Difference between External Resource and Desktop Connector, when linking cloud models in Revit.

Autodesk Support

Jun 26, 2024

Products and versions covered

Issue:

Difference between External Resource and Desktop Connector, when linking cloud (BIM 360 or Docs) models in Revit.

Solution:

External Resource

This will be the default location (and is the recommended option) when Linking the following file type:

Revit Cloud workshared models.
Cloud models for Revit (non-workshared).

Desktop Connector

The Desktop Connector is a utility which creates a connection between cloud projects and your local system.

For Revit cloud workflows this is used primarily for linking non Revit file types.

Issues using Desktop Connector with Revit cloud models:

Identifying Link Type

Manage Links
Open the Manage Links dialog and check the Saved Path. Desktop Connector based links show the BIM 360 Account Name as part of the Saved Path, while External Resource based links do not.

Open Model
When opening a model that contains Desktop Connector based links, the links are checked and when a new version is detected the model is downloaded from scratch.:

DC Downloading.png

Desktop Connector 15.8 versus 16.x

It is recommended that you avoid having users work with 15.x and 16.x Desktop Connector versions within a cloud project (potential issues include file locking, and unresolved links).

For information on differences between these builds (to help decide which to standardize on), see the following FAQ: Desktop Connector 16.0 FAQs

Products:

Revit; Revit Cloud Worksharing; BIM 360; Desktop Connector; BIM Collaborate Products;

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