When I started working on Revit, I received a central file from an Architect. I was unable to access some of the work-sets, and then I learned that detaching from central gives on ownership of everything in the model. All one then must do is save the file as a new central file. Easy.
Recently I ran into another issue that was solved in the same manner. An MEP Engineering company would often receive central files from architects. Now one may control what work-sets are opened in the linked models. However, for some reason, the work-sets were not available to the Engineers. The solution? Wen receiving the file from the Architect, detach from central then save into the Shared BIM folder. The work-sets became available to the Engineer.
Detaching from central can also be a solution when a team member falls away while still having control of model elements. Save the file as a new central and then use that as the new design file.
Lastly, I ran into an interesting conundrum when someone ran into a problem with a link that had to be loaded each time the containing file was opened. The linked file referenced the wrong model and indicated a local alias in the manage links dialog box (even though it was a central file). The solution was found here:
While I have not received feedback on whether my advice of detaching and saving as a new central before re-linking solved the issue, I have a suspicion doing this before re-linking the file will result in success.
My suggestion is therefore to detach and save as new central every time receiving a central file from a consultant.
