Save to Central Best Practices

Save to Central Best Practices

The following is a list of best practices for synchronizing with central (SWC) in Revit:

Never leave for extended periods of time (Lunch, Meeting, Home, etc.) immediately after hitting the Sync button.

• Revit will often ask for user input before the process is complete.  If this happens while you have left, your team can be stuck with a central file that is in use and would not allow them to save and/or keep working.

Use the Worksharing Monitor (WSM) and consult it before hitting the Sync button.

• Knowing if someone else on your team is currently saving, can save you time with your own save to central as only one save request can be completed at a time.  If someone else is saving  to central and you attempt a save, you will receive an error message indicating that central file is busy and you will have to wait until both saves are completed to continue working.  Wait for an opening in the WSM and then sync.
• The worksharing monitor for Revit 2014 can be found in the Autodesk folder on the S drive.

Sample screen shot from the WSM

Always use the Sync and Modify Settings Command.

• This ensures that you are presented with the dialogue to release borrowed and owned elements, to ensure others on your team are able to access them.

• Check all available boxes when syncing (with the exception of the Compact box), so that all objects and elements are returned to the central file.

• Add comments in the field provided.  These comments are helpful in tracking down problems that may occur from time-to-time in the model.  Short, concise descriptions of work are all that is required.  This is a problem solving tool for project BIM Coordinators.
• Always save locally when prompted.  SWC when prompted when working alone, or after consulting the WSM on a small project team (2-5 users).  For projects with more users, consult with your project's BIM Coordinator.  When more than 5 users are working on a project, there is typically a SWC schedule to follow to minimize time spent in queue.
• Over-communication with your team is better than poor communication.  Make sure you and your team are all on the same page.