Use Bluebeam Studio with a Revu trial

Applies to:

  • Revu 21
  • Revu 20

Bluebeam Studio makes it simple to collaborate on documents, even if you don’t own a license of Revu. With a free trial, you have access to all of the features in Revu. Once your trial expires, you can continue to collaborate in View or Read-only mode.

Signing up for a trial will set up your Bluebeam ID (BBID) to sign in to Revu 21 and Studio.

  1. Open Revu.
  2. Go to the Studio panel (Alt+C).
    By default, Use my Revu login credentials is selected, which allows you to use the BBID associated with your trial. You can also sign into Studio using a different BBID from the one you use to sign into Revu.
  3. Select Sign in.
  4. Select Create Account and fill out all fields.

  1. You'll be sent a verification email for your Studio account. Open the email and click Confirm My Bluebeam ID. Once your account has been verified, you can sign in to Studio with your BBID.

First, download the free trial and install it on your computer. During the installation, when prompted to enter your serial number and product key, select Use as Trial. This will activate a 14-day free trial of Revu, granting you full access to the software. When your trial expires, Revu will automatically switch to View Mode. View Mode allows you to use Measurement tools, join Studio Session, and view documents.

Before using Studio, you need to set up your Bluebeam ID (BBID).

  1. Open Revu.
  2. Go to the Studio panel (Alt+C).

  3. From the drop-down, select the Studio region associated with your BBID.

  4. Select Sign in.
  5. Select Create Account and fill out all fields.

    The Bluebeam Display Name is the name that your colleagues will see when you make changes to a document.
  1. You'll be sent a verification email for your Studio account. Open the email and click Confirm My Bluebeam ID. Once your account has been verified, you can sign in to Studio with your BBID.

Studio Sessions and Studio Projects

Bluebeam Studio includes to collaboration solutions: Studio Sessions and Studio Projects. Studio Projects are for cloud-based file storage and document management, while Studio Sessions are for adding markups to PDFs in real time with colleagues. Learning the difference can help you understand how and what you're able to edit in Studio.

Studio Projects

To find Studio Projects, open the Studio panel (Alt+C), and select Projects

A Project is an online storage and document management system. Projects can store many different types of files (including non-PDF documents) that can be edited in other programs. To ensure that participants don't write over each other's changes, documents must first be checked out before they can be edited. Checking out a document means that nobody else will be able to edit the document until you check it back in.

The main workflow for Projects is to check out a document, make changes to it, and then check it back in as a new revision. This process is slightly different depending on whether you're editing a PDF document or a non-PDF document.

To edit PDF documents, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Studio panel (Alt+C), and select Projects.
  2. Right-click the file, and select Check Out. The file is listed in the Pending section of the Project with a blue icon next to it.
  3. Right-click the file again, and select Open. The PDF loads in a new tab in Revu.
  4. Edit the PDF as needed, and go to File > Save (Ctrl+S) to save the changes.
  5. On the Studio Projects tab, right-click on the file listed in the Pending section, and select Check In.

During the check-in process, you're prompted to add comments. These comments are added to the Revision History for the document. To view the Revision History, right-click the document, and select Revision History.

PDF markup and editing in a Project is restricted after the free trial has expired.

To edit non-PDF files, follow these steps:

Other file types such as Excel spreadsheets and Word documents can be added in Studio Projects. These files can be checked out and edited locally then checked back into the Project.

  1. Open the Studio panel (Alt+C), and select Projects .
  2. Right-click the file, and select Check Out.The file is listed in the Pending section of the Project with a blue icon next to it.
  3. Right-click the file again, and select Open. The file opens with its native application. (For example, opening an Excel spreadsheet will launch Microsoft Excel.)
  4. Edit the document, and go to File > Save (Ctrl+S) to save the changes.
  5. On the Studio Project tab, right-click on the file listed in the Pending section, and select Check In.

Studio Sessions

To find Studio Sessions, open the Studio panel and select Sessions .

Studio Sessions are for PDF-based online collaboration. While in a Session, you don't need to check out or check in files. To open a PDF, select the file (even if other users have opened the PDF). All users in the Session can mark up the document, and everyone can see what others are adding or have added. A Record captures what each user adds, modifies, or removes from the PDF.

While in a Studio Session, any user running in View or Read-only mode has access to all the markup and tool set features normally reserved for licensed or subscription users of Revu. This means that you can take measurements, add comments, and place markups on PDFs even if your Revu trial has expired.
To maintain user accountability, markups in Sessions can only be edited or removed by the user who initially created them. However, transferring markups from inactive users to another member of the Session is possible if necessary.

All markups are added in real time and uploaded to the cloud as you add them to the PDF. Even if you lose connection to the Session, your markups are safely stored 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.

Join a Session or Project

If you've been invited to a Studio Session or Project, join the Session or Project directly from the invitation email.

  1. Open your invitation email.
  2. In Revu 21, select Join Session or Join Project.
    In Revu 20, select Accept Invitation. When asked whether you want to open in Revu or Drawings Web, choose Revu.
  3. Revu should automatically open and load the Session or Project from the invitation.

If Revu doesn't open automatically or if you need to join the session manually, you can use the Session or Project ID in that email to join the session.

If you've been sent a Session or Project ID, join a Project or Session using the 9-digit ID number if you've been invited to it or if access is unrestricted.

  1. Open the Studio panel, and select either Projects or Sessions.
  2. Click Sign in if you haven't already.
  3. Click Add in the Studio panel, and select Join.
  4. Enter the 9-digit ID number, and select OK.

Revu 20

Revu 21

Bluebeam Studio makes it simple to collaborate on documents, even if you don’t own a license of Revu. Here are some tips to get you started in Studio using a free trial of Revu.