Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> Revit creates file in My Documents

RockFish

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Joined: Mon, Apr 23, 2012
20 Posts

I was wondering if anyone has had this happen or knows why it might be happening.  I am working in Revit 2015 in a workshared project and from time to time I notice that Revit has mysteriously saved a version of the project under My Documents.  I know I am not intentionally creating this file because a) I don’t save files in this location and b) the file always ends with my email address.  I did track down that the reason it is saving it under my email address probably has to do with the fact that it is tied to my 360 account (since it is not my computer user name).  I haven’t been able to track down exactly when this happens but it seems to be when I make a new central file on our server…?  Also, it is not like I ever find myself working in this file, just one day I notice it sitting in My Documents.  Very weird.

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DevonK

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Joined: Tue, Feb 7, 2012
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I have had that happen to me before. What I found was that Revits default location for your local file, when working with a central file is "mydocuments". You can change this under the Revit icon in the top left>Options I believe.

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RockFish

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Joined: Mon, Apr 23, 2012
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Thanks.  I guess it doesn't really matter if I change the default location though because Revit will still create the file.  Is there a way to tell Revit to not make a default local file?  It just seems weird to me that Revit takes it upon itself to create a local file for me. 

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WWHub

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Joined: Tue, May 16, 2006
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The local file is a good... a very good thing!   You always want it and you want it locally.  It becomes another backup.  When using worksharing, it enables you to continue working even if your network is down.  When using worksharing, it enables you to save without publishing to central.  This is useful when you are exploring an option and want to not lose your work because of a temporary problem and then you decide you don't want to save these changes to central.   You just close the local without saving to central and then you make a new local.  (And that old local still has those changes you were considering)

BTW - Your username with the email address was established because you must have used an on-line process like Autodesk 360 or someone established that on your system.   The revit username can be changed at the same location as discussed earlier.

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RockFish

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Joined: Mon, Apr 23, 2012
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I know all about local files.  I just save each project’s in a different location with each project in a different subfolder on my local drive.  So having a default location does not interest me since I do not group all my local files into the same folder.

The other issue is that my office uses a different naming convention for local files than my current username.  If I change my username and then log into Autodesk 360, it changes my username back to my email address (I guess this is my 360 username).  While I don’t use 360 now, I am a bit reluctant to assume this will always be the case (especially with Collaborate for Revit (Skyscraper) coming out in a couple of days (Dec. 10th)).

Finally, I still am not 100% when Revit creates this local file for me (I suppose I could test it).  Is it the instance I create a new central file?  I haven’t heard of anyone else in my office having this same problem and I know this has not been the case for me since day one.  This is something new that has started sometime after the implementation of Revit 2015.

Maybe it is just something I learn to live with.  I was just hoping for the “easy” check box to turn it off.

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WWHub

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Joined: Tue, May 16, 2006
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This is not new in 2015.   It has been there since I started using Revit in 2006 and before that.  Where the file is saved is dependend on your installation and settings which I showed can be changed.

When you enable worksharing, you save the central to a specified location but nothing is created on your local.   That is not done until either you do a save as to create a local or you close the central and reopen it allowing Revit to automatically create a local for you in which case, the default location is assigned.

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RockFish

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Joined: Mon, Apr 23, 2012
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Hmmm, crafty Revit.  I will have to keep an eye on it.  I can't say I never go back into the central after I create it, but I don't think that is standard operating procedure for me.  Seems odd that Revit would create a new local every time someone opens up the central file.

Thanks for your help.

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WWHub

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Joined: Tue, May 16, 2006
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NOBODY SHOULD EVER WORK IN A CENTRAL!  

That is the way Revit is supposed to operate.   Everyone works in their own local and saves to central.

I think it was with 2013, maybe 2012 that Revit started defaulting the 'create new local' checkbox.   In very early issues, you had to tell Revit to create the new local but it has always been recommended that you always work from a local.   Too many users were not doing that and they had issues.   That's why this checkbox is now defaulted to on.

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