ProjectWise Web View Help

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  1. What is ProjectWise Web View?
  2. Who is ProjectWise Web View for?
  3. How do you get to ProjectWise Web View?
  4. Who can access ProjectWise Web View?
  5. What browsers can I use with ProjectWise Web View?
  6. What ProjectWise datasources will I see once I'm in ProjectWise Web View (how do they get there)?
  7. Can ProjectWise Web View provide access to other types of repositories?
  8. Who can access a datasource that has been made available in ProjectWise Web View?
  9. Do I need a license to use ProjectWise Web View?
  10. What content will I see when I log in to a datasource in ProjectWise Web View?
  11. What can users do in ProjectWise Web View?
  12. How are document and folder permissions set in ProjectWise Web View?
  13. I can create, modify, and delete documents and folders in ProjectWise Explorer but not in ProjectWise Web View - did my permissions change?
  14. I have access to a document in ProjectWise Web View but I cannot view it or download it - why?
  15. How is ProjectWise Web View different from ProjectWise Web?
  16. How do admins add datasources to ProjectWise Web View?
  17. How does ProjectWise Web View connect to ProjectWise datasources?
  18. How do I configure Bentley Web Services Gateway and the ProjectWise Plug-in?
  19. How do I make Bentley Web Services Gateway public facing?
  20. How do I enable CORS in Bentley Web Services Gateway?
  21. Can ProjectWise Web View display datasources running on different servers?
  22. What version of the ProjectWise Plug-in for Bentley Web Services Gateway is required?
  23. Why does Bentley Web Services Gateway require port 443 to be open?
  24. Can I create a whitelist of trusted IP addresses in order to limit the traffic coming in through port 443?
  25. What types of authentication does ProjectWise Web View support?
  26. Does ProjectWise Web View support single sign-on?
  27. What are the requirements for logging in to a connection with a Bentley IMS account?
  28. Does ProjectWise Web View save passwords?
  29. What are the requirements for opening Office documents in a browser?
  30. Why do users need to be logged in with a Bentley IMS account to view Office documents?
  31. Do we need to secure the API Explorer page of the Bentley Web Services Gateway deployment?
  32. Does ProjectWise Web View store any of my ProjectWise data in the cloud?

What is ProjectWise Web View?

ProjectWise Web View is a Bentley cloud service that provides ProjectWise Design Integration users with secure, read-only web-based (cloud) access to the content in their on-premise ProjectWise datasources.

Who is ProjectWise Web View for?

ProjectWise Web View is intended for ProjectWise Design Integration users who do not need to create, edit, or review ProjectWise documents, but rather only need to view or download ProjectWise documents for informational purposes.

How do you get to ProjectWise Web View?

  1. Go to the CONNECT Center (https://connect.bentley.com) and sign in (enter the credentials of your Bentley IMS account).
  2. Click the ProjectWise Web View tile at the bottom of the page.
    Note: You can also just go directly to https://connect-projectwisewebview.bentley.com/ and sign in when prompted.

Who can access ProjectWise Web View?

For someone in your organization to be able to access ProjectWise Web View, entitlement for this service must first be enabled for your organization. By default, everyone in your organization will have access to ProjectWise Web View once entitlement has been enabled. The CONNECT Administrator for your organization can then restrict access to ProjectWise Web View as needed, if there are some users or groups within your organization who should not have access to ProjectWise Web View.

What browsers can I use with ProjectWise Web View?

You can access ProjectWise Web View from a Microsoft Windows desktop or server using any these supported browsers: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox

You can also access ProjectWise Web View from a mobile device, however this is not actively supported.

What ProjectWise datasources will I see once I'm in ProjectWise Web View (how do they get there)?

The cloud services administrator of your organization will select which datasources will be available in ProjectWise Web View.

Can ProjectWise Web View provide access to other types of repositories?

No, ProjectWise Web View is specifically designed to only provide access to ProjectWise datasources.

Who can access a datasource that has been made available in ProjectWise Web View?

Any user with an active account in the datasource can log in from ProjectWise Web View.

Do I need a license to use ProjectWise Web View?

No, ProjectWise Web View is a free service and does not require a license.

What content will I see when I log in to a datasource in ProjectWise Web View?

Once logged in, users will only see whatever folders and documents they already have permission to see in ProjectWise Explorer.

You cannot see or access any content in the datasource that you do not have permission to see or access.

What can users do in ProjectWise Web View?

Once logged in to a datasource, users can browse folders, search for documents*, download documents, view Office, PDF, and image documents in a browser, and get HTTPS links for documents, folders, and saved searches so they can be sent to other users or embedded in documents.

*You can only search the datasource you are currently logged in to and working in. You cannot perform multi-datasource or cross-datasource searches in ProjectWise Web View.

How are document and folder permissions set in ProjectWise Web View?

You cannot set or change document and folder permissions from ProjectWise Web View.

Instead, document and folder permissions are set in ProjectWise Explorer as usual, and whatever permissions are set there will carry over to ProjectWise Web View.

I can create, modify, and delete documents and folders in ProjectWise Explorer but not in ProjectWise Web View - did my permissions change?

No, the permissions set for you on the individual documents and folders did not change.

Because ProjectWise Web View only provides read-only access to documents and folders, you will not be able to create or modify or delete any documents or folders in ProjectWise Web View, even though you might have permissions to do so in ProjectWise Explorer.

I have access to a document in ProjectWise Web View but I cannot view it or download it - why?

You probably do not have File Read permission on the document.

If you have general access to a document (Read permission) but you do not have general access to view the file that is attached to the document (File Read permission), then you will be able to see the document in the list (in its folder, or in the search results), but you will not be able to view or download the document's file.

How is ProjectWise Web View different from ProjectWise Web?

First, let's talk about how they are the same:

  • Both are cloud services available in the CONNECT Center
  • Both services can provide web-based (cloud) access to content stored in ProjectWise datasources
  • Both services use the same general method (Bentley Web Services Gateway and the ProjectWise Plug-in for WSG) to provide a connection to ProjectWise datasources
  • Both services respect the user permissions set in the ProjectWise datasource that is being connected to
  • Both services support the same methods for logging in to the datasource

Now let's talk about how they are different:

  • Work area vs datasource:
    • ProjectWise Web provides web access to selected work areas in a particular datasource.
    • ProjectWise Web View provides web access to selected datasources.
  • Read-write vs read-only:
    • ProjectWise access in ProjectWise Web is read-write.
    • ProjectWise access in ProjectWise Web View is read-only.
  • Project-based vs organization-based:
    • ProjectWise Web is a service available in each ProjectWise project, and is accessed from a tile inside the project (it is project-based).
    • ProjectWise Web View is not project-based, and is instead accessed from a tile directly from the CONNECT Center home page (it is enterprise/organization-based).
  • Basic entry requirements:
    • You need a Bentley IMS account and must be a member of a ProjectWise project in order to enter the ProjectWise Web portal of that project.
    • You only need a Bentley IMS account to enter ProjectWise Web View.
  • Licensing:
    • ProjectWise Web requires a license.
    • ProjectWise Web View is free.

How do admins add datasources to ProjectWise Web View?

The administrator adds datasources to ProjectWise Web View by creating datasource connections on the Manage ProjectWise Connections page:

  1. Click the Manage Connections icon (upper left) to open the Manage ProjectWise Connections page.
  2. Click New Connection.

See Adding Datasource Connections to ProjectWise Web View.

How does ProjectWise Web View connect to ProjectWise datasources?

ProjectWise Web View uses Bentley Web Services Gateway and the ProjectWise Plug-in for Bentley Web Services Gateway to connect to the ProjectWise Integration Server where your datasource(s) are stored.

How do I configure Bentley Web Services Gateway and the ProjectWise Plug-in?

Bentley Web Services Gateway configuration is documented in the ProjectWise Plug-in for WSG Readme, but these are general the steps for setting up Bentley Web Services Gateway for ProjectWise Web View:

  1. First you configure a secure website in IIS (Internet Information Services) that you will deploy Bentley Web Services Gateway and the ProjectWise Plug-in to.
  2. Then you install ProjectWise Explorer and configure the ProjectWise network to provide Bentley Web Services Gateway with access to the datasources of your ProjectWise Integration Server or servers.
  3. Then you install Bentley Web Services Gateway and the ProjectWise Plug-in for Bentley Web Services Gateway.
  4. Then you deploy Bentley Web Services Gateway and the ProjectWise Plug-in to the website you configured in step 1, making sure to enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) requests for all of the Bentley cloud services that you will be using with this Bentley Web Services Gateway deployment.
  5. If users need to open Office documents in a browser, your Bentley Web Services Gateway must be public facing.

How do I make Bentley Web Services Gateway public facing?

This task is done by your IT department.

Bentley Web Services Gateway must be public facing in order for users to be able to open Office documents in a browser. If that feature is not required, then Bentley Web Services Gateway does not need to be public facing. If the server on which Bentley Web Services Gateway is installed is not already public facing and you need this feature, talk to your IT department about making Bentley Web Services Gateway public facing.

How do I enable CORS in Bentley Web Services Gateway?

When you are deploying Bentley Web Services Gateway, the deployment wizard has a page where you can specify the URL for each Bentley cloud service you will be using with Bentley Web Services Gateway that needs CORS (cross-origin resource sharing) requests enabled.

The specific steps are documented in the ProjectWise Implementation Guide, but these are the URLs that you need to enter in order to enable CORS for each service (this table includes all of the URLs that are needed for both ProjectWise Web and ProjectWise Web View):

For this service Enter this URL Purpose
ProjectWise Web https://connect-projectwisewac.bentley.com Required to create and open work area connections in ProjectWise Web.
ProjectWise 365 https://projectwise365.bentley.com Required to create and open work area connections in ProjectWise 365.
PDF Markup Service https://connect-pdfmarkup.bentley.com Lets ProjectWise Web and ProjectWise 365 users markup PDF documents using the PDF Markup Service (users can still open PDFs as read-only in the PDF Markup Service, even if this URL is not configured).
Integration with Microsoft Teams https://connect-projectwiseteamshost.bentley.com Lets ProjectWise Web and ProjectWise 365 users access their work area connection from a Microsoft Teams tab.
Microsoft 365 co-authoring https://office365collaboration.bentley.com Lets ProjectWise Web and ProjectWise 365 users co-author Office documents.
Integration with the ProjectWise Deliverables Management portal (all of these URLs are required)
  • *.pwdm.bentley.com
  • https://pwdm.bentley.com
  • https://connect-bts.bentley.com
  • https://connect-bts-eus.bentley.com
  • https://connect-bts-uks.bentley.com
  • https://connect-bts-neu.bentley.com
  • https://connect-bts-sea.bentley.com
  • https://connect-bts-aue.bentley.com
  • https://connect-bts-cac.bentley.com
Lets users add ProjectWise documents (via work area connections) to transmittals from the ProjectWise Deliverables Management portal.
older work area connections https://projectshareportal.bentley.com Required for ProjectWise Web users to open older work area connections (those connections created in old ProjectWise Web / ProjectWise Share).
ProjectWise Web View https://connect-projectwisewebview.bentley.com Required to create and open datasource connections in ProjectWise Web View.
ProjectWise Web View integration with Microsoft Office for the web https://connect-mswopiclient.bentley.com Required to open Office documents in Office for the web from ProjectWise Web View (users will get an error when they try to open an Office document from ProjectWise Web View, if this is not configured).

Can ProjectWise Web View display datasources running on different servers?

Yes, as long as connections to those servers have been configured in the ProjectWise network on the Bentley Web Services Gateway computer.

What version of the ProjectWise Plug-in for Bentley Web Services Gateway is required?

To get the latest functionality in ProjectWise Web View, the administrator should install the latest released version of the ProjectWise Plug-in for Bentley Web Services Gateway.

For details, see: ProjectWise Plug-in for WSG Readme

Why does Bentley Web Services Gateway require port 443 to be open?

Short answer:

So that ProjectWise Web View users can connect to Bentley Web Services Gateway.

Longer answer:

The secure website in IIS that you deploy Bentley Web Services Gateway to uses port 443 by default. Technically you can configure your secure website to use some other port, but 443 is the default port for secure (HTTPS) websites. This means that communication to Bentley Web Services Gateway comes in through port 443, which in turn means that this port needs to be open in order to allow ProjectWise Web View users to access Bentley Web Services Gateway.

There are two places you need to open port 443.

  • First - and this is required for both internal and external users - in the Windows Firewall on the Bentley Web Services Gateway computer
  • Second - and this is required only for external users - in your corporate firewall

When a user connects to ProjectWise Web View, the necessary JavaScript files are downloaded to the user's computer, and so that instance of ProjectWise Web View is actually running locally, from inside the user's browser. This means that ProjectWise Web View connections to Bentley Web Services Gateway are really coming from each user's computer, not from ProjectWise Web View in the CONNECT Center (in the cloud).

For internal ProjectWise Web View users (users who are working inside the LAN/VPN where Bentley Web Services Gateway is running) to be able to connect to Bentley Web Services Gateway, you must open port 443 in the Windows Firewall running on the Bentley Web Services Gateway computer.

For external ProjectWise Web View users (users who are working outside the LAN/VPN where Bentley Web Services Gateway is running) to be able to connect to Bentley Web Services Gateway, you must open port 443 in the Windows Firewall running on the Bentley Web Services Gateway computer AND ALSO you must open port 443 in your corporate firewall.

If you ONLY have internal ProjectWise Web View users, then you do not need to open port 443 in your corporate firewall, but you must at least open port 443 in the Windows Firewall running on the Bentley Web Services computer.

Can I create a whitelist of trusted IP addresses in order to limit the traffic coming in through port 443?

Yes.

Because communication to Bentley Web Services Gateway is actually coming directly from each ProjectWise Web View user's computer, you can whitelist the IP address of the individual ProjectWise Web View users (client computers) that you want to allow access through port 443.

You cannot (nor do you need to) whitelist the actual ProjectWise Web View service that is running in the CONNECT Center, as it does not have an IP address.

What types of authentication does ProjectWise Web View support?

At the time of this writing, ProjectWise Web View supports the following authentication types, assuming they are also supported by the ProjectWise datasources that you are connected to.

  • Bentley IMS authentication - lets users log in automatically with the credentials of their associated Bentley IMS account
  • ProjectWise authentication - lets users log in manually with a simple ProjectWise user name and password, or with the credentials of their associated Windows account (in this case, enter user name as Domain\User.Name).

Does ProjectWise Web View support single sign-on?

Yes, ProjectWise Web View supports Bentley IMS single sign-on.

When the datasource connection is configured to use Bentley IMS authentication, a user with an associated Bentley IMS account will be logged in automatically just by selecting the datasource in ProjectWise Web View. If the user does not have an associated Bentley IMS account, they will be prompted to enter either a simple user name and password or the credentials of their associated Windows account).

Note: While ProjectWise Web View does support logging in with the credentials of an associated Windows account (by manually entering your Windows user name and password), it does not support Windows single sign-on.

What are the requirements for logging in to a connection with a Bentley IMS account?

  • The datasource that you plan to connect to must have Bentley IMS authentication / single sign-on enabled
  • You must turn on Use Bentley IMS Authentication when creating the datasource connection
  • The user's ProjectWise account must be associated to their Bentley IMS account.
  • Bentley Web Services Gateway must have access to https://ims.bentley.com.

Does ProjectWise Web View save passwords?

No.

No user name or password combination is ever saved anywhere, locally or in the cloud, when the user logs in to a datasource through ProjectWise Web View.

Logging in with a Bentley IMS account does generate an access token, but this is only used to identify the user, it does not contain the user's user name and password.

What are the requirements for opening Office documents in a browser?

When you click an Office document in ProjectWise Web View, a copy of that document opens in a new browser tab if the following are all true:

  • You must be logged in to the datasource connection with a Bentley IMS account
  • You must have a Microsoft 365 subscription
  • Bentley Web Services Gateway must be configured to allow CORS requests from this integrated Office for the web URL: https://connect-mswopiclient.bentley.com
  • Bentley Web Services Gateway must be public facing

If any one of things is not true, the user will not be able to open the document.

Why do users need to be logged in with a Bentley IMS account to view Office documents?

Integration between ProjectWise Web View and Office for the web is achieved using a Microsoft service called the Web Application Open Platform Interface (WOPI) protocol.

When a user logs in to the datasource in ProjectWise Web View using their Bentley IMS account, an access token is generated for that user (which does not contain the user's ProjectWise user name and password), which the WOPI protocol is able to use whenever it needs to identify that user to ProjectWise during that session. If the user clicks to open an Office document during that session, the WOPI protocol uses the access token to get the document from ProjectWise and deliver it to Office on the web. All of this is designed so that the WOPI protocol can securely and automatically access Office documents from ProjectWise without requiring the user to re-enter their datasource credentials each time they try to view an Office document from ProjectWise Web View.

Therefore, the reason opening Office documents in Office for the web only works when the user logs in with a Bentley IMS account, is because that is the only type of log in that generates an access token. Without an access token, this workflow is not possible.

Do we need to secure the API Explorer page of the Bentley Web Services Gateway deployment?

You do not need to secure the API Explorer page, as it is just a client-side JavaScript page that is used to test your deployment and confirm that you can actually log in to your datasources through Bentley Web Services Gateway.

However, if you want to remove it altogether, you can safely delete the following folder (where the page is generated from) without affecting your Bentley Web Services Gateway deployment in any way:

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\ws\Pages\ApiExplorer

Note that anything under the C:\inetpub\wwwroot\ws\Pages\ folder in the deployment is not required for running Bentley Web Services Gateway. These are just documentation files and public tools that access the Bentley Web Services Gateway deployment through the HTTP protocol.

Does ProjectWise Web View store any of my ProjectWise data in the cloud?

No.

No data from your on-premise ProjectWise datasource is ever stored in the cloud. As usual, all documents (files) are stored in the storage area of the ProjectWise Integration Server, and everything else is stored in the ProjectWise database.

When a user opens or downloads a document in ProjectWise Web View, a copy of that document is sent from the ProjectWise Integration Server's storage area directly to the user's computer.