Objects in file are disappearing...

[DanielleAnderson]

I was asked to post this for a coworker:
She has found over the last few days that she keeps losing objects in her revit model. She will save the model and then open it the next day and key elements which took her a long time to build are gone--she has noticed it with floors and masses I think, mostly. Saving appears to be complete, she is getting no errors, but after closing Revit and opening it again later, things are gone.
Has anybody else seen this happen? Any ideas?

[Wes Macaulay]

She probably really is deleting the objects. But to be sure, search her journal files for deletion messages... open the text files under the Journals folder and search for "delete".

I would be very surprised to hear that Revit is deleting items... more often people delete lines which they don't want, only to realise later that the actually deleted an object... not just a line!

[Chirag Mistry]

where are those journal files saved ?

[sbrown]

masses are still there you just need to click View Visibility and turn on the mass subcategory. For some reason it automatically turns off on save.

[BWG]

where are those journal files saved ?

The installation directory for revit, like c:\program files\Autodesk Revit Building 8.1, or something like that.

[DanielleAnderson]

She probably really is deleting the objects. But to be sure, search her journal files for deletion messages... open the text files under the Journals folder and search for "delete".

I would be very surprised to hear that Revit is deleting items... more often people delete lines which they don't want, only to realise later that the actually deleted an object... not just a line!

I don't think this is an issue of her deleting things. Could it somehow be a network issue? Like the computer says it's saving but it really isn't?
From what I can tell, she appears to be saving the file when it is in its 3d view and she can SEE these elements there on screen when she is hitting the save button.
Also, it's not a massing visibility issue, she is aware of massing turning itself off--these objects are simply GONE.
Very odd...I bet it will have a simple and lame solution--as always. ;)

EDIT:
I have received some additional information: Apparently she is getting an error message when she saves (see attached jpg)...

[ilya.bass]

I don't think this is an issue of her deleting things. Could it somehow be a network issue? Like the computer says it's saving but it really isn't?
From what I can tell, she appears to be saving the file when it is in its 3d view and she can SEE these elements there on screen when she is hitting the save button.
Also, it's not a massing visibility issue, she is aware of massing turning itself off--these objects are simply GONE.
Very odd...I bet it will have a simple and lame solution--as always. ;)

EDIT:
I have received some additional information: Apparently she is getting an error message when she saves (see attached jpg)...

it is strongly recommended that the hotfixes in question are installed. I think they are part of WinXP SP2.

I will also look into visibility of Mass as one possible explanation.

Also, if you are on subscription, you can contact Support and ask for help with figuring out what's going on.

[DanielleAnderson]

Thanks Ilya,
I will pass this info on to our IT person.

[Matt Brennan]

Did you install the “Hotfix – Autodesk Activation Update at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=5620053&linkID=3770209? This may or may not help it.

[DaveP]

We've also had a frequent problem with our floors disappearing.

After much frustration, we tracked it down to the fact that the floor is linked to the exterior walls.
Then someone goes & edits a wall so that it no longer joins another wall at the corner. Revit gets confused (rightfully so) because the edge of the floor is no longer a closed polygon & deletes the floor.

There is a warning message that the floor will be deleted, but its easy to miss. Especially if there are other warnings about not having permission to edit objects. Hopefully there will be less volume of warnings in 8.1

[Wes Macaulay]

Dave - you're absolutely right. And Danielle, tell your coworker to keep her eyes open for messages like these. On one megaproject we're working on here in Vancouver we didn't lose a floor slab, but the openings in the slab which were drawn with sketch lines.

Those of you who have been with Revit long enough will remember the warning you used to get when you put too many lines in a sketch... Revit doesn't warn you any more, and usually you'll be fine. However, I have seen several cases where a very complicated sketch was causing problems; sometimes the user couldn't finish the sketch (Revit would give an 'invalid sketch' error), and in this case the internal sketch lines disappeared altogether. These are very rare cases however.

Also, in some cases, particularly when an object's geometry is contingent upon another object, objects may become unresolvable and Revit has to delete them -- as Dave has pointed out here. Thanks for posting that, Dave!

[DanielleAnderson]

Okay...well, it turns out that it is most likely a network issue. We have been having some problems with our syncing system that syncs our Seattle office files with our Vancouver files and the network was saving a previous version of the file over the newest one.
My coworker saved her file to her hard drive last night and all was well this morning.

[Wes Macaulay]

Ouch! Computer aided despair, anyone? :evil: