Worksets and Performance

Use worksets to work on smaller sections of the project model.

Worksets are valuable for data segregation, optimum workflow, and good data management, since they enable selectively opening and closing portions of a project across all project views. This level of control is an advantage over view-dependent features such as View Filters or Visibility/Graphics in certain workflows.

While the capability to check out a workset remains valuable under certain circumstances outlined below, in general the best practice is to use element borrowing rather than checking out entire worksets.

Worksets should be employed most often to segregate conceptual areas of a project to improve Revit performance, such as:

• Separate buildings
• Grids and levels
• Building core
• Building shell
• Furniture and equipment spanning multiple categories
• Spatially identifiable areas of a single building (such as wings, or bays)
• Linked RVT and DWG files
• Room separation lines

Checking out a workset may occasionally be of use if certain model elements, such as the building grid or linked files, need to be protected from accidental change. In that event, BIM managers or team leaders sometimes choose to check out the worksets containing these elements so that they cannot be casually edited or relocated.

Consider the following recommendations:

• Worksets help to manage element visibility and reduce visual clutter during editing. Closing unneeded worksets releases allocated RAM for use in Revit.
• Put links and imports into individual worksets and close the worksets when not in use.
• Use selective workset opening when opening a workshared project file.
• Close worksets not required for a given editing session.