Applies to:
- Revu 21
- Revu 20
- Revu 2019
- Revu 2018
Jump to other versions:
Have you ever wanted to invite a team member who doesn’t own Revu to a Studio Project or Session? You can, by having them use Revu in View Mode. This free version of Revu allows anyone to view and print PDF documents, fill out and save PDF forms and, best of all, collaborate with others using Bluebeam Studio.
There are two sides to Studio: Studio Projects and Studio Sessions. This article will help you figure out which is best for the collaboration needs of your team, and how you and your team members can participate in both.
How to activate View Mode
To start, you’ll need to download Bluebeam Revu from our website and install it on your PC. During the installation, when Revu asks you to enter your serial number and product key, click Use as Trial. This will activate a 30-day trial of Revu, granting you full access to the software. Once the trial ends, Revu will automatically switch View Mode until a license key is purchased. You can also switch to View Mode at any time by clicking Revu > View Mode.
Studio Sessions 
Studio Sessions are for PDF-based online collaboration. While in a Studio Session, any user running in View Mode will have access to all of the markup and tool set features normally reserved for licensed users of Revu. This means that you can take measurements, add comments and place markups on PDFs to share your thoughts with others participating in the Studio Session with you.
How Sessions Work
While in a Session, there is no need to check files in and out. All you need to do is click on a PDF to open it, even if other users have the PDF opened. That is the benefit of Sessions: real-time collaboration. All users in the Session markup the document, and everyone can see what others are adding or have added. There is also a Record that captures user activity, including the user name and what they added, modified or removed from the PDF.
Editing markups
To maintain user accountability, markups can only be edited or removed by the user who initially created them.
Automatic cloud backup
All markups are added in real-time and uploaded to the cloud as you add them to the PDF, so even if you lose connection to the Session, your markups are safely stored in the cloud within that Session. Revu will even remember which PDFs you had open and will restore them for you automatically, so you can pick up right where you left off once internet connectivity is restored.
Studio Projects 
Studio Projects is Bluebeam’s document management system that lets you store many different file types – including PDFs, Microsoft Office files, and images – in the cloud. Keep in mind, when using View Mode to access a Project, the PDF files in the Project can only be viewed – markups are restricted. However, if there is a PDF document in the Project that you need to add markups to, you can ask the Project owner (the person who invited you to the Project) to add the PDF to a Session. Alternatively, the Project owner can also use the Share Link feature, which would allow you to download a local copy of the Project file to your PC.
How to add Project documents to a Session
The Project owner simply has to right-click on the PDF document and add it to a new Session. The owner can give this ability to other users in the Project via Permissions as well. Once the PDF is added to a Session, a user in View mode can access that Session as before, using either an invitation link or the Studio ID number. As mentioned earlier, the markup capabilities of Revu would be unlocked while working in a Studio Session for this View mode user.
How to share a link to a Project file
- Have the owner join the Project, select the file, and then click the ellipses (…) button towards the top right corner of the Project display area.
- In the drop-down menu that appears, the owner can then click Share Link... A window will appear, allowing the owner to set how long the download link should be active, and whether or not to require a password.
- Upon clicking OK, Revu will generate a hyperlink that can be copied to the owner’s clipboard and distributed. (Users in View Mode will still be able to download the file from this link.)
Working with non-PDF files in Projects
Other file types—like Excel spreadsheets and Word documents—can also be added to Studio Projects. These files may be checked out and edited locally using an appropriate program, then checked back into the Project.
To work with non-PDF file types:
- Right-click on the file and select Check Out
. The file will now be listed in the Pending section of the Project with a blue icon 
next to it. - Right-click on the file again and select Open
. This will open the file with its associated application. - Edit the document in the application, and save your changes as you normally would.
- Now go back to the Studio Project, right-click on the file listed in the Pending section, and select Check In
from the menu.
Recovering Studio files
If you lose internet connectivity after checking out a file, you should see your activity in the Pending Changes section. Once you connect to the internet again, pending changes will be saved to the Project file.
How-To
Revu 2019
Studio
Revu 20
Other versions of this article
Revu 2017 and older
Have you ever wanted to invite a co-worker who doesn’t own Revu to a Studio Project or Session? You can, by having them use an unregistered trial of Revu. This free version of Revu allows anyone to view and print PDF documents, fill out and save PDF forms and, best of all, collaborate with others using Bluebeam Studio.
There are two sides to Studio: Studio Projects and Studio Sessions. This article will help you figure out which is best for the collaboration needs of your team, and how you and your team members can participate in both.
Studio Sessions 
Studio Sessions are for PDF-based online collaboration. While in a Studio Session, an unregistered copy of Revu provides access to many of the markup and tool set features normally reserved for licensed users of Revu. You can still take measurements, add comments and place markups on PDFs to share your thoughts with others participating in the Studio Session with you.
How Does a Studio Session Work?
While in a Studio Session, there is no need to check files in and out. All you need to do is click on a PDF to open it, even if other users have the PDF opened. That is the beauty of Studio Sessions: real-time collaboration. All users in the Session markup the document, and everyone can see what others are adding or have added. There is also a Record that captures user activity, including the user name and what they added, modified or removed from the PDF.
Can Other Attendees Modify My Markups?
No. To preserve each user’s accountability, markups can only be edited or removed by the user who initially created them.
What If I Lose Internet Connectivity?
All markups are added in real-time and uploaded to the cloud as you add them to the PDF, so even if you lose connection to the Session, your markups are safely stored in the cloud within that Session. Revu will even remember what PDFs you had opened and will restore them for you automatically, so you can pick up right where you left off once Internet connectivity is restored.
Studio Projects
Studio Projects is Bluebeam’s simple document management system that lets you store many different file types – including PDFs, Microsoft Office files and images – in the cloud. Keep in mind, when using an unregistered copy of Revu to access a Studio Project, the PDF files in the Project can only be viewed – markups are restricted. However, if there is a PDF document in the Project that you need to add markups to, you can ask the Project owner (the person who sent you an invite to the Project) to add the PDF to a Studio Session.
Alternatively, the Project owner can also use the Share Link feature, which would allow you to download a local copy of the Project file to your PC.
How Does the Studio Project Owner Add a PDF to a Session?
The Project owner simply has to right-click on the PDF document and add it to a new Session. The owner can give this ability to other users in the Project via Permissions as well. Once the PDF is added to a Session, the unregistered Revu user can access that Session as before, using either an invitation link or the Studio ID number. Just like we talked about earlier, the markup capabilities of Revu would be unlocked while working on PDF documents in a Studio Session for this unregistered user.
Can I Work With Other Project Files Stored in Studio Projects?
Other file types — like Excel spreadsheets and Word documents — can also be added to Studio Projects. These files may be checked out and edited locally using an appropriate program (e.g. Word or Excel), then checked back into the Project.
To work with non-PDF file types:
- Right-click on the file and select Check Out. The file will now be listed in the Pending Changes section of the Project with a red check mark next to it.
- Right-click on the file again and select Open. This will open the file with its associated application.
- Edit the document in the application, and save your changes as you normally would.
- Now go back to the Studio Project, right-click on the file listed in the Pending Changes section, and select Check In from the menu.
But wait! What if you lost Internet connectivity while you had an Office document checked out? Good news — Studio has you covered. As long as the document was checked out and listed in the Pending Changes section, you can finish your changes and simply check the file back in when your connection is restored. Just because you’re using the free viewer, doesn’t mean we don’t have your back!
Recovering Studio Files
What if you lost Internet connectivity while you had an Office document checked out? Studio has you covered. As long as the document was checked out and listed in the Pending Changes section, you can finish your changes and simply check the file back in when your connection is restored.
How-To
Revu 21
Studio