Creating a Central Model from an Existing Workshared File

You may need to create a central model from an existing workshared model if you want to move the central model location (see Moving the Central Model). You may also need to abandon the existing central model and want to use a local copy of the central model (rather than a backup of the central model) as the new central model. You may need to do this if, for example, a team member was working offline on a local copy of the central model and those changes need to remain in the project.

Before you create a new central model, be sure to rename the workshared file or specify a different directory path before saving. You rename to avoid overwriting the existing central model and potentially losing all other team members' changes.

  1. Open the existing workshared file.
  2. Click Save As (Project).
  3. In the Save As dialog, rename the file, and click Options.
  4. In the File Save Options dialog, select Make this a Central Model after save.
  5. Select a default workset for local copies. See Save Options. In the Open workset default list, select one of the following.
    Workset Default Description
    All Opens all worksets in the central model. Opening all worksets will significantly reduce performance in larger project files.
    Editable Opens all editable worksets. Depending on how many editable worksets are in the central model, this option may significantly reduce performance in larger project files.
    Last Viewed

    Opens specified worksets. When you click Open, the Opening Worksets dialog displays.

    Initial status is based on when the file was last opened. Specify different worksets or click OK to confirm the default.

    Press Ctrl+A to select all worksets in this dialog.

    Specify Opens specified worksets. When you click Open, the Opening Worksets dialog displays. Press Ctrl+A to select all worksets in this dialog. Initial status is based on when the file was last opened. You can specify different worksets or click OK to confirm the default.
  6. In the Save As dialog, click Save.