Central File w/o central in the file name causes issues?

[jsteinhauer]

Hi All,

I have received a file naming convention for a project where the central file does not have Central in the file name. I am wondering if this is a Revit faux par, and I should push back on this. We have been exchanging files via RSYNC for a few weeks, and I haven't had an issue on my end. But our project lead is experiencing issues only with my model. It seems they can't open their locals, in which my file is linked, without opening my file as detached and saving as the central file. I'm not sure if the file name is the culprit or not.

My thought on how to resolve their issue is to remove the link, download the file and relink it without opening it.

Any useful insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Jeff S.

[tedg]

Hi All,

I have received a file naming convention for a project where the central file does not have Central in the file name. I am wondering if this is a Revit faux par, and I should push back on this. We have been exchanging files via RSYNC for a few weeks, and I haven't had an issue on my end. But our project lead is experiencing issues only with my model. It seems they can't open their locals, in which my file is linked, without opening my file as detached and saving as the central file. I'm not sure if the file name is the culprit or not.

My thought on how to resolve their issue is to remove the link, download the file and relink it without opening it.

Any useful insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Jeff S.

I don't know for sure, but I'm not aware that a central file needs to have the words CentralFile in it.
You can save any file as a central file, correct? Is that a Revit default but not necessary?

For instance, my structural central file may be named:
PROJECT-NUMBER-STRUCT-MODEL.rvt

And my local copy is named (if I were John Smith):
PROJECT-NUMBER-STRUCT-MODEL_john.smith.rvt



Is it possible that your issue is that you had a file with CentralFile in the name and now you don't and that's causing the issue?

[jsteinhauer]

Hi Ted,

I don't think so, but I could be wrong. When I switched out the files after the 'Final' naming convention came through, i used the Reload From command and it worked just fine. I can't replicate the issue on my network, but I'm trying to be proactive in finding a solution.

Cheers,
Jeff S.

[tedg]

Hi Ted,

I don't think so, but I could be wrong. When I switched out the files after the 'Final' naming convention came through, i used the Reload From command and it worked just fine. I can't replicate the issue on my network, but I'm trying to be proactive in finding a solution.

Cheers,
Jeff S.

I just re-read your original post..
you have a central file which you renamed to a new approved name, re-saved this as the central model and then made a new local copy?

And then sent the central file to your client?

If that is the case..
I would say yes, they would need to save that new file as the central file first, because it has a new name.
Not a glitch as far as I can tell.

[jsteinhauer]

I take it that "central" does not need to be in the file name.

you have a central file which you renamed to a new approved name, re-saved this as the central model and then made a new local copy?

Yes

And then sent the central file to your client?

No, not our client but our project lead. The main project team members are doing this: Central file are being auto-synced to a ftp site nightly, then downloaded automatically by each team member, so that we're working with fresh backgrounds each morning.

We (my Firm) have used this technique for the last 2+ years, w/o issue. Basically, the central file is cloned, and my central file has several doppelgangers living on other servers which is updated nightly.

Yesterday I stripped out any linked files (CAD), that I didn't need for coordination. Haven't heard if that helped.

Cheers,
Jeff S.

[TroyGates]

Per your original question, a central model does not have any file naming requirements. In short, Revit does not care what your model is named.

[Steve_Stafford]

The addition of the word "central" to a project file name came about in the early days of Revit to help users see the difference between any stand alone project file, their own local file and the actual central file for their project. Unless you notice a folder with a matching name plus "_backup" there isn't anything obvious to tell us that a file is "special" (central or local file). We used to copy the central file to our own computer and change the name to include our username to identify our local file as different from the central file. With the extra "-central" in the project file name it was easier to see its "specialness".

Since Autodesk changed how to make a local file it is less desirable to add the "-central" to the name. This is because when Revit creates the local file it adds our username to the resulting local file. If we use "-central" in the name we get something like this:

1234 BigProject-central.rvt (the central file)
1234 BigProject-central_Username.rvt (local file, including the -central part)

What made sense then doesn't now.

There are firms that still use a customized process to generate local files (there are other threads about that). For them it may still be advisable or desirable (even required) to continue including the "-central" in the project file name. If you just use the Open and check the "Create New Local" option it isn't as desirable or necessary.