Bluebeam File Exchange

Bluebeam File Exchange (bFX) can be enabled with every version of Revu—including Revu Offline—and offers turn-based collaboration abilities that are similar to, though not as powerful as, Studio. With bFX, PDF files remain stored in your preferred remote location while other users can view and mark up the PDF in Revu through your internal network. Markups appear to all users accessing the files via bFX through the saving and reopening the PDF periodically. bFX is an efficient alternative to exporting, sharing, and importing markups.

The initial bFX setup requires engineering efforts. Once initial setup is complete, the bFX files are shared directly in Revu.

We recommended using bFX in the following scenarios:

  • You want to deploy your bFX server in your high security CMMC/FedRAMP/NIST 800-171 enclave to collaborate on your high security projects handling controlled unclassified information (CUI), which would not be possible with Bluebeam Studio.

  • You can't use a Studio Private Cloud because it's not hosted on AWS GovCloud or GCC.

  • You're willing to use a turn-based collaboration software—without real-time updates or user management capabilities—until Bluebeam releases its next-generation high security Studio software.

  • You have software engineering resources that can set up bFX.

bFX workflow overview

An overview of the typical bFX user workflow is as follows:

  1. Your company's engineering team creates an internally hosted website that constructs the bFX file.

  2. You open the bFX file in Revu, which automatically downloads the PDF files from your designated storage to your local machine and downloads the BAX markup files from the bFX server.

  3. You add markups to the PDF file and save the file.

  4. Bluebeam automatically sends the BAX markup file back to your remote system.

For detailed information on setting up and accessing bFX files, see the bFX Guide.

Workflow notes:

  • Markups only go back to the server when a user saves the PDF file, so save your work frequently if you're collaborating with others. To see markups that other users have saved, close and reopen the file.

  • Once markups are complete, use "Save as" to capture all comments and markups in a single PDF.

bFX security

bFX files are hosted locally on your server, allowing you to securely share files internally. bFX files contain URLs to PDF files and markup files (XML files with a .bax extension) that allow you to interface with your remote system using HTTP GETs and POSTs.

The ability to pull the PDF and BAX files directly from a shared folder provides you with a high level of security and gives you access to powerful collaboration while not needing FedRAMP.

  • You can closely control access to your shared folders.

  • The only data going through your server are the markups.

  • The security level of the data that your team shares in markups is at your discretion. Since only the markups are being transmitted—not the PDF itself—there is no movement of possible CUI.

bFX Guide

This bFX Guide provides information on creating and accessing bFX files in Revu and is intended for your software engineering team.

 

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Resources

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file exchange

The bFX Guide provides information on creating and accessing Bluebeam File Exchange files in Revu.