now, where do you put your non-worksharing project files? Same folder? So there are sub-folders for non-worksharing projects and lots of rubbish in the root folder? I don't like it. Or to keep those non-worksharing projects somewhere else? So two locations to look at? I don't like it either. Maybe I have done it all wrong the whole time, I don't know.

But this folder thing is actually irrelevant. The real problem is that we use Revit Server and I connect to this server from a remote location through VPN tunnel. Opening the central file from Revit Server takes AGES! That's not an option for us.

guillermo4JEUL
Enthusiast

I'm also agree with this wish, I recently update from Revit 2019 to 2019.2 and in our workflow each user use their own local file, just like @Meelis123 and we have never have a problem. We sync before we close the file and sync when we open the file. Anyways if I start working on a local file and try to modify an outdated element, Revit will let me know and I will need to sync before modifying those elements. So the thing is that we have never had a problem with that.

 

And having an option to choose how you want this feature to work is really needed, Autodesk can't force people to work the way they say is better, everyone has a workflow and a way to work that doesn't match with Autodesk way off seeing things. When will they understand this little thing that can make a big difference, is called "options", develop your software giving people an option to choose, is Simple. I don't say that this is a bad move, and as some of you said this could avoid errors, and might be a feature waited for some companies, but what about the others?

The bad move is not giving the option to choose.

dplumb_BWBR
Advisor

I also agree that options are good.

But I honestly don't understand your workflow.

What's the advantage?

  1. Open Local File
  2. SWC
  3. work
  4. SWC
  5. Save Local File
  6. Close Local file

as opposed to

  1. Open file
  2. Work
  3. SWC
  4. Close

?

What's the advantage of opening the Local file?

Seems like several more steps, plus remembering to SWC as soon as you open - unless you forget and then Revit tells you to SWC.

What are you losing under the new process?

guillermo4JEUL
Enthusiast

Hi, actually you add a extra step there, it really is:

1-Open File.

2- SWC (And actually if Autodesk add the option to sync when opening we will save this step)

3- Work

4- SWC  (the local file is saved when you sync)

5- Close.

 

And is not about losing something, but about workflow (even though we are always open to upgrade, as we have done from time to time). Right now we have all our files Local and Central, in a server, organized by project and with this new feature, either we surrender to have a folder in the server with all the local files of all the projects or we go and look the local file by browsing to find it. 

Again, what is the big deal on giving users the option?

But let see what we do with it...

 

 

dplumb_BWBR
Advisor

Wait: You have your LOCAL files on the server?

That completely voids the advantage of even HAVING a Local file.

The whole point of having a Local copy is that Revit can access your hard drive a lot faster that it can do I/O across your network.

 

guillermo4JEUL
Enthusiast

Well Actually the advantage of having locals and central files for us is the ability to have more than one person working on a project at the same time. 

 

And if having local files in my local computer was something to make my files upload faster, then not me, but Autodesk just voided the advantage of a local file, now that we will have to open the central file an make a new local file everytime.

dplumb_BWBR
Advisor

Enabling Worksets is what gives you the ability to have multiple people working in a Revit file.

That's got nothing to do with the Location of your Central and/or Local files.

We enable Worksets on every one of our models and we've been doing it for 14 years.

Never had Local files on the network, and always had people open their files from the network copy.

They make a new Local every time.

The only time we've had problems with that workflow is when people thought they could "beat the system" and opened their Local, only to find out it was no longer compatible with the Central and lost hours of work.

purvigirwin
Advocate

I reiterate my comment above from August, one of the main purposes of saving a local file on your harddrive is so that if you have any network issues, you don't corrupt your model or loose information. What's the benefit you see from putting your local files on your network?

 

I have been working with workshared files for a long time and have seen a lot of issues with people opening local files and forgetting to sync or reload latest and then losing a lot of work because of this. With the new features in 2019.2, you click on the file, say "yes" i want to make a new local, and you're done. The process above of opening the local and then syncing takes longer and has more points where things can go wrong. 

Meelis123
Enthusiast

The main problem for me as I said before is like this. I give you an example.

 

Right now I do it this way:

1. I open my local file.

2. I sync with the revit server which is located somewhere else, I am using a VPN tunnel to connect it to as I work from home.

3. Only the changes are synced, not the whole model. Usually it takes few seconds to couple of minutes.

4. I start working.

 

Now with the "new way" I would do it like this:

1. I open the central file from Revit Server through VPN tunnel.

2. The whole central file (500 mb, very large building) is downloaded from the server, not just changes.

3. I wait for an hour (yes, you got it right, an hour, that's sixty minutes).

4. Finally the file is downloaded and local file is created.

5. I start working.

 

See the difference?

And it's not about some slow network issue. When I download a file from the same server not using Revit Server, 500 mb takes less than a minute.

mminorii
Explorer

This is getting a bit annoying. I am by no means a Revit expert, I am self taught in Revit so admittedly there is a lot to Revit I am still learning because I research it when I find myself in the need of using it. I but I'm able to get around enough to serve the purpose of my company. Yesterday I worked on a file, I have a stand alone version Revit that is not on a server. The central file is saved to my D drive and the local is on the C drive. Today I open my file to find that all of the work I did yesterday doesn't exist any more. Even through the automatic saves and the manual saves and the sync with central file, all of the work is gone. I have been using Revit since 2012 and I have only encountered this since the 2020 release. No it is not the first time it has happened hence why it is getting annoying. In fact when I look at all the file locations it shows the last save being 9/28 and yesterday was 10/1. Does anyone have any idea of what may be going on or what I am doing wrong?

minjie.wang
Autodesk

Does any error message pop up when u tried to sync with Central? How about your local copy, does it show the latest saving time is 10/1 or 9/28?

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