Working from Home with Archicad

[Noemi Balogh]

At GRAPHISOFT we are doing our best to assist our users during the challenging times of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Read this article to learn how we can help you.

If you are considering to work from home, you will need to prepare your environment to be accessible. To be able to set up everything, you will need to follow these steps:

 1. Make sure you can access your Archicad license from home.

Your Archicad will require a license to run on your home computer.

• If you have a single software license simply download it to your home computer using Archicad or the GRAPHISOFT License Manager Tool. Note, that if you have your license downloaded on a different computer, you may need to upload it first.
• If you have a CodeMeter keyplug with a single license, simply connect it to your home computer and run Archicad.
• If you have a central license server at your company, please refer to the following guide:  Working from home in Archicad with a Company Network license 
• If none of the above help and you are stuck at home without an Archicad license, you can obtain an Emergency License. For further details read this article: Emergency License for Archicad

2. Prepare your network infrastructure to be able to work in Teamwork.

What does your current setup look like?

We have VPN.

Connect to your company VPN and you should be able to continue to work. The advantage of VPN is that your computer will be remotely part of your company network. This means that if your VPN is configured properly your computer will have access not only to BIMcloud, but also to your company license server and to file server as well. With that your Archicad will also automatically find the sources of your external drawings that you have placed in your teamwork projects.

If this configuration needs further setup, involve your IT consultant and refer to the below guidance.

The default ports are:

• BIMcloud Manager: 22000
• BIMcloud Server: 22001
• CodeMeter (Licensing): 22350

Make sure that the above ports and the addresses of your BIMcloud, License and file servers are included in the VPN configuration by the administrator of the VPN system.

How to verify what network ports are used. Note that both BIMcloud ports need to be open and accessible (BIMcloud Manager and BIMcloud Server).

BIMcloud Manager:

• Click on the BIMcloud icon on the Tray (Windows) or menu bar (macOS)
• Select your BIMcloud or BIMcloud Basic
• BIMcloud Manager <unique ID of your BIMcloud>
• Configure
• Refer to the port field

BIMcloud Server:

• Click on the BIMcloud icon on the Tray (Windows) or menu bar (macOS)
• Select your BIMcloud or BIMcloud Basic
• BIMcloud Server <unique ID of your BIMcloud>
• Configure
• Refer to the port field

CodeMeter

• Run CodeMeter Application via the start menu (Windows) or through your application (macOS)
• Webadmin
• Configuration
• Server
• Check the Port Under Network Server: Enable > Network Port

Our company is accessible via a Public IP and/or has a domain like www.mycompany.com.

It is possible to configure your BIMcloud to be accessible over the Internet even without a VPN. For this you will need to have a static public address, either a public IP or a domain. Then you will need to forward the required ports (see VPN section) to your destination computer that runs BIMcloud.

It is highly recommended to use encryption to secure your Teamwork traffic - either via VPN or through a reverse proxy that handles HTTPS encryption.

Please check out:

Network Requirements

How to Open and Forward Ports on Your Router

Example on port forwarding by Verizon

We do not have either.

Please choose between setting up VPN or a Public IP with/without domain. See previous options above.

If you need further help, get in touch with your local GRAPHISOFT representative.

3. Prepare your files to be accessible even from home.

It is possible that you are not able to access certain files from your office file server and you need to re-link your projects. Please check out our Help Center article, How to Transfer External Links with Your Project to be familiar with this topic.

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If you never used GRAPHISOFT Teamwork before, please check out:

Help Center: Getting Started with GRAPHISOFT BIMcloud Basic

Here is a collection of many related articles that may also be of assistance:
Help Center - Working in Teamwork