BIM 360 Design Local Files and More

Revit creates a lot of files in your Windows User folder on your local drive. It is helpful to be aware of this, especially if you are having troubles with free disk space or accessing a BIM 360 Design project. I tend to keep these folders clean due to the number of Revit versions/projects I support, and yet mine are still pretty large, in terms of total space used.

BIM 360 Design local files:

• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit 2019\CollaborationCache
• This is where the "Local" file is saved for a BIM 360 Design project
• My folder currently has over 13 GB of data in it
• Related AKN post:
• How to find the local copies of Revit Cloud Workshared files
• Error: "This Local File has been saved by user....Please change your user name or stop working on this file" when opening a cloud model in Revit

Continue reading to learn more...

BIM  360 Related  files:

• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\PacCache
• I recently had delete this folder's contents when a user could  not open their BIM 360 Design project, but others could
• Related AKN posts:
• How to clear a corrupt/damaged C4R model or outdated link from the system in Revit
• Crashing or freezing when opening a BIM360 model with Revit

Backups and Journal files: 

• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit 2019\Journals
• See this post for more on this topic: Autodesk Revit's "Secret" Backup Location

They are all here:

• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk
• This location has 18 GB of data on  my computer
• Multiple users on the same computer, they each have one

I am curious to hear how much total space is currently used on your system... share in the comments below:)

Update: Here is a Revit Idea I created to be able to move the Desktop Connector cached local files, i.e. change the path from the C drive to something like D drive: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/revit-desktop-connector-change-local-path-for-cached-files/idc-p/8798177

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