Ok, show of hands….How many of you work in Navisworks and also work in a “design” application (like Revit, AutoCAD, etc.) at the same time? A few, that’s what I thought. Of those that do, how often are you having to close out of your current Navisworks project (NWF) so you can save over the top of your existing/appended NWC (or NWD I suppose) so you can show the changes in Navisworks? Or you’re (for example) a GC (general contractor) who is gathering NWC or NWD files and when you get a new one, you have to close out of project file in Navisworks so you can save the new version over the top of the previous? Yeah, that’s what I thought…too many of you!
All kidding aside, this is a very common question I get about working with Navisworks….why do I have to close out of my NWF just so I can overwrite my appended NWC/NWD files? The reason is one “little” checkbox in the Navisworks options….”Close NWC/NWD files on load”
With this options checked, you no longer have to close out of your current project to re-export your NWC files from the design applications, or when you want to overwrite a previous version when you get a new one from the “designers/engineers”.
This little checkbox essentially removes the file lock that would get attached to the appended NWC/NWD file. Without this checked, the file lock is applied and you can’t overwrite the file unless you close out of the NWF file the NWC/NWD is appended to.
