Revit back-up files

[patricks]

Is there a way to control the number of back-up copies of a file that Revit makes everytime you save the file? I'm referring to the copy of the file that Revit makes with the name "filename.0001.rvt" or whatever number it's up to. Mine keeps the 3 most recent copies. That means we have FOUR TIMES the number of Revit files on our server than what are actual project files.

I just ran a search on our server using the search parameter *.00*.rvt, which searched for any Revit drawing file with a number on the end. The result? 252 files totalling 2.5 GB :shock:

So my question is, can I change it to save maybe only one backup? Or maybe even not save any backups, since we do have a copy of all our server files from the past 11 working days on an external hard drive.

[daniel.hurtubise70031]

Yes you can, when you save for the first time, hit the option button on the save dialog box and set the number accordingly.
if its already saved, save as and do the same

[aaronrumple]

I wouldn't set it to none - however 3-4 is a good number for us on non-workset projects. We use the default of 20 for workset enabled projects.

[patricks]

Well I don't know... it just really takes up a TON of space after awhile... perhaps I should leave it the way it is, and instead just clean off all those back-up files like once a week when I do my weekly off-site server backup.

[iru69]

This brought up one of my little pet peeves with the current backup file convention in Revit...

I like how in AutoCAD you can assign a dedicated "backup" folder where all the backup files get automatically placed. I don't know if this poses a problem on a network (due to the large file sizes), but...

At the very least, I'd like some control over the naming convention of the backup files. For instance, in a folder which contains a lot of family files, each with several backups, there's no way to select all the backup files at once (without using a search string). It would be really helpful if the files read backup.filename.001 or something like that, so you could sort them by name in windows explorer and select them all the backup files at once for deletion.

[aaronrumple]

Just do a search for *.????.rvt or *.????.rfa This will find backup files and then you can quickly delete them.,...

[patricks]

A search string of *.00*.rvt is what I used to find all the backup files on our server. That means anything before the first dot, and anything after the 2 0's (I don't think we have any backup files that are up into the hundreds), with the RVT extension.