Opening Documents

You can open documents from ProjectWise Explorer by double-clicking them or by using one of these commands:

Document > Open — used to check out (if possible) and open the selected document in its default application, which is typically the document’s native application. This is the same as double-clicking a document. If you do not have File Write access to the document, Document > Open will be disabled when you select that document in ProjectWise Explorer. If the selected document is a version (which means that it is read-only by nature), then Document > Open will open the document as read-only, and the document will not be checked out.
Document > Open as Read-Only — used to open the selected document in its default application without checking it out.
Document > Open With — used to open the selected document in an application that is not the document’s default application.
Document > View — used to open the selected document in a viewing application without checking it out.

With the exception of using Document > Open With, the application that opens the selected document depends on the ProjectWise application associated to the document, and the program designated to open or view documents associated to that application.

Note: The procedures below deal with opening documents as read-only. See Checking Out and Checking In Documents for procedures that deal with checking out and opening documents.

Note: There is a user setting (Document List > Double click action) that controls what happens when you double-click a document in ProjectWise Explorer. By default the double-click action is set to open documents, but you can change that to another action, such as Open as read-only, or your administrator may have hidden this user setting and set a default for you.

Note: Using Document > Open With to open a document into a non-integrated version of an Office application, AutoCAD, or Revit may lead to unexpected results, as this is not a typical ProjectWise workflow. If you need to use Document > Open With, open a test document first and make sure the results are satisfactory. In some cases, you may need to check in the document manually from ProjectWise Explorer after closing the document or exiting the application.

Opening a document as read-only in the document's default application

Select a document.
Select Document > Open as Read-Only.
Tip: Use this option if you want to view a document in its default application without checking it out, or if you want to open a document that is currently checked out or exported by another user. The same program used for the Document > Open command will also be used for the Document > Open as Read-Only command.

Opening a document as read-only in an application that is not the default application

Select a document.
Select Document > Open With.
The Open document with dialog opens.

The Program list contains the list of programs installed on this computer that are currently associated to open documents of this type.

In this example, the selected DWG document is associated to the 'AutoCAD' application in ProjectWise, but the user opening this document has their user program associations set so that documents that are associated to the 'AutoCAD' application will instead open in MicroStation by default, and in this case the user wants to bypass their own user program association and open the selected document in AutoCAD.
Select a program from the Program list, or click the Browse button to navigate to and select the appropriate executable (.EXE) file or program shortcut.
Turn on Open document as read-only.
Click OK.

Opening a document as read-only in the document's default viewer application

Select a document.
Select Document > View.
The document opens in the application designated as the viewer application for this type of document.

Tip: Use Document > View when you want to view the document in an application that is not the document's default application. It may be that you do not have the native application installed at all, but you do have a compatible viewer installed. If you normally use your editing application to also view documents, then selecting Document > View (in that case) would have the same effect as selecting Document > Open as Read-Only.