Password protected project that allows it to be linked but does not open without the password.

[Wish List System]

Summary: Password Protection

Description: Allow for the ability to password protect the project file so it can be linked but not opened. As our company spends a lot of time developing Families for a unique application it would be benefitial to protect them by not allowing the files we use for coordination with Architects and Engineers to be be opened. The file would still be able to be linked without the password but families and addtional data could not be extrapolated.

Product & Feature: Revit Architecture

Submitted: Wed, 16 Nov 2011

[JohnCAVogt]

Note that it is also possible to tab to families in a link, Ctrl-C, and Ctrl-V. This wish would have to shut down that pipe, too.

[bryonajoyce]

Did you ever find an answer to this question? We are looking to do the same protection with our standards template.

[rlucier]

Did you ever find an answer to this question? We are looking to do the same protection with our standards template.

Sadly no. This was a wish list item. Most users will respond that Revit is intended to be open collaboration and my request is juxtaposed to that position. My issue is that I work in an industry where there are no general families and providing our Revit Families would give our competitors free access to content that we have spent thousands of hours developing. Currently we have to collaborate using the IFC export function to protect our intellectual property which makes for a terrible workflow for us and the other disciplines with which we are coordinating.

[Steve_Stafford]

When a file is linked it is also "opened" by Revit so I suspect there currently isn't a distinction between opening a file directly and linking the file (from the applications coding perspective). I suspect locking the file with a password (for opening it) would also affect linking the file too, each time the file is accessed as a link from the host we'd be prompted for the password.

I'm not familiar with another CAD application that allows for this distinction, is there one that does?