Protected Pins

In this article

• Enable Protected Pins
• Protected Pins Settings
• Apply Protected Pins
• Protected Pins Menu

Utilizing Revit’s native pinning command, Guardian’s Protected Pins allows Project Administrators to add Guide and Prevent protections to pinned elements. Once activated for the project model, model elements pinned with Protected Pins will display a customized Guardian Command Message when unpinned, requiring the end user to enter a comment and/or a password to continue to unpin the model element.

Any element in which the native Revit pin command is available, Guardian’s Protected Pins can be applied. This includes, but is not limited to, Project Base Point, Sheets, Survey Point, Viewports, and Views.

Enable Protected Pins

For Company Administrators, it is best to do the initial setup of the Protected Pins feature within the firm’s Revit template or workshared-enabled starter projects. Any elements that have been Pin Protected within the template or workshared-enabled starter projects, will be adopted by all subsequent projects started with either of those. Once the new project is registered with Guardian, the project team can assign their own Protected Pins, and Project Administrators can customize the Protected Pins settings for that project.

To start using Guardian’s Protected Pins, it must first be turned on within the Project Configuration that is assigned to your project model.

Protected Pins Settings

Click the cog icon to access the settings for the Protected Pins.

• ‍Allow users to apply pin protections: For non-administrator users, permits Revit end users to apply their own protected pins. Otherwise, only Guardian Project or Company Administrators are permitted to apply Protected Pins. Please note, if a Revit end user sets the Protected Pin to Prevent, they will not be permitted to unpin the protected element without the administrator-provided password. ‍
• Re-pin protected elements when opening projects: This will automatically reapply Protected Pins that have been unpinned through the Protected Pins management dialog. ‍
• Prompt to pin and protect after importing or copying CAD: As the CAD file is imported into the project, the user will be prompted to provide a Protected Pin to the imported CAD file. The same applies to the next setting Prompt to pin and protect after copy/monitor.

The next settings are for the default settings for when a Protected Pin is initially applied. As with most protections within Guardian, a default Protection Mode can be set to Monitor, Guide, or Prevent. The default settings can also assign an email to be sent, require a comment, and customize a Command Message.

Apply Protected Pins

After being enabled, the Project Administrator can apply Protected Pins to any model element by simply using the Pin command within Revit. Clicking on the pin on the selected element will also enable Protected Pins.

Pro Tip: Select multiple model elements (i.e., Grids or Levels) at once to apply Protected Pins and the settings to all.

Once selected, Guardian’s prompt will provide two options:

• ‍Allow users to unpin: This will apply a native Revit pin but not provide a Guardian Protected Pin.‍
• Warn users when attempting to unpin: This will apply Guardian’s Protected Pins to the selected element(s).

For each selected element, a custom Command Message and Protection Mode can be applied. After selecting Warn users when attempting to unpin, the protection can be configured in the dialog shown below.

Pro Tip: Have fun with the messages! Users understand the value of quality work and will appreciate being reminded of the potential risk of unpinning protected model elements in a fun way. All Guardian Command Messages are rich text format so you can customize as much as your creativity will allow. Images and GIFs are always a big hit!

Protected Pinned menu

On the Guardian Ribbon, click Protected Pins to access the Protected Pins Configuration dialog. Here, all elements that have been pin protected within the project model are listed. This menu will remain empty until an element is pinned with protection in your model.  

Any protection setting can be modified as needed. In addition, Protected Pins can be temporarily removed, and the protections will be automatically reapplied if selected to do so under the Protected Pins settings.

Within the Protected Pins dialog, the following information is displayed for each protected element in the active project.

• Families: The model element in which Protected Pins have been applied.
• Pinned: Shows if the element is currently pinned. Unpinned elements can be repinned by selecting this checkbox.
• Mode: The Protection Mode applied.
• Send Email: Shows if email notifications are enabled.
• Req. Comment: Shows if a comment is required by end user when unpinning.
• Message: Command Message that is displayed to the end-user when attempting to unpin the protected model element.

Pro Tip: Any protected elements unpinned by an end-user will have the protection automatically reapplied when it is pinned again (by either an end-user or Administrator).