Documentation

ProjectWise

Connect to your firm's Bentley ProjectWise server: check out PDFs, mark them up, check back in with flattened markups + a sidecar that restores the live editable state for the next LocusBIM user.

ProjectWise

LocusBIM connects directly to your firm's Bentley ProjectWise server so coordination work stays inside your document-management workflow. Check out a PDF, mark it up with the full LocusBIM toolset, then check it back in with the markups flattened for non-LocusBIM viewers (Acrobat, the PW Explorer preview, anyone opening the file without LocusBIM installed) and a separate sidecar file that carries the live editable markup state for the next LocusBIM user.

The whole workflow is direct: PW traffic goes from your machine to your firm's PW Server over the standard Web Services Gateway (WSG REST/JSON). LocusBIM never proxies it.

Connecting to your ProjectWise server

Open File → ProjectWise → Connect….
Enter your PW Server URL (the WSG endpoint your IT team gave you — usually something like https://pw.yourfirm.com/ws/v2.8), datasource name, username, and password.
Optionally name the session ("Tenant Fit-Out PW", "Federal Project PW") so you can switch between multiple PW servers later.
Click Connect. LocusBIM authenticates and surfaces your accessible datasources.

Tip: Credentials are stored locally per session and never sent anywhere except your PW server. If your firm uses single sign-on, ask IT for the SSO-token URL — LocusBIM accepts both password and bearer-token auth modes.

Browsing and checking out a document

Once connected, the ProjectWise panel shows your datasource's folder tree on the left and the documents in the selected folder on the right. Double-click a folder to drill in; right-click a document to see actions.

Key / Control	Action
Check out	Reserves the document in PW (no one else can edit until you check it back in or abandon) and downloads it to your local working dir
Open (read-only)	Downloads a view-only copy without reserving the document
Search	Searches by file name, attribute, or full-text across the active datasource
Abandon checkout	Releases your reservation without uploading any changes — undoes the check-out cleanly

After check-out, the document opens in the PDF tab automatically and the status bar shows a "1 checkout" badge so you always know which documents you have reserved.

Marking up a checked-out PDF

Every LocusBIM markup tool works on a checked-out PDF exactly the same as it does on a local file — rectangles, clouds, callouts, measurements, cost-impact rows, comments, linked issues, the lot. Markups are stored locally in the same SQLite database; they're only uploaded to PW when you check the document back in.

Tip: You can check out multiple documents in parallel and mark them up in different tabs. The status-bar badge shows the running count.

Checking the document back in

When you're done marking up, right-click the document in the ProjectWise panel and choose Check in…. The Check-In dialog offers three options that ship together with the upload:

Key / Control	Action
Flatten markups (recommended)	Burns every markup on every page into the PDF before upload, so non-LocusBIM users (Acrobat, PW Explorer preview, contractors) see the annotations natively
Upload .locusbim.json sidecar	Uploads a sibling file with the live, editable markup state. When the next LocusBIM user checks the document out, the markups are restored with full fidelity — no flatten-rasterisation loss
Upload Issue Report PDF	Generates a separate report PDF listing every linked issue (title, status, screenshot, comments) and uploads it alongside the main document — useful for handoffs that need an issue summary attached

Add an optional comment, click Check In, and LocusBIM walks the steps in order: flatten runs first on the local file, then the flattened PDF uploads to PW (releasing your reservation), then the sidecar files upload as siblings in the same folder.

Tip: The sidecar uploads are best-effort. If the flatten-and-check-in succeeds but a sidecar upload fails (network blip, PW metadata rejection), the check-in itself is durable — the sidecar error surfaces in the status bar but the document is already saved. You can re-upload the sidecar later from the ProjectWise panel.

Working with multiple ProjectWise servers

Some firms have separate PW datasources per practice area, per client, or per federal/provincial contract. LocusBIM supports multiple connected PW sessions at the same time.

The session switcher in the ProjectWise panel header shows the currently-active session name; click to pick a different one.
Each session keeps its own check-out list — your "Tenant Fit-Out PW" check-outs don't appear in the "Federal Project PW" panel.
Disconnect a single session from the menu; the rest stay connected.

CAD plugin overlap

If your team also uses AutoCAD, MicroStation, or Revit with LocusBIM's plugins, the check-out workflow is the same — the plugins see the same PW sessions and the same check-out list as the desktop app. You can check a DGN out through MicroStation, mark up its companion PDF through LocusBIM Desktop, and check both back in as a coordinated save.

Plan availability

ProjectWise integration is included in Professional, Team, and Enterprise plans, and during the 30-day trial. Standard does not include PW integration. The feature gates cleanly: on Standard, the ProjectWise menu shows an "Upgrade to connect" link instead of the Connect dialog.

ProjectWise integration is tested against PW Server 2023.x and 2024.x with WSG v2.8+. Earlier versions may work but are not officially supported. If your firm runs an older PW Server and you hit a compatibility issue, email support@locusbim.com with your PW version and we'll investigate. LocusBIM is not affiliated with Bentley Systems; ProjectWise is a Bentley product and trademark.