Preserving Links when Archiving a Project

What do you do when you need to archive a Revit project that has a whole bunch of linked Revit files attached?  You will need to make sure that when someone opens the archived project that everything is included.  The best way to do this for any project is to set your Links so that they use a Relative paths.

 

This setting allows the path to be relative to the Revit file that it is linked into.  At this point, it doesn't matter if you are archiving a central file or a standalone project, you should use relative pathing for the links if you want to archive the project. 

However, when opening the archived project with links, it does matter what you do. 

Standalone Projects

For a standalone, nonworksharing project, relative paths lets you move the project RVT file and the links (using the same folder structure you are using now) and when open the project file, Revit will automatically find the linked files and load them correctly. 

Workshared Projects

For a workshared central file, it is a little bit different.  You should still use relative paths for your links, but when you open the central file normally after it has been moved to its archive location, you will see a string of messages and you will have to load the links again.

 
 

To prevent these messages and to not have to reload the links manually, open the central file with the Detach from Central option selected. 

Not only will this allow the central file to open without the warnings about the file being moved, but any links that were set to be relative will but found and loaded correctly when the file opens  in Revit (provided they are in the right location relative to the central file). 

Detach from Central creates a independent file, perfect for archived projects, and makes sure that all the relative links are loaded correctly when you open it.  Its a nice quick, easy answer for opening a archived project.  Detach from Central is also a good first step if you get a central file from someone outside your company or if you need to do a little troubleshooting without affecting the original central file, just don't save the file over the original.