Revit 2016 R2 - Detach from Central Filename

When you use the Detach from Central option Revit will append the word _detached to the filename if you decide to save the file.

You'll also find that the Titlebar shows the original file name with _detached appended to it instead of the blank description it displayed in the past.

How's that for subtle? Thanks to Jean-Marc for the push to post this.

Cannot Create a Local File

I read about a couple items in a thread at RFO that could affect creating a Local File in addition to to what I've mentioned in the past.

Revit appends our username to the local file it creates for us. That addition could cause a local file's name to exceed the maximum number of characters, which is 260 (file name and path). That's 256 plus the four characters associated with the drive letter, for example C:\ (space/null after the back slash).

The other possibility mentioned is having Auto Off-line Access enabled.

Gosh computers and software are fussy buggers!

Project Version Wish

You may have experienced this too, maybe just once or forty times. I received a file to look over and it's not obvious which version of Revit it was created in. Naturally by the time I got a chance to look at it I couldn't just ask. The file name doesn't give me a clue. Some firms include a version designation in the project file name, for example "1234 Our Big Project-A-13.rvt". The "13" tells me that its a Revit 2013 file. There are plenty of annoying things in life, waiting for a Revit project to upgrade unnecessarily because I don't know what version it was created in is a drag.

Recently a tip was offered (but I can't remember who or where I read it, sorry) that you can use Show History on a project file instead of fully opening it. It helps you catch when you are attempting to open a project in a older version of Revit than the file was created with. It does not help with an older file being opened with a newer version though. Sadly I didn't remember this tip (even though it wouldn't have helped) until I got the dreaded "This is a one time upgrade process" message. Nuts!

I've got a couple wishes. First I'd love it if Revit would store a value in the file properties that indicates Revit version. Second I'd love for Revit to ask first, "Do You WANT to UPGRADE? and a "NO, NOOOO, please on all things holy NOOOO" button.

Hosted or Not Hosted

The description "hosted" or "not-hosted" that we use for component families can be a bit confusing. Technically ALL families ARE hosted. They are either hosted by a level, a wall, a ceiling, a floor or a face (surface of some element). When we say not-hosted or non-hosted we generally mean that a family is not specifically associated with a certain host element like a wall, ceiling, floor or face. A chair, desk and various other families across many categories are "not-hosted" though truly they ARE hosted by a Level. They can sit on the floor or are free to be above or below it by altering their Offset parameter.

I often think that it is a disservice to spend time calling them just one or the other. It seems more explicit to use a family name that describes what host is required. A family called, "MyCoolFamily-hosted.rfa" might be better called "MyCoolFamily-Face.rfa" or "MyCoolFamily-Wall.rfa" or "MyCoolFamily-Level.rfa". We could reduce it to a single letter designation. For example the families could be named "MyCoolFamily-W.rfa" or "MyCoolFamily-L.rfa". What if the file extension allowed for this subtlety so the names are not affected by it? Extensions for families could be .RFF, .RFW, .RFC, RFF... Uh oh floor and face both are "F"...so we could use S for surface instead of face?

These different placement methods also mean we have to be careful to consider what sort of hosting nature a family has before we start placing it. We have to resort to reading the family name and/or glancing at the ribbon for any placement options to figure out what the family expects us to do. It would be great if a family could be assigned to a primary placement option. For example, light fixtures usually want to attach to a face, not the vertical face option we are offered by default. Ideally we could specify the hosting priority for each family and use the ribbon only to choose an alternative when those rarer situations happen. Maybe the ideal spot for this parameter is in the Family Category and Parameters dialog, like OmniClass and other settings..

Just writing out loud...

Why Does My File Name Include the Word Central

The practice of adding the word "central" to a project file name came about in the early days of Revit to help users see the difference between any stand alone project file, their own local file and the actual central file for their project. Unless you notice a folder with a matching name plus "_backup" there isn't anything obvious to tell us that a file is "special" (central or local file). We used to copy the central file to our own computer and change the name to include our username to identify our local file as different from the central file. With the extra "-central" in the project file name it was easier to see its "specialness".

Since Autodesk changed how to make a local file it is less desirable to add the "-central" to the name. This is because when Revit creates the local file it adds our username to the resulting local file. If we use "-central" in the name we get something like this:

1234 BigProject-central.rvt (the central file)
1234 BigProject-central_Username.rvt (local file, including the -central part)

What made sense then doesn't now.

There are firms that still use a customized process to generate local files (there are other threads about that). For them it may still be advisable or desirable (even required) to continue including the "-central" in the project file name. If you just use the Open and check the "Create New Local" option it isn't as desirable or necessary.

Backup File Numbering

We are familiar with Revit's standalone backup file process. Each time we save it creates a new backup file, based on either the stock setting of 3 backup files or as many as we've chosen instead.

I've never run into a file that used more than the four digits that appears in the file name of a backup file. The other day someone asked what happens at MyProject.9999.rvt. As it happens Revit keeps on numbering and adds a new digit; MyProject.10000.rvt.