Batch Upgrade

Batch Upgrade

Upgrades whole folders of Revit files - projects, templates and families - to your current Revit version in one run, saving fresh copies while your originals stay untouched. It runs unattended: a file that will not open is skipped and recorded, Revit's own pop-up messages are answered for you, and every outcome lands in a report you can keep.

When to use it

• Moving an office library, a template set or a family collection up to the Revit version you now work in.
• Producing clean issue copies of a project: detached, with links stripped out, renamed with a prefix or suffix.
• Turning a batch of ordinary projects into workshared central models with your standard worksets.
• Any upgrade you would rather leave running than babysit.

How to use

1. Open Batch Upgrade from BimCode's plugin list inside Revit. No project needs to be open, and Revit stays usable while the window is up.
2. On the Queue tab, click Add files to pick individual files, or Scan folder to gather every project, template and family under a folder, subfolders included if you want.
3. Choose a destination folder (an empty one outside your source library is best) and decide what happens when a file name already exists there: Skip, Add number or Overwrite.
4. On the Settings tab, set how the copies are named (prefix, suffix, find-and-replace) and how files open (audit, worksets, detach). Extras such as link removal, relinking, Navisworks export and central-file creation sit under More options. Your setup saves itself as you go.
5. Click Upgrade files. Files are processed one at a time in the background; a progress bar tracks the run.
6. Review the Results tab: every file shows whether it succeeded, was skipped or failed, where its copy was saved, how long it took and any warnings. Open destination jumps to the upgraded files and Export report saves a record of the whole run.

The screens

• Queue - the files to upgrade, the destination, and a summary of the choices that will apply. The Upgrade files button lives here.
• Settings - naming, opening and worksharing choices up front; error handling, links, central files and cleanup under More options. Import and export a setup to share an office-standard recipe.
• Results - the outcome of the last run, file by file, with a review section for anything that was skipped or failed and the reason for it.
• Help - a short guide to the choices, with a recommended first run.

Good to know

• Everything is written as a copy to the destination you choose. The tool never saves over a source file, refuses any output path that lands on the original, and skips files that are already open in Revit.
• It handles projects (RVT), project templates (RTE), families (RFA) and family templates (RFT). Files always upgrade to the Revit version you are running - Revit cannot save back to older versions, so keep your original library.
• Workshared models get clear choices: keep worksharing (the copy is saved as a new central model), detach and keep worksets, or detach and discard worksets for a standalone copy.
• Link options cover clean issue copies and library moves: strip Revit, CAD, IFC or point-cloud links out of the copies, or relink upgraded models to each other - when a host and the models it links are upgraded in the same run, the copies are pointed at each other instead of at the old files.
• It can export each project's default 3D view to Navisworks (NWC) beside the upgraded copy, when Autodesk's Navisworks exporter is installed for your Revit version.
• It can create central files in bulk: ordinary projects become workshared central models with the workset names you list, and already-workshared projects get any missing worksets added.
• When one file has a problem, you choose what happens: skip it and carry on (the default), record it as failed and carry on, stop and ask you, or stop the whole run. A file that fails to open can be retried once with audit on and worksets closed before it counts as a problem.
• Revit's own warnings and confirmation pop-ups can be answered for you so the run never waits on a dialog: dismiss the message and skip that file, approve it and continue with the file, or show it and wait for you. Every automatic answer is listed in the results.
• Optional cleanup removes only the numbered backup files Revit creates at the destination - source folders are never touched.
• Your settings can be exported and imported, so an office-standard upgrade recipe travels between machines, and every run can be saved as a report for your records.
• The riskier options - overwrite, link removal, backup cleanup, automatic approval - are all off by default and clearly flagged before you run.

Limits

• Works on files you can reach on a local or network drive. Cloud models and Revit Server paths are not converted.
• A file saved by a newer Revit than the one you are running cannot be opened; run the batch from that newer version.
• A damaged or protected model can still raise a prompt that needs your answer inside Revit.
• Files are processed one after another, not in parallel; large libraries take time. Test on a few representative files first.