Worksets split a shared Revit model into groups of elements that team members can own and open separately. Click Worksets on the Collaborate tab, save the file as the central model, give each person a local copy, then create worksets and assign elements with the Workset property.
Or, just ask Mira to move a category to another workset.
How to do it in Revit
Step 1: Plan what each workset holds
A workset is a collection of elements in a workshared project, and it is how a team divides one model so several people can work in it at once. Making a workset editable gives you exclusive ownership of everything in it, and closing the worksets you don't need frees memory.
Divide by who edits what: interior, exterior and site on an architectural model; HVAC, electrical and plumbing on an MEP model. Keep elements that are edited together in one workset; you don't need one per floor (Autodesk Help: About Planning Worksets).
Step 2: Enable worksharing
Open the project and click Collaborate tab › Manage Collaboration panel › Worksets. (With the Cloud Models for Revit add-on installed, start from the Collaborate button instead: choose Collaborate within your network, then OK.)
The Worksharing dialog shows the two default worksets: Shared Levels and Grids (levels, grids and reference planes) and Workset1 (every other existing model element). Rename them if you like; Workset1 can't be deleted. Click OK, then OK in the Worksets dialog (Autodesk Help: Enable Worksharing). Revit also creates worksets for each loaded family, each view and the project standards, and those can't be renamed or deleted (Autodesk Help: Default Worksets).
Step 3: Save the central model
Click File tab › Save As › Project and save to a network drive the whole team can reach. Don't end the file name with a period and a number, or Revit won't create a proper backup folder.
Under Options, Make this a Central Model after save is already selected on this first save. Pick an Open workset default for local copies, then click OK and Save (Autodesk Help: Enable Worksharing).
Working in the cloud? Revit Cloud Worksharing keeps the central model in an Autodesk Docs project (Forma Data Management in the Revit 2027 help) and needs its own subscription. Click Collaborate, choose In the cloud, pick the project folder and click Initiate (Save in Revit 2027). A cloud model links only to cloud models shared from the same Revit release (Autodesk Help: Upload a Workshared Model to Autodesk Docs).
Step 4: Create a local copy for each person
Autodesk recommends working only in local copies. Click File tab › Open, select the central model, check that Create New Local is selected and click Open (Autodesk Help: Create a Local Copy of a Central Model). Make a fresh local copy each day, and don't select Detach from Central: a detached copy can't save back to the central model.
Step 5: Create your worksets
In your local copy, open Collaborate tab › Manage Collaboration panel › Worksets and click New. Name the workset, leave Visible in all views selected unless it should show only where you turn it on, and click OK. Repeat for each workset, then click OK (Autodesk Help: Create Worksets).
Step 6: Move elements onto the right workset
Existing model elements start on Workset1. Select them, and in the Properties palette under Identity Data, change Workset. You don't need to borrow them first (Autodesk Help: Reassign an Element to a Different Workset).
Before you model anything new, set the Active Workset from the status bar or the Manage Collaboration panel: new elements go there. View-specific elements such as dimensions go to the view's own workset instead (Autodesk Help: Add Elements to a Workset).
Step 7: Set what each view shows
Visible in all views in the Worksets dialog sets the default for every view. To change one view, click View tab › Graphics panel › Visibility/Graphics and, on the Worksets tab, set each workset to Use Global Setting, Show or Hide (Autodesk Help: Change the Visibility of a Workset in a View). An element shows only when its category and its workset are both visible.
Step 8: Synchronize and relinquish
Click Collaborate tab › Synchronize panel › Synchronize with Central › Synchronize Now to send your changes and pick up everyone else's. Synchronize and Modify Settings lets you choose what to relinquish after syncing; keep Save local file before and after synchronizing with central selected (Autodesk Help: Synchronize with the Central Model).
Relinquish All Mine, on the same panel, gives back what you own without syncing, as long as you have no unsynced changes (Autodesk Help: Relinquish Ownership without Synchronize with Central).
What to watch for
Borrow, don't check out. Making a workset editable takes ownership of every element in it. Autodesk calls borrowing the better habit in general and reserves whole-workset checkouts for protecting things like the building grid or linked files (Autodesk Help: Worksets and Performance).
Give links and imports their own worksets, so you can close them when you don't need them and free memory. Turning off a linked model's Shared Levels and Grids workset hides its levels and grids without editing each view.
Watch the active workset. New elements land on whatever workset is active, so a forgotten setting puts them in the wrong place. Gray Inactive Worksets on the Manage Collaboration panel grays everything outside it while you model, without affecting printing.
Groups carry two worksets. Every element in a group sits in the group's instance workset, which can differ from its type workset. Make the instance workset editable to change the elements inside, and check the Workset property to see which is which.
At firm scale the workset list drifts. Worksets can't be saved in a project template, so every project sets up its list again and nothing keeps the names consistent. That matters when you link models: with a link set to By host view, each linked workset follows the host workset of the same name, and one with no match stays visible (Autodesk Help: Control Visibility of Linked Worksets in the Host Project). Elements also land on the wrong workset whenever someone forgets the active one. Moving a category back where it belongs, model after model, is the kind of repetitive cleanup the AI agent for Revit takes on.
Or, just ask Mira to do it.
Mira is an AI thinking partner for Revit that automates the work you repeat and builds tools your team needs.
- Type this in Mira
Move all the furniture from Workset1 to the Interiors workset.
Mira tells you how many elements it will move and waits for your OK, then lists any it couldn't move, such as elements a teammate has borrowed.
What is a workset in Revit?
How do I create a central model in Revit?
What do I need for Revit Cloud Worksharing?
How do I detach a Revit model from central?
Can you save worksets in a Revit template?
Which Revit versions does Mira work with?
Try it yourself.
Or bring it to the firm.
The download is free and takes a minute. The firm conversation is where your standards, your library, and your rollout get built. Start wherever makes sense.