Bluebeam Sessions | Real time Collaboration

Collaborate like never before, multiple users modifying the same drawing at the same time.

For our customers, Bluebeam’s Revu brings a lot of goods to the table and when it comes to Revu 21 coming out, Bluebeam Studio is taking the spotlight. Bluebeam’s Studio sessions takes online collaboration to a new level, available in every Subscription package of Revu 21; Basic, Core & Complete. Revu users can add markups to the same PDF document together in real-time using Studio Sessions, or individually at any time while the Session is active. All markup activity is tracked in the record that conveniently links back to the Session PDFs, and a built-in chat feature aids communication during the collaboration Session. After the session is complete, everyone that was on the session will receive a markup summary by email of everything that changed on the drawing and by whom. Available in all editions of Revu this feature brings meaning to the word together.

What features does studio sessions have?

1. Real-time functionality

Studio Sessions doesn’t just allow multiple attendees to access a PDF but to make markups at the same time, with all changes immediately available to everyone. This means you don’t have to wait for an email with a reply or new version of the PDF to get the information you need. The real-time capabilities also let you follow another attendee—this means you’re able to watch as they zoom, pan, and mark up the PDF.

To follow another attendee, hover over the attendee’s name in the Session panel and click Follow Attendee. Your screen will automatically update to match theirs. This lets you work through an issue with a colleague without leaving Revu to exchange emails or files, to get straight to the point, you’re not just screensharing you’re editing just as you go along. Talk about effective multitasking!

2. Session record and reporting

When we are in a meeting or chat, we can’t always recall what goes on at the end of the session in detail. Session record and reporting has you covered. While you’re in a Session, you can find a record containing a complete history of all markup activity and chats in the lower part of the Studio panel. All the information is hyperlinked, so you can click on a chat message or markup in the list and jump to the section of the PDF that the user was viewing when their chat message or markup was added.

At the end of a Studio Session, you can create a report as a single PDF that contains all the documents and markups from the Session, along with a full history of the Session record. To create your Session Report, click Report in the bottom right corner of the Studio panel. Useful anytime you’re required to show your work or other’s inputs at meetings without having to remember it at the top of your head. No muss no fuss.

3. Session expiration date

Just like Food, Sessions themselves can expire, doesn’t sound too great, however, it does keep priorities in check to have work done in a strict period allowing for other sessions to be made and more projects to be done Session hosts can close a Session manually when all users have finished working. Once a Session is closed, the files contained within that Session will no longer be available in Studio.

Hosts can also configure a Studio Session to have an expiration date, removing the need to manually close the Session. The expiration date can be set up when creating the Session, or afterwards. Once the expiration date is set, it can be changed as needed. Really drives the ambition and organisation of coordinating sessions.

4. Add Project files to a Session

When it comes to a project, we all have a handful of files ready for show or still in progress. The best process is an organised process with evidence for every meeting collaboration or discussion. PDFs in a Project can be added to a Studio Session for real-time collaboration. Only Sessions created using this method can have Project files added to them, but additional Project files can be added to them in the future.

Users must have both Send PDFs to Sessions permission and Read/Write folder permission to use this feature. Users with the Full Control permission will already have both of these permissions by default. Can’t have too many files to show right?

5. Renaming a Session

This feature is small but even the smallest feature can be the most essential, giving priority and recognition to the Project. The Session host names Sessions upon creating them. Afterwards, Sessions can be renamed from the Studio panel by the Session host only.

6. Inviting Attendees that don’t require a licence

Who says you can’t invite more team players to the party without ID? Although you’ll need a licensed copy of Revu 21 Core & Complete to host a Session (not available in Basic) , Basic attendees can participate in the session so they can still see the work that has been created for review. When accessing Revu 21 outside a Studio Session, markup tools are greyed out if you don’t have a Bluebeam Plan account.

Markup tools are greyed out if you don’t have a Bluebeam Plan account

However, you can still open, view, and print PDFs, as well as fill out forms, in Read-only mode. Please see the table below for additional Revu functionalities that are available outside a Session without a subscription:

Accordingly, Core and Complete both take the lead in the session while Basic Participates only, however it brings up the question of whether ownership of a session can be transferred – Let’s find out.

Reassigning ownership of the session

Sometimes people come and go, sometimes they required someone else to take over the throne to Document or reflect the events, Projects are rollercoasters and therefore Sessions does what it can to adapt to the circumstances in which a person may need to provide ownership to someone else.

In Revu, you can edit Studio permissions for individual users and groups as well as reassign ownership of a Session. Once you’ve reassigned ownership of a Session, you’ll no longer be the owner or have control over preferences. These steps will give the new owner full access to the permissions and preferences of a Session. If you need to reassign markups of a user who left a Session, see How to reassign markup ownership.

What’s to come.

While we have focused on Studio sessions in this article, we haven’t thoroughly explained Studio projects as it isn’t our Centrepoint right now. However, in due time we will go into instances on a construction project when using a Session makes more sense than using a Project—and vice versa. Moreover, there may be times when workers in the construction, engineering, architecture, and operators (AECO) industry may think using one vs. the other makes sense for a specific workflow—when in fact the opposite may be true. Between Studio projects and sessions see what works for and your processes, stay tuned.