Why is Create New Local Grayed Out?

 

I've included the 3 most common reasons we experience the Create New Local checkbox being disabled when a project file is highlighted.

1.  Are all users mapped to the central file the same?

9 times out of 10 this is the culprit.  Since Revit saves the location of the central file, it will detect if a user is accessing the file differently.  This is an easy one to check if you have 2 users, for example, where 1 can synchronize with central and the other cannot.

If a user is not able to utilize Create New Local, have then instead attempt to open the central file after browsing to the location in Revit.  They will most likely see a dialog similar to the image below during file open:

If they see this message it should indicate how Revit sees the file mapping variance.

You can easily reproduce this issue if you have 2 users accessing a project file.  Say they are mapped to the server as follows:

UserA - Z:\Projects\ProjectX
UserB - \\ServerA\Residential\2010\Projects\ProjectX

User A has a mapped drive letter directly to the Projects folder, where UserB has the full UNC path.  If UserA opened and saved the project as a central file, Create New Local would work fine for them.  If UserB then attempts to create a new local file it will be grayed out as the location mapping varies.

Bottom line; all users need to be mapped to the server location where the central file is stored in exactly the same manner [UNC path, IP Address, etc].  Technical solution available here mentions this issue as well.

2.  Worksharing is not enabled in the project file

Easy one to eliminate as the potential cause.  It's a quick item to check if you open the project and see if Worksharing is enabled under Collaborate > Worksets.

3.  Central File Corrupt \ Thumbnail Locking Issue

Not nearly as common, but if the user cannot create a local file have them attempt to open the central file.

If they cannot open the central file, have another user attempt to open the central file to rule out #1.

If no user can open the central file, is it giving an error message?  Or does Revit simply appear to be frozen?

If you receive a corrupt file, invalid file handle, or past its end message the central file may need to be recovered from backups.  If Revit simply hangs, you can rule out a potential thumbnail locking issue from our previous post here.

Please feel free to add any additional scenarios you may have encountered!

Comments

[Gabe Cottam]

Also found when trying to open a 2011 model in 2010.