REVIT CENTRAL FILE MAINTENANCE

The purpose of this guide is to deliver a maintenance framework for keeping Revit Central files lean and healthy, by providing a list of best practice actions and how often they should be performed.

PRELIMINARY ACTIONS

Maintenance tasks should be carried out by a designated member of the team only, to ensure consistency, accountability and traceability.

1. Before any maintenance work starts, make sure that every team member saves their local file and synchronises to central by clicking Collaborate tab > Synchronise panel> Synchronise with Central dropdown >Synchronise and Modify Settings.
   
2. Re-open the central model
3. Make sure that the Central model location is correct and that:
   • Compact Central Model is ticked
   • Relinquish worksets and elements all available boxes are ticked
   • Save Local File before and after synchronising is ticked
   • Comments box has “Central File Maintenance YYMMDD”
     

WEEKLY MAINTENANCE

1. Open the central file with Audit Keep Detach from Central and Create New Local unticked.
   
2. Click Yes when the Audit Warning dialog pops up.
   
3. Wait for the Audit process to complete, then save the file and close.

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE

1. Open the central file with Audit and Detach from Central Keep Create New Local unticked.
   
2. Click Yes when the Audit warning dialog pops up.
3. After the Audit process completes, on the Detach Model from Central dialog box, select the Detach and preserve worksets option.
   
   
4. Minimise Revit, and through windows explorer, navigate to the location of the original central file. Select the central file and move it to the appropriate Archive location.
5. Delete the associated backup folder
6. Return to Revit, click on the Revit icon, select Save As > Project. Save the file with the exact same name and location as the original.
   

PURGE UNUSED

Purging non-required elements will make the model file smaller and more efficient.

1. After the file has been saved, go to the Manage tab > Settings panel > Purge Unused button.
   
2. In the Purge unused dialog box, click Check All to select all elements and untick the following:

• Annotation Symbols
• Detail Items
• Other Styles > Angular Dimension Style
• Other Styles > Diameter Dimension Style
• Other Styles > Linear Dimension Style
• Other Styles > Material Assets
• Other Styles > Materials
• Other Styles > Radial Dimension Style
• Other Styles > Section Tag
• Other Styles > Spot Coordinates
• Other Styles > Spot Elevations
• Other Styles > Viewport

1. Click OK.
   

WARNINGS

Warnings should be addressed, as having large numbers of unresolved warnings will affect performance and stability.

1. Go to the Manage tab > Inquiry panel> and click the Warnings.
   Note that if the Warnings icon is greyed out, it means your file doesn’t have any warnings (Bravo!).
   
   The warning dialog box will show a list of all the warnings
   

WORKSETS

Tidy worksets enable easier browsing of the model and more efficient organisation.

1. Open the worksets dialog window to make sure any Worksets that do not need to be visible in all views by default when opening the file are unticked e.g. worksets containing only Links
   
2. Open a 3D view and Close all except one workset.
   
3. Check the geometry relates to that workset.
4. If the geometry is from a different workset, select the geometry and in the Properties palette change the Workset value to the correct workset.
   

MODEL MANAGEMENT

1. In the Project Browser, scroll to Groups > Detail / Model and ensure they are named according to the object naming standards.
2. In the Project Browser, scroll to Families > … Ensure that all families are named according to the object naming standards.
3. Ensure that all views are named according to the standards and delete any unnecessary views.
4. Ensure that all Linked files have valid paths.
5. Ensure that any CAD file in the project is Linked and not Imported. Delete and Purge any imported geometry.
6. Go to the Manage tab > Settings panel > Additional Settings drop down > and click Line Styles. Ensure that all Linestyles in the project are named correctly and that comply with the standards. Rename all non-standard linestyles.
   
7. Go to the Manage tab > Settings panel > Additional Settings drop down > and click Line Patterns. Ensure that imported CAD line patterns (prefixed with “IMPORT-“) are deleted.
   
8. Click the Collaborate tab > Synchronise panel> Synchronise with Central dropdown >Synchronise and Modify Settings to save all changes.
9. Before any new local files are created, make sure that all team members delete their local models.