A new architectural issue arrives, you open the MEP file and a grid line sits half a metre off, with the floor level a few dozen millimetres out. You fix it by hand, and the next issue puts it out again. The cause is rarely modelling skill. It is that the levels and grids in the MEP file were never tied to the other team's model.
Revit copy monitor does exactly that job. It copies levels, grids, columns, walls and floors from a linked model into your own file and sets up a monitoring relationship, so Revit speaks up when the other side moves something. This article walks through 15 steps in Revit 2027, from Copy/Monitor to Coordination Review and on to worksets and a central file for a team. To model all three services on one building, see the Institute's Revit MEP course.
MEP coordination is four jobs, done in order
The four buttons below sit close together on the Collaborate tab, but they answer four different questions.
| Tool | Answers | Path on the 2027 ribbon |
|---|---|---|
| Copy/Monitor | Do my levels and grids follow architecture and structure | Collaborate › Coordinate › Copy/Monitor |
| Coordination Review | What did the other team change, and how do I handle it | Collaborate › Coordinate › Coordination Review |
| Worksets | How do three or four people share one model file | Collaborate › Manage Collaboration › Worksets |
| Interference Check | Do my ducts run through their walls and floors | Collaborate › Coordinate › Interference Check |
Autodesk puts the first tool in one line on the 2027 Copy/Monitor page: "Use the Copy/Monitor tool to ensure that design changes are communicated across teams." The wider picture is in the article what Revit MEP is.
Files to follow along with
The article uses an MEP file that already carries an architectural link. The Institute sample pairs with the Snowdon Towers model in the Samples folder of a Revit 2027 installation, set up in the article on Revit MEP sample files; loading links is covered in linking Revit models.
One thing to settle before touching worksets. Enabling worksharing is a one way door: the file becomes a central model and there is no going back. So run File › Save As › Project under a new name first, then enable worksharing on that copy.
Revit copy monitor: tying levels and grids to the linked model
The seven steps below copy grids from architecture into the MEP file. For levels only one choice changes, noted in step 5.
Step 1 — Check the link before coordinating
Go to Insert › Manage › Manage Links. The 2027 dialog is a table with Name, Status, Reference Type, Saved Path, Path Type and File Size columns. Click the link row and the toolbar shows Reload, Unload and Remove, while the right hand pane reads Status Loaded, Reference type Overlay and Path type Relative. With no link loaded, Copy/Monitor has nothing to copy.
Step 2 — Open Copy/Monitor and pick the link
Click Collaborate › Coordinate › Copy/Monitor. The menu has two entries: Use Current Project monitors inside your own file, Select Link monitors a linked model. Click Select Link, the status bar prompts Pick a Revit link instance to monitor, then click any element of the link.
The drawing area turns pale green and the Copy/Monitor tab appears with Options, Copy, Monitor, Coordination Settings, Batch Copy, Finish and Cancel. The Monitor button pairs an element you already have with a matching element in the link without copying anything.
Step 3 — Set Options for the types you will create
Click Options. The Copy/Monitor Options dialog has five tabs: Levels, Grids, Columns, Walls, Floors. The upper half is an Original type to New type table, that is, which of your own types each linked type turns into. On the Grids tab, six architectural bubble types all map to one 6.5mm Bubble.
The lower half is Additional Copy Parameters: Offset Level, Reuse Levels with the same name ticked, Reuse matching Levels left on Don't reuse, plus suffix and prefix boxes for the name. The Grids tab carries four matching rows. Click OK when set.
Step 4 — Select in bulk instead of one by one
Click Copy. The Modify | Copy tab shows a Multiple panel with Select Multiple, Finish and Cancel, plus a Filter panel. Click Select Multiple, then drag a window from right to left across everything you want. A crossing window like this also catches grid lines that merely pass through it.
Step 5 — Filter down to the category you need
Click Filter. The Filter dialog lists only the categories Copy/Monitor accepts, here Columns 8, Floors 12, Grids 12, Plumbing Fixtures 9 and Walls 67. Click Check None, tick Grids, and Total Selected Items drops to 12. To copy levels instead, open an elevation view and tick Levels at this step. Click OK.
Step 6 — Finish the selection and clear the error
Click Finish in the Multiple panel. If a source grid carries a Scope Box that your file has no match for, Revit stops at an Error - cannot be ignored dialog. The message reads The Highlighted Datum can not be associated with the specified Scope Box because the Datum plane does not intersect the Scope Box. Click Disassociate and carry on.
Step 7 — Close the session and check the markers
Click Finish on the Copy/Monitor tab. The new grids now live in your file, wearing the bubble type you chose. The monitor markers only draw while the Copy/Monitor session is open; once it closes, select a grid and the Modify | Grids tab shows a Monitor panel with Stop Monitoring.
Coordination review: reading the difference table
A monitoring relationship only pays off if somebody reads the alerts. The two steps below repeat every time a new issue lands.
Step 8 — Read the alert when positions stop matching
Move a monitored grid and Revit pops a yellow box in the lower right reading Coordination Monitor alert : Grid moved. The alert blocks nothing; it simply records that the two grids no longer agree.
Step 9 — Pick an Action in the review table
Click Coordination Review › Select Link, then click the linked model. A quicker route: select the link in the view and the Modify | RVT Links tab already carries a Coordination Review button in its Monitor panel.
The dialog opens a three level tree in the Message column: status, category, then the rule broken and the specific difference. The Action column offers four choices: Postpone to deal with later, Reject, Accept difference to take the change and clear the alert, and Modify Grid to pull your grid back onto the linked position. Create Report writes the table out to a file for a meeting record.
A row set to Postpone and confirmed with OK moves from the New/Unresolved branch to Postponed, and it is still waiting there next time you open the dialog.
Revit worksets: splitting the model by service
The four steps below run on the copy you saved in the preparation section.
Step 10 — Save a separate copy, then enable Worksets
After File › Save As › Project under a new name, click Collaborate › Worksets. The Worksharing dialog warns You are about to enable Worksharing and lets you name the first two worksets: Shared Levels and Grids takes levels and grids, Workset1 takes everything else. Click OK.
Step 11 — Create one workset per service
The Worksets dialog opens next, with Name, Editable, Owner, Borrowers, Opened and Visible in all views columns. Click New, type a name for the service, keep Visible in all views ticked and click OK. A shared prefix keeps the list readable, for example ME - Ductwork, ME - Equipment, ME - Pipework. The Close button shuts a workset so the file opens faster.
Step 12 — Set the active workset and move elements
On the Collaborate tab, the Active Workset box lists every workset in the file. Pick the right one before you draw and new elements land in the right place. For something drawn into the wrong workset, select it, scroll the Properties palette down to Identity Data, change the Workset value and click Apply. The Edited by row shows who is borrowing the element.
Step 13 — Switch worksets on and off per view
Type VV for Visibility/Graphic Overrides and open the Worksets tab. The Visibility Setting column takes three values: Use Global Setting follows the Visible in all views box of the Worksets dialog, Show forces it visible, Hide forces it off. The All, None and Invert buttons change the whole list at once. Filter based visibility is covered in hiding and showing objects in Revit.
Revit central file and the daily sync
The central file sits on a shared drive, everyone opens a local copy of it and the two sync back and forth. The last two steps build that frame.
Step 14 — Save as a central model
Go to File › Save As › Project and click Options... in the Save As dialog. File Save Options has a Worksharing group with Make this a Central Model after save. On the first save after enabling worksharing, that box is already ticked and cannot be cleared. Below it sit Compact File, Open workset default on Last Viewed and Maximum backups at 20.
Once saved, Revit adds a folder with a _backup suffix beside the file. That folder is part of the central model; never delete or rename it. On the ribbon, Synchronize with Central and Relinquish All Mine light up.
Step 15 — Synchronize and relinquish
Click Collaborate › Synchronize with Central and choose Synchronize and Modify Settings. The dialog shows Central Model Location, offers Compact Central Model when the file bloats, and most importantly carries the After synchronizing, relinquish the following worksets and elements group with Project Standard Worksets, Family Worksets, Borrowed Elements, View Worksets and User-created Worksets. The Comment box records what you just did; Synchronize Now skips the dialog entirely.
Relinquishing is the step people forget. Leave those boxes clear and the workset still carries your name, so the next person has to send an Editing Request and wait.
Interference check: clash hunting before you issue
Click Collaborate › Coordinate › Interference Check › Run Interference Check. The dialog has two columns, each with a Categories from box. Leave the left column on Current Project and switch the right one to the linked file, and Revit tests your services against the other team's walls, floors and ceilings. Tick the categories you need in both columns and click OK.
With nothing clashing, Revit answers with one line, No Interference detected!. When there are clashes, Show Last Report in the same menu lights up so you can reopen the latest run.
When it does not work
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Only Use Current Project is live in the Copy/Monitor menu | No link loaded, or the link is unloaded | Insert › Manage Links, click Reload on the link row |
| Select Link picks up nothing | The view is hiding the link | Open Visibility/Graphic Overrides, Revit Links tab, switch the link on and click again |
| Finish throws Error - cannot be ignored about a Scope Box | The source grid uses a Scope Box your file lacks | Click Disassociate, or create a Scope Box of the same name first |
| Copied levels come in duplicated | Reuse matching Levels is left on Don't reuse | Open Options, Levels tab, change Reuse matching Levels and copy again |
| Synchronize with Central is greyed out | Worksharing is off, or you opened the central file itself | Enable Worksets and save a central model, then open it to create a local copy |
| The central model is inaccessible | The path to the central file is broken: a renamed folder, a lost network drive, a deleted _backup folder | Restore the original path, then create a fresh local copy from the central file |
| An element refuses to be edited | It belongs to a workset somebody else owns | Send an Editing Request; the owner clicks Grant and synchronizes |
Other common faults are collected in common Revit MEP errors.
Three things people get wrong about model coordination
| Often heard | What Revit 2027 actually does |
|---|---|
| Copy/Monitor updates positions automatically | It only reports the difference. Your grid stays put until somebody picks an Action in Coordination Review |
| Worksets mean no more clashes | Worksets divide editing rights, not geometry. Clashes still have to be hunted with Interference Check |
| For a team, just give everyone a copy of the file | Copies cannot be merged back. A central file with local copies is the mechanism Revit supports |
Revit copy monitor and the other three tools take about an afternoon to learn. The hard part is the habit: reload and review on every new issue, synchronize and relinquish when you stop, and run one clash check before anything is issued.
Frequently asked questions
What can Copy/Monitor actually copy?
The 2027 Copy/Monitor Options dialog has five tabs: Levels, Grids, Columns, Walls and Floors. When you window select inside a link, the Filter dialog also lists whatever MEP categories are present, Plumbing Fixtures for instance, so fixture connection points can be monitored too.
What do I do about instance of link needs coordination review?
The phrase instance of link needs coordination review is how many people describe the situation where a linked model has changed and Revit asks for a review. The handling is steps 8 and 9: select the link, open Coordination Review, read each row and pick an Action.
Are worksets any use without a shared drive?
They work, but you lose the main benefit. On a single machine worksets still help you hide groups and open the file faster by closing unused ones. For several people at once, the central file has to live somewhere every machine can read and write.
What is Detach from Central for?
It is an option at open time that cuts the copy you are opening away from the central file so it becomes a standalone project. Handy when sending a model outside the office, or when you want a snapshot to experiment on without touching the team.