Issue description
Occasionally, local data files for Archicad Teamwork projects may become corrupted on individual workstations, resulting in project errors, data loss, or teamwork sync failures. Preventing such corruption is essential for project stability and ongoing collaboration. These errors can manifest in slow project operations, unexpected need to force leave the project, or warnings about incompatible or corrupted cache files related to local data
Send and Receive may take unusually long, fail with errors, or the process may hang, and in some cases the project cannot be opened from your workstation while it remains available for others.
The problems often reappear on the same workstation, even after restarting, while other users on the same BIMcloud server can continue working normally.
Solution
Following these best practices to significantly reduce the risk of local Teamwork data corruption, helping you avoid project errors, data loss, and sync failures:
Keep Teamwork local data on a healthy internal drive
Store your user profile, autosave, and Teamwork local data on a fast internal SSD or HDD, not on external, USB, network, or cloud synced locations, and periodically check the system disk with built in tools such as Disk Utility on macOS or CHKDSK on Windows to detect and resolve hardware or file system errors early.
Do not place the application or cache on external or synced folders
Install the application to its default program folder on the internal drive and keep all configurable folders, including Recovery, Temporary, Cache and Publisher logs, on the same local drive, avoiding on demand cloud folders so that autosave and Teamwork cache files are always written and read locally without sync delays. Read more on Best practices for using Archicad with BIMcloud SaaS and third‑party file hosting services
Exclude Teamwork local data and application folders from antivirus and cleanup tools
Add the application and all related user folders to the exclusion list of your antivirus and tuning tools, on both Windows and macOS, so real time scans and automatic cleanup do not lock, move, or delete active Teamwork cache and configuration files while you work in shared projects.
Configure Data Safety & Integrity for safer recovery
In Options > Work Environment > Data Safety & Integrity, enable recovery and backup options, choose an autosave interval that matches your risk tolerance, and keep the autosave folder on the same healthy internal drive so that recent work can be recovered quickly after a crash or interruption.
Keep local Teamwork data clean and current
Regularly open Teamwork > Project > Local Data Manager to remove unused projects and delete local data after leaving long inactive projects, and always Send & Receive before clearing cache so you reconnect with a fresh, clean local copy from BIMcloud without losing any unsent changes.
Protect workstations with an uninterruptible power supply
Connect Teamwork workstations to a UPS (uninterruptible power supply), preferably line-interactive or on-line UPS, and configure the UPS software for a controlled shutdown during longer outages so sudden power loss does not interrupt write operations to local cache or autosave folders, which reduces the risk of corruption.
Avoid forced shutdowns, crashes, or disconnecting from BIMcloud unexpectedly; always use the proper exit and data send/receive procedures before closing Archicad
Where to learn more
- For detailed settings of the Data Safety & Integrity dialog, see the Data Safety & Integrity help page.
- For guidance on recovering projects from autosave or Teamwork cache folders, review the Teamwork Backup Recovery support article.
- Incompatible or corrupted cache file in Teamwork
Use these recommendations together with your standard IT policies to keep local Teamwork data reliable and to minimize downtime if an individual workstation develops hardware, software, or power problems.