The (Admin) Add-Ins Manager, available in Revit 2025.4 and later updates, allows BIM Managers and System Administrators to manage Revit Add-Ins Manager settings on users' machines.
(Admin) Add-Ins Manager supports Admin control over third-party extensions installed on users' machines. It provides functionality to define which plugins are loaded on the machine. The admin settings have higher priority than user settings defined in Add-Ins Manager, and override them.
Expected workflow
To get the admin control, a BIM Manager needs to download and install the (Admin) Add-Ins Manager for Revit tool. This tool has a separate installer and is not a part of the regular Revit installation. The (Admin) Add-Ins Manager provides the ability to define settings only for the add-ins installed on the same machine as the (Admin) Add-Ins Manager. If the BIM Manager needs to force or disallow the loading of a specific add-in, this add-in needs to be installed on the machine first.
A BIM Manager can define different settings for each add-in. Once all settings are configured, the admin clicks the Export button to generate a file with all restrictions. This file needs to be distributed to users' machines under C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RVT <version>\Admin\AdminSettings.json . It is an administrator's responsibility to configure Windows editing permission in a way so that regular users wouldn't be able to edit or remove this file. The entire Admin folder could be restricted for modifications by regular users.
The path to AdminSettings.json contains a Revit version in it. The admin can specify different settings for different versions of Revit. For multiple versions of Revit installed on the users' machines, to restrict all of them, the admin needs to deploy AdminSettings.json into each RVT <version> folder.
The settings controlled by the admin and specified in the AdminSettings.json file can not be changed in Revit, neither by the regular user nor by the admin. To change these settings in Revit, the admin restrictions need to be lifted in the AdminSettings.json file, by generating a new settings file in Admin Manager and redeploying it or deleting existing AdminSettings.json .
The settings controlled by the admin are disabled for user changes and have a lock icon next to the control which is locked by the admin.
(Admin) Add-Ins Manager control
The Admin Add-Ins Manager UI shows the list of add-ins installed on the same machine (Admin) Add-Ins Manager runs on. To configure settings for a specific add-in, you must install it first, so that the Admin Add-Ins Manager can find it. You can configure different settings for each add-on and each item inside the manifest. There are three available options:
- Managed by User: this is a default option, with no admin restriction for the specific item. An item Managed by user means that the end user controls if the add-in load is enabled or not through the Add-Ins Manager.
- Always Enabled: the add-in is always loaded into Revit regardless of any settings from the Add-Ins Manager, if that add-in is installed on the user's machine. The administrator is responsible to install the necessary add-in and make sure the users can't delete it. If the add-in marked as Always Load can't be found on the user's machine, Revit will start without it.
- Always Disabled: this option means that add-in is never loaded on the user's machine.
The (Admin) Add-Ins Manager has a global option to Disable the loading of any third-party add-in. Even if loading of all third-party add-ins is disabled, the add-ons configured as Always Load are still loaded. You can use this option to disable the loading of any third-party add-in by the user on the machine, except the list of add-ins selected by the administrator (list of trusted add-ins).
When the loading of all user add-ins is not disabled and no restrictions are configured for the add-ins, the user can manage the add-ins through the Add-Ins Manager.
Once all settings are configured, click the Export button to generate the AdminSettings.json file that needs to be distributed across all users' machines.
If you need to update the admin settings, you can use the Load Settings From File button to load existing settings, make changes, and export them as a new AdminSettings.json file. This file needs to be redeployed to all users' machines. If the Admin settings are deployed on the machine while there is already a running Revit session, the settings for the Add-Ins Manager applies to the next Revit launch.
Where do I get an (Admin) Add-Ins Manager?
The Admin Add-Ins Manager is a separate tool that is designed for system Administrators and BIM Managers, and it is not a part of the regular Revit installation.
How to distribute the settings file
The AdminSettings.json needs to be distributed to users' machines by the BIM Manager or the local System Administrator. This could be done manually, using custom automation scripts, or during batch installation of the Revit to multiple machines.