What is the difference between a Revit Central Model and a Local copy?

The Central Model is the master file that lives on the server (or in Autodesk Construction Cloud) and represents the definitive state of the project. Team members never work directly in the Central Model. Instead, each user creates a Local copy on their own workstation — a personal version of the model linked to the central. Users work in their local copy, accumulating changes, then Synchronize with Central to push their changes to the master file and receive changes from all other team members. The local copy is regenerated from the central each time a new local is created.

How often should you Synchronize with Central in Revit?

Every 30 to 60 minutes during active modeling sessions. This is both Autodesk's official recommendation and the industry standard. Syncing frequently limits the maximum data loss from a workstation crash, reduces the complexity of merge operations at each sync, and keeps team members from being blocked waiting for element ownership to be released. Teams that sync only at the end of the day consistently experience more conflicts, longer sync times, and more data loss incidents than teams that sync hourly.

What are Revit Worksets and why do they matter for performance?

Worksets are named partitions of the Revit model — each element belongs to exactly one workset. They serve two purposes. For access control, each team member makes their relevant worksets editable while others cannot modify those elements without an Editing Request. For performance, users can choose which worksets to load into their local session — a mechanical engineer can close the furniture and site worksets, dramatically reducing the active model size and improving Revit's speed on large projects. Poorly managed worksets (too few, or poorly named) are one of the most common causes of slow Revit model performance on large team projects.

What happens if two Revit users try to edit the same element at the same time?

The first user to open the element for editing claims ownership — Revit locks that element in their local session. The second user who tries to edit the same element receives a message that the element is owned by the first user and is offered the option to submit an Editing Request. The first user can grant or deny that request. If granted, they release ownership of the element, and after the second user's next Synchronize with Central, the element becomes available. This conflict management system is one of the core reasons worksharing exists — it prevents silent data overwrites.

What is the Worksharing Monitor and who should use it?

Worksharing Monitor is a standalone Autodesk utility (separate from Revit) that displays real-time information about a Central Model's connected users, each user's last sync time, current workset ownership, and pending editing requests. BIM managers and project BIM leads should run it throughout the workday on large projects. It is the primary tool for identifying team members who have not synced for dangerous periods, spotting workset ownership bottlenecks, and confirming that the end-of-day sync-and-relinquish ritual has been completed by all team members.

When should a project use multiple linked Revit files versus a single workshared file?

A single workshared Central Model is appropriate for small to medium projects with up to about 4-6 simultaneous users working on related content. For large or complex projects — especially multi-discipline work with dedicated architectural, structural, and MEP teams — a federated model approach is strongly preferred. Each discipline maintains their own Central Model (.RVT), and teams link each other's models using Insert > Link Revit. Federated models perform better (smaller files, faster syncs), have clearer discipline boundaries, allow different teams to work at different LOD levels, and enable formal coordination reviews through Navisworks aggregation. The BIM Execution Plan should specify the model breakdown strategy before any modeling begins.

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Construction·10 min read·June 19, 2026

🔗 Revit Worksharing: Central Models, Worksets, and Real-Time Multi-User Collaboration

A complete technical guide to Revit worksharing for AEC teams: how Central Models and Local copies work, enabling worksharing and creating worksets, Synchronize with Central best practices, managing editing requests, Worksharing Monitor, Worksharing Display Modes, and hard-won lessons from large multi-discipline BIM projects.

Why Worksharing Exists: The Problem With Single-User BIM Files

A Revit project file is not a simple text document that two people can edit simultaneously in a shared folder. Revit's parametric engine — the system that keeps walls constrained to levels, propagates dimension changes, and updates all views in real time — requires exclusive access to write to the model database. If two users opened the same .RVT file from a network drive simultaneously and both saved their work, the second save would silently overwrite the first user's changes. On a project with a 10-person BIM team, this approach is unworkable.

Worksharing is Revit's solution: a structured system of Central Models, Local copies, and Worksets that allows multiple users to work on the same model simultaneously, with controlled synchronization and conflict resolution. Understanding it deeply is not optional for anyone managing a BIM team.

The Central Model and Local Copy Architecture

Worksharing introduces a two-tier file architecture:

The Central Model

The Central Model is the master file that lives on the server (or in Autodesk Construction Cloud / BIM 360 for cloud-hosted projects). It contains the definitive state of the model — all worksets, all elements, all revision history. Team members should never open the Central Model directly to do production work. Opening it directly and editing without creating a local copy leads to model corruption and locked elements that others cannot access.

Local Copies

Each team member works from a Local copy — a personal copy of the Central Model stored on their local workstation. Local copies are created by opening the Central Model with the worksharing option set to create a local copy (File > Open, then check "Create New Local" in the file open dialog). The local copy is linked to the Central Model by an internal record; Revit tracks which local belongs to which central.

The team member works in their local copy throughout the day. Their changes are stored locally and do not affect other team members until they Synchronize with Central. Other users' changes do not appear in the local copy until the same synchronization.

Enabling Worksharing on a New Project

Worksharing must be explicitly enabled — it is not active by default on a new project file. The workflow is:

Open the project file as the BIM manager (sole user at this stage).
Go to Collaborate > Worksets (or in older versions, Collaborate > Enable Worksharing).
Revit prompts you to name the initial two default worksets: Shared Levels and Grids (for levels, grids, and shared reference planes — these should be on a workset that everyone can see but only the BIM manager typically edits) and Workset1 (rename this to reflect your first discipline workset).
After enabling worksharing, immediately save to the final network or cloud location using File > Save As > Project. This save creates the Central Model. The name and location cannot be changed after this without breaking the worksharing link.
Create your Local copy immediately: close the file, reopen from the server location, check "Create New Local," and specify a local path on your workstation (C:\Users\[name]\Revit Locals\ is a common firm standard).

Worksets: What They Are and Why They Matter

A Workset is a named partition of the model. Every element in a workshared Revit model belongs to exactly one workset. Team members can claim ownership of a workset ("make it editable"), and while they own it, other users cannot edit elements on that workset without submitting an Editing Request.

Worksets serve two equally important purposes:

1. Access Control

By organizing model content into worksets aligned with team responsibilities, the model naturally enforces work boundaries. The mechanical engineer's ductwork lives on the Mechanical workset; the structural engineer's framing lives on the Structural workset. Each discipline makes their own workset editable and works without interfering with others.

2. Performance Management

Team members can choose which worksets are loaded into their local session. A mechanical engineer working on ductwork routing does not need to load the furniture workset. An architect working on exterior skin does not need to load the MEP worksets. Closing worksets reduces the active model size and dramatically improves Revit performance on large projects. This is one of the most underutilized performance tools available.

Workset Structure Best Practices

A typical workset structure for a commercial building project:

Shared Levels and Grids: Revit default — do not rename. BIM manager owns this workset. All levels, grids, and shared reference planes.
Architecture - Shell: Exterior walls, roofs, primary floor slabs, core walls.
Architecture - Interior: Interior partitions, ceiling systems, interior doors and windows, casework.
Architecture - Site: Topography, site components, parking, landscaping.
Structure: All structural elements — columns, beams, bracing, foundations, rebar. (Or further split: Structure - Concrete, Structure - Steel.)
Mechanical: Ductwork, mechanical equipment, air terminals, dampers.
Plumbing: Piping, fixtures, valves.
Electrical: Conduit, cable trays, panels, fixtures, devices.
Links: A workset for all linked files — CAD underlay, linked Revit files, point clouds.

Synchronize with Central: The Daily Rhythm of BIM Collaboration

Synchronize with Central (SWC) is the operation that pushes your local changes to the Central Model and pulls in changes made by all other team members since your last sync. It is the heartbeat of workshared BIM collaboration.

Access it via Collaborate > Synchronize with Central (keyboard shortcut: SWC in many firm configurations, or Ctrl+Shift+S). The Synchronize with Central dialog lets you:

Set which worksets you want to relinquish after syncing (recommended: relinquish all worksets not actively needed, to unblock colleagues).
Write a comment describing the changes you are syncing (best practice: always write a meaningful comment, e.g., "Added Level 3 exterior wall layout" — these comments form a change log for the project).
Compact the Central Model during SWC (do this at the end of the workday — it cleans up file bloat over time).

Sync Frequency: The 30-60 Minute Rule

Industry consensus and Autodesk recommendations align on syncing every 30 to 60 minutes during active modeling sessions. The reasons are both technical and collaborative:

Conflict reduction: The longer between syncs, the more likely two people have edited elements that affect each other. Frequent syncs surface conflicts while they are small and easy to resolve.
Data protection: If a workstation crashes, the work since the last sync is lost. Syncing every 30 minutes limits the maximum possible data loss.
Colleague unblocking: If you hold exclusive ownership of a workset for 4 hours, every colleague who needs to edit anything on that workset is blocked waiting for you. Syncing and relinquishing keeps the team moving.

Editing Requests: Handling Element Ownership Conflicts

Occasionally, you need to edit an element that is currently owned by another user's local session. Rather than waiting for them to sync, Revit provides the Editing Request workflow:

Try to select and edit the element. Revit will prompt: "This element is owned by [user]. Do you want to submit an editing request?"
Click Yes to submit the request. The other user receives a notification in their Worksharing Status bar.
The other user can Grant or Deny the request. If granted, the element is released from their ownership and becomes available to you after your next Synchronize with Central.
If the request is denied, coordinate directly with the other user about when the element will be available.

The Editing Request workflow requires both users to be online and connected to the same Central Model. It does not work if the other user has gone offline or is working in a detached local copy.

Worksharing Monitor

The Worksharing Monitor is a standalone Autodesk utility (separate from Revit) that provides real-time visibility into the state of a Central Model and all connected local sessions. It displays:

Which users are currently connected to the Central Model.
The time since each user last synchronized.
Which worksets each user currently owns.
Pending editing requests and their status.

BIM managers on large projects should run Worksharing Monitor on their workstation throughout the workday. It is invaluable for identifying users who have not synced for hours (a risk to the model and the team), spotting workset ownership conflicts before they block progress, and confirming that the end-of-day sync-and-relinquish has been completed by all team members.

Worksharing Display Modes

Revit includes Worksharing Display (View > Worksharing Display > Show Worksharing Display) — a visual overlay that color-codes elements in the model based on their worksharing state. The display modes are:

Checkout Status: Elements are colored by ownership state — green for elements you own, blue for elements owned by others, gray for elements available to check out, and red for elements with unresolved conflicts.
Owners: Colors are assigned per user, so you can see at a glance which elements each team member currently has checked out.
Model Updates: Shows elements that have been modified by other users since your last Synchronize with Central — useful for reviewing what changed after a sync.
Worksets: Colors elements by their workset assignment — helpful for auditing whether elements have been placed on the correct workset.

Cloud Worksharing: Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) / BIM 360

For geographically distributed teams, Autodesk offers cloud-hosted worksharing through Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), formerly BIM 360 Design. Instead of the Central Model living on a VPN-connected network server, it lives in Autodesk's cloud infrastructure. Team members connect directly over the internet without a VPN, and Autodesk manages the synchronization service.

ACC worksharing adds capabilities beyond local network worksharing:

Co-authoring mode: Near-real-time sync for users in the same geographic region.
Model history: Full version history with the ability to roll back to any previous sync point.
Cross-office collaboration: Teams in different cities or countries work on the same model without VPN latency issues.

Common Worksharing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Mistake	Consequence	Prevention
Opening the Central Model directly for production work	Changes saved to central block all users from syncing; potential corruption	Always open the Central Model with "Create New Local" checked; never work directly in the central file
Not syncing for more than 2 hours	Data loss risk from crashes; team members blocked; massive conflict potential at next sync	Establish and enforce a firm policy of syncing every 30-60 minutes; BIM manager monitors via Worksharing Monitor
Saving the local copy to a network drive instead of local disk	Slow save/open performance; Revit's database writes are not optimized for network latency	Local copies must live on the local workstation SSD; sync to central goes to the server
Multiple users owning the same workset simultaneously	Editing requests pile up; workflow slows; merge conflicts at sync	Clear workset ownership policies; BIM manager assigns workset responsibilities at project kickoff
Oversized Central Models with no workset discipline	Slow open and sync times; everyone loads content they do not need	Audit workset membership regularly; use workset visibility to close irrelevant worksets in each session
Failing to relinquish worksets at end of day	Other team members blocked the next morning from accessing elements	End-of-day SWC with "Relinquish All Mine" must be a non-negotiable team habit; monitor with Worksharing Monitor

Best Practices for Large Team BIM Projects

For projects with 5 or more simultaneous Revit users, the following practices separate high-performing BIM teams from struggling ones:

BIM Execution Plan (BEP): Document the worksharing strategy, workset structure, sync frequency requirement, naming conventions, and Central Model location before the first user opens the file.
Designated BIM Manager: One person owns the Central Model, performs end-of-day compactions, monitors sync discipline, and is the single point of contact for worksharing issues. This is not optional on large projects.
Federated model coordination: For large projects, separate the model into discipline-specific Revit files (Architectural.RVT, Structural.RVT, Mechanical.RVT) that are linked together rather than worksharing a single monolithic file. Each discipline file has its own Central Model and worksharing session. Federated models perform better and have clearer ownership boundaries.
Regular model audits: Monthly Revit model audits (open with Audit option, run the Model Checker tool) catch warnings, corrupt families, and performance issues before they become project-stopping problems.
Purge unused families regularly: As projects evolve, unused families accumulate and inflate file size. Manage > Purge Unused on a regular schedule (after each project milestone) keeps the Central Model lean and fast.

Topics covered

Revit worksharing tutorialRevit Central Model Local copyRevit Worksets explainedSynchronize with Central RevitRevit multi-user collaborationBIM 360 Revit collaborationRevit editing requestsWorksharing Monitor RevitRevit large model performanceRevit BIM team workflow

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