File Registration

In This Article

• Automatic Registration
• Manual Registration
• Confirm Registration Dialog

Guardian protections, features, and analytics will only work if project files are registered. Even if none of the Guardian features have been enabled, having projects registered will allow some of the basic functionality to be utilized, such as:

• Purging of unused properties for incoming elements.
• Capturing data analytics on different command activities.
• Notifying Admins about the use of protected commands.

Project models must be registered before Guardian will be activated for a given project. There are two ways in which projects can be registered:

1. Automatic Registration under Settings > Company Settings. ‍
2. Manual Registration by selecting the Register Project icon.

This allows Company Administrators to determine what type of projects will be registered. For instance, a non-workshared project model may not want to be registered as it’s only for specific study or only register project models hosted on BIM360.

Automatic Registration

Project models can be registered automatically based on some predetermined rules. The rules can be set up under Settings > Company Settings > File Registration.

(A) Registration: Rules can be created for different file types to be registered automatically when created or opened.  

(B) Click the Edit rules button next to each model type to further specify the conditions in which the models get registered.

Within the Rules dialog, many different conditions can be added in AND and OR configurations similar to Revit View Filter rules. Use the Add Condition button to add conditions from the available condition types.

Each rule can be used to register files automatically or to apply the selected configurations when registering files manually. To disable automatic registration, select the Manual registration only checkbox.

(C) When creating a model from another existing registered model, the registration behavior can be specified to either use the existing Mapping Configuration, Project Configuration, Workset Configuration, and Administrators, or to apply fresh registration rules based on current needs.

Manual Registration

Project models can be manually registered by selecting the Register Project button in the Guardian Add-Ins tab.

When manually registering files, a prompt will appear for administrators to specify the desired Mapping Configuration, Project Configuration, Workset Configuration, and Administrators. If any set rules apply to the active project, the configurations will be filled automatically based on the rule's selection.

Confirm Registration Dialog

Why Am I Seeing This?

The Confirm Registration dialog appears when Guardian detects that the model you are registering matches an existing registration.

A match occurs when either:

• The file name and Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) Project ID are the same, or
• The file name and full network/desktop file path are the same.

Quick Decision Guide

• Rebuilt or replaced a file and want to keep its data history?
  
  • → Select Yes, this is the same model‍
  • Reuses the prior registration and preserves historical data.‍
• Starting a new model or intentionally resetting history?
  
  • → Select No, this is a different model‍
  • Creates a new registration and starts a fresh history. Note: This may result in two separate entries with the same name in Registered Projects.‍
• Unsure → Confirm with your BIM or Guardian administrator before choosing

Why Does This Happen?

Model names are often reused in standard AEC workflows. For example:

• An IT team restores a central model from backup
• A model is rebuilt due to corruption
• A detached copy is saved back to the same location
• A file is recreated with the same name

Best Practice (Recommended):

To prevent team confusion when rebuilding or replacing models, a Model Manager should open a local file first, resolve the Confirm Registration dialog (if prompted), and save or sync before the rest of the team begins work.

How the dialog behaves:

• Until a selection is made and the model is saved or synced: The dialog may appear for multiple users.
• If a selection is made but the model is closed without saving or syncing:
  
  • The selection is not finalized, and the dialog may appear again the next time the model is opened.
• Once a selection is made and the model is saved or synced:
  • The dialog will no longer appear for any user.

Workflow Note: Cloud to Desktop to Cloud (Same Session)

In certain workflows, the dialog may appear unexpectedly when auto-registration rules are enabled.

This can occur when:

1. A model is opened from the cloud platform
2. Saved locally using Save As
3. Then saved back to the cloud
4. All within the same Revit session

How To Avoid This

After saving a cloud model locally for maintenance:

• Close the model, Revit can stay open
• Reopen the model
• Then save back to the cloud

This resets the session and ensures Guardian evaluates the model correctly, preventing unintended duplicate registration prompts.

Cloud Platform Tip

Using Restore Version typically does not affect registration.

The dialog appears only if the restored version predates the point at which the Guardian ProjectGUID was written into the model.

Important

• Your selection is finalized once the Revit model is saved or synced.
• This action cannot be reverted after saving or syncing.