When I see Desktop Connector misused, the reason I’m given is usually the same. You can read more about that here ( ) The False Alure of Desktop Connector But it’s likely not the case because the Revit files you see on BIM360 Docs (now Autodesk Docs) are NOT the same files as are used by Revit’s Cloud collaboration tools. One could argue that Autodesk should have just made Collaboration for Revit work with those other files types. It’s intended to link non-Revit files or Revit files that are NOT cloud models. Those non-Revit files were linked from there so the links would be common across of team members.Īs a result, Autodesk later acknowledged the value in doing this and released it’s own ‘sync’d drive’ tool called Autodesk Desktop Connector. So like the good technologist’s they are, BIM Managers started using services like Dropbox across the product team. Those other linked files linked DWG’s or IFC’s would break. But in a collaborate environment, other teams didn’t have the same file servers or folder structures.

But Revit supports other types of links besides RVT files. Practically speaking, it’s a cloud version of Revit Server.īack in those early days, you could link to other Revit cloud models. Same idea…take a Revit model and manage it in the Cloud from Sync’d local data. It later became BIM360 Design and today is called BIM360 Collaborate Pro. A Brief Desktop Connector HistoryĪutodesk’s first attempt at a proper Cloud workflow for Revit was called Collaboration for Revit. But first, let’s go over why Desktop Connector exists in the first place. I’ll even give you steps you can do to reproduce this issue yourself. But those nuances are a make or break in terms of success. While it can and does work (sometimes), it’s a real bad idea and should be avoided unless absolutely needed.

An increasing use of Autodesk Desktop Connector to link Revit Cloud Models. I’ve been seeing a recent trend in project teams.

Linking revit models