Revit Tip: Worksharing Monitor for Central Model Health

Use Worksharing Monitor to keep your team aligned and your central model healthy.

Prerequisites

• Enable worksharing and create a central model on a reliable network location.
• Adopt consistent local file naming and a regular Sync with Central (SWC) cadence.
• Install Worksharing Monitor for your Revit version via Autodesk Access (formerly Desktop App).

Install and connect

1. Close Revit, open Autodesk Access, search for “Worksharing Monitor for Revit,” and install the add-in matching your Revit release.
2. Reopen Revit, open your workshared model from a fresh local, then launch Worksharing Monitor (Start menu application).
3. Confirm the monitor recognizes your active model and displays the current user list and SWC activity.

Key settings to tune

• Save reminders: Nudge users who haven’t saved locally within a set interval (e.g., 20–30 minutes).
• SWC duration thresholds: Flag unusually long syncs so you can investigate link sizes, network load, or warning bloat.
• Network latency: Watch round-trip times; sustained spikes often correlate with slow syncs and element checkouts.
• Memory usage: If Revit memory climbs steadily, plan a controlled restart to prevent instability during team sync windows.
• Notifications: Enable pop-ups for critical events so users don’t miss editing requests or SWC opportunities.

Daily habits for team health

• Sync little and often: 15–30 minute cadence, and always before large edits, view template changes, or imports.
• Relinquish with intent: SWC and Relinquish all before breaks and at day’s end to reduce borrow conflicts.
• Stagger heavy tasks: Use the monitor to see when others are syncing; avoid piling multiple large SWCs at once.
• Coordinate ownership: If someone is blocking a key workset, ping them early. The monitor makes it clear who holds what.
• Recreate locals regularly: Daily for active modelers, or immediately after central maintenance (audit/compact).

Troubleshooting signals and actions

• Long SWC out of the blue: Check network health and recent changes (new links, large DWGs). Consider purging unused and auditing the central during off-hours.
• Frequent borrow conflicts: Split or reorganize worksets; refine element ownership conventions; avoid unnecessary pinning/locking.
• Latency spikes: Engage IT to review switches/VPN/Wi‑Fi; keep central files on wired, high-throughput shares only.
• Users not saving: Nudge via the monitor and reinforce the save policy; configure more assertive reminders.

Cloud projects note

• Worksharing Monitor focuses on file-based worksharing. For Autodesk Docs (ACC) cloud worksharing, pair Revit’s sync indicators with ACC version history and Issues for team visibility.

Pro tips

• Record average SWC times weekly; a rising trend is often the first sign of model bloat.
• Schedule a short “quiet sync” window near midday to let everyone clear queues safely.
• After central maintenance, announce a “recreate locals” requirement and verify via the monitor that everyone has rejoined cleanly.

Need licensing, training, or add‑ons to optimize your environment? Explore NOVEDGE for Autodesk Revit subscriptions, expert advice, and ecosystem tools. Talk to a specialist at NOVEDGE to tailor your worksharing setup and team workflows.