worksharing permissions at home

[Bryan Thatcher]

We have a central file on the server and do our work on out C drive. I copied the project from my C drive to a CD and brought it home and I had trouble editing anything. I don't have the exact error because I'm at work now but it was having trouble because it couldn't find the central file. How can I work around this. Thanks.

[brightventures]

It has been a while since I tried this but if you really need to do something. If and only if you are certain no one else is working on the project while you are working on the same file, then if you can just save it as another name for now and hopefully that will allow you to open and do some work. When you get back to the office you will need to make this file you are working on the new central file and everyone will have to get new local files made off the new central file.

Otherwise, You have the potential to lose work if you did not checkout the workset before coping the file.

Others may chime in here later, but now how it is when you are working at home and trying to be productive.

[Bryan Thatcher]

How do I check out the workset before coping? I'm sure no one else is working on the model. And wouldn't any changes I make to my local file be saved to the central file when I replace the one on my C drive at work with the one I worked on at home? Thanks.

and Happy New Year's!

[david.fannon]

Working in a local file and then saving it back to the central may be a better option than overwriting the central when you return.

I recommend the help section on the subject "Working Off-site and Off-line" as it is pretty good.

Don't work too much over the holidays!

[BIMTom]

Working on live local files from home requires a live connection to your office, probably through VPN.

Without that, you're pretty much work on your own and may or may not be able to save your work back to the Central file.

[cganiere]

Don't take home the local file. Take home the central file. Don't do it if someone else will work on it over the same period or you'll get two central files that don't agree. Remember the central file is like the library and the local file is a library card that checks out the pieces to work on. You can't check anything out if you don't have access to the library.

Sometimes I take home a local file to show off to friends or to make a list of what I need to do at work.


We have a central file on the server and do our work on out C drive. I copied the project from my C drive to a CD and brought it home and I had trouble editing anything. I don't have the exact error because I'm at work now but it was having trouble because it couldn't find the central file. How can I work around this. Thanks.

[Stadtler]

How do I check out the workset before coping? I'm sure no one else is working on the model. And wouldn't any changes I make to my local file be saved to the central file when I replace the one on my C drive at work with the one I worked on at home?

Attached is a small quote from the AUTODESK REVIT MEP Tutorial publication addressing your situation - note the reference to "taking your computer to a remote location with the project" - I read this as the computer you plan on using needs to have been connected to the office network where the central file is located when the files are save locally to the computer so everything is properly registered - probably meant for laptop computers which can easily be transported.

QUOTE START

Tips and common scenarios

When working on a Worksharing-enabled project, you can still work remotely as an individual and as a team. The tips discussed below provide useful information for working creatively with worksets.

Taking your computer to a remote location with the project

You do not need to have access to the central file in order to work on the project. You can work on the project from a remote location by doing the following:

Before leaving the office and disconnecting from the networked access to the central file, make any required worksets editable, save to the central file, and then save the local file.
When working remotely, you work no differently then you would in the office. You can modify any elements in an editable workset and all new elements are added to the active workset. You can also add new elements to any View or Project Standards workset even if they are not editable.
If you realize that you need to modify elements in a workset that you did not make editable before going remote, you can make the workset Editable at Risk. In this situation, you will not be able to save your changes back to the central file if another user has changed the same workset and already published those changes back to the central file. In this instance, if you know who checked out the required workset, you may want to phone them and make arrangements rather than waste valuable work time. If you choose Editable at Risk and the owner of the at-risk workset has already published their files to the central file, you will not only lose the changes to that workset, you will lose the changes you made to all your worksets. If the owner of the at-risk workset agrees to relinquish editability of the contested workset, you can save your changes back to the central file but then the other owner loses all their work.

Since making a workset Editable at Risk carries a high risk that work will be lost, you should use it only when:

You do not intend to save your changes back to the central file, or
You are very confident that no other user will make that workset editable in your absence. If you have a colleague who is in the office with access to the central file, you may want to request that someone start a session of Revit MEP, change the username to your name under SettingsOptions, and make that workset editable. This will guarantee that no other user can make it editable during the remainder of your absence.
WarningYou should avoid editing a workset “at risk” whenever possible.
Multiple users working remotely

Users can work remotely provided the remote users have high-speed network access to the central file; for instance, using VPN. Alternatively, a user can transfer a local file to someone with network access who can then publish the changes back to the central file, reload the latest changes from the central file, and transfer the updated local file back to the remote user.

QUOTE END

Please remember that others may be trying to work in a similar manner as you and unless your firm has some checks and balances in place and the people follow them, your individual 1-2 hours of work at home may create 10-20 hours of work for the people in the office.