topic Non-responsive file size in Teamwork & BIMcloud

Non-responsive file size

martin-b — Fri, 19 May 2023 22:38:27 GMT

I am working on a project in AC24 right now that is acting a little strange as I have noticed. To be more specific, the file size is not "responsive".

My project was getting sluggish lately and I thought it was maybe time for some cleanup so I went through the file and deleted what I thought was not relevant for the project anymore. But the problem is, that after this cleanup, the filesize is not getting lower at all.

It is a Teamwork project, so I have saved it as a .pln, ran Open&Repair and only then the file size dropped to what I would expect it should be.

Then again, I continued with my cleanup, saved the .pln file, but the same thing continues - the file size just does not respond unless I run Open&Repair. Or to be precise, the file size goes up when I add new elements, but never down when I remove something. Which is very far from ideal...

Has anyone come across such a problem before?

Re: Non-responsive file size

Patrick M — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 00:40:56 GMT

teamwork files can have major issues with "bloat", and there is often not a lot to do about it, other than cut way back or create a new file.
Things I have seen trigger major issues of file bloat:
-latent users connections (that is, excessive numbers of users not working in the file, but with local data connections)

-high polygon count

-excessive use of solid element operations (and other trimming bodies)

-excessive linked and/or embedded external drawings (pdf/dwg)

-large embedded libraries (break out a project library if your e/l gets over 300mb)

-large items in the e/l (keep image files below 3mb and objects below 5-10mb)

-excessive 2d content in isolated views. This is a big one, and a surprising one. 150,000 2d elements (lines, fills, etc) on a worksheet will add more to your file size than 150,000 polygons IME.

-make sure (independent) sections and elevations get cleared out of the project map. these can stack up. but IME, don't add much to file size.

let me know if you want a second pair of eyes on it. I do audits specifically for file performance issues for a few firms.

Re: Non-responsive file size

martin-b — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 07:05:33 GMT

Thanks for your tips, I think I have an OK-ish understanding of what contributes to the file size, even if it is not always intuitive to figure out like you said.

My problem is not the large file size this time, but the fact that the file size does not change at all when I do the steps you describe.

Let's say I purge my Worksheets, Sections, Elevations, Layouts, but the file size does not change at all in my BIMcloud server after I send the changes to the server. The same thing happens also when I save the file as a .pln. I purge the file, save it, but the file size stays the same unless I run Open&Repair.

Which is OK to do from time to time, but it is definitely not a sustainable working method.

Re: Non-responsive file size

Boldizsar Vermes — Mon, 22 May 2023 20:10:29 GMT

@martin-b, please consult with these articles about file size and project performance:

How to Optimize Your Project Performance: File Size section
How to optimize a project's file size

Project database doesn't get optimized to reflect the reduced amount of data immediately, but you can do targeted actions to trigger it.