About Forma Data Management Connected Drive Integration with Revit

Use the Forma Data Management connected drives in Revit to link and open files from the Forma Data Management data source.

To access the connected drives from Revit, install Desktop Connector and sign into your account. See Autodesk Desktop Connector Help.

After installing Desktop Connector, the Forma Data Management connected drive will display. This connected drive can be used to link or open supported file types from within Revit.

Forma Data Management

When opening a Revit file, you can open the following file types:

• RVT
• RTE
• RFA

When linking files, you can link the following types:

• RVT
• IFC (Revit 2019.2 or later)
• BMP, JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIF, & PDF images (Revit 2020 or later)
• DWG
• DXF
• DGN
• 3DM
• SAT
• SKP
• Assembly Code TXT files
• Keynote Table TXT files
• Topography Links

Material Texture Decal Paths

Use a connected drive when selecting a path for material textures or decals.

Recommended workflows:

• For Revit models and Revit links, the recommended workflow is to use Revit Cloud Worksharing for hosting and to enable collaboration in the cloud. You can link Revit models from the Forma Data Management connected drives. However, they cannot be used to host workshared central models.
• The Forma Data Management connected drives are best suited to compliment Revit Cloud Worksharing workflows. For example, use them when you need to link a non-workshared Revit model from a consultant, or when CAD files need to be linked into a cloud-hosted model.

Alternatively, use Cloud Models for Revit to save a non-workshared cloud model to Forma Data Management and link to this model instead of to a Revit model on a Desktop Connected drive. Cloud Models for Revit is optimized for both data transfer performance and integrity, and is supported by Forma Design Collaboration. To get started, see Cloud Models for Revit.

Considerations and Known Issues:

• In order to access the Forma Data Management connected drive, you need to have the appropriate service entitlement, otherwise links in the Revit model will not be reconciled.
• The Forma Data Management connected drive does not immediately download the latest changes by other users. Instead, updates will be checked at time intervals (currently up to 8 minutes).
• The Forma Data Management connected drive does not handle file locking. If two users open the same file for editing, the last user to save will overwrite the file.
• The Forma Data Management connected drive does not support running Revit as an administrator. You will not be able to navigate into the connected drive contents if run as administrator.
• The Forma Data Management connected drive cannot host workshared central models. The Revit Cloud Worksharing service should be used to support cloud collaboration with multiple Forma Data Management members.
• You cannot load multiple family files from the Forma Data Management connected drive. When using Insert > Load Family, you cannot use the SHIFT or CTRL keys to select more than one family.