ProjectWise Keeps Re-Downloading Files You Already Have: Here’s Why

Your designer opens a plan sheet, and ProjectWise pulls down the same aerials it pulled yesterday. That is usually not your internet. It is how ProjectWise handles the copies on your computer, and a lot of IT providers never look there.

For example, let’s say a designer opens a plan sheet at 8:00 in the morning. The progress bar crawls while ProjectWise pulls down the aerials, the survey, and every reference file. She opened that same sheet yesterday, and nothing in those files has changed. So why is she waiting on data that should already be on her computer?

Here is the short version. ProjectWise is supposed to keep copies of your files on your computer, so it only has to fetch what changed. Usually, one of three things is going on. Your copies are being deleted, ProjectWise is ignoring copies that are still there, or the workspace keeps coming down fresh. You should run one quick check to see which one you have before you change anything. For aerials and other reference files, the setting to look at first is Use up to date local copy on copy out.

It Is Probably Not Your Internet

If you have been fighting this, you probably called your internet provider. Maybe you paid for a faster plan. That was not a dumb move, since bandwidth matters for design firms, and we wrote a post on what internet speed a design firm actually needs.

The catch is that a faster line just moves the same waste faster. It shortens the wait, but it never fixes why the download happens. When we talk with small engineering firms that do DOT work, this problem comes up again and again. At two firms we spoke with, it was an open ticket that nobody could close.

A faster internet line just moves the same waste faster.

How ProjectWise Is Supposed to Work

Here is what ProjectWise is not. It does not open your drawing straight off the server the way a mapped network drive does.

Here is what it is. When you open a file, ProjectWise copies it to a folder on your hard drive, and you work on that copy. That folder is your working directory. The Missouri DOT’s ProjectWise manual says it holds temporary copies of the files you check out or copy out. Think of it as a local cache, a place your computer keeps copies so it does not have to fetch them again.

There are two kinds of files in that folder. The sheet you edit gets checked out, which locks it to you. The files attached to it, like aerials, topo, and utilities, are only copied out. The Georgia DOT notes that references are not checked out to you, so others can still edit them.

If a current copy is already on your drive, ProjectWise can reuse it. If only part of a file changed, a feature called Delta File Transfer can send just the changed parts. But that needs a local copy to compare. If the copy is gone, the whole file comes down again.

First, Check What Is Really Happening

You should find out if your copies are being deleted or just ignored. A quick test tells you which.

1. Open a sheet with a lot of references through ProjectWise.
2. Close it the normal way, and check it in when MicroStation or OpenRoads asks.
3. In ProjectWise Explorer, open Tools, then Local Document Organizer, and look at the copies list.

If the sheet and its references are still listed, your copies are kept, and ProjectWise is choosing to download them again. If they are missing, something is deleting them. Look again the next morning too, in case something clears the folder overnight.

When the Copies Are There but It Downloads Anyway

This is the case that fits the aerials problem best. ProjectWise has user settings named “Use up to date local copy on copy out” and “Use up to date local copy on check out”. When they are on, ProjectWise reuses a copy that is already current instead of grabbing a new one. References are copied out, so the copy out setting matters most for aerials.

Bentley’s administrator help says network traffic is lowest when Leave local copy and Use up to date copy are both turned on. In one Bentley support article, shared reference files were copied out over and over during plotting from ProjectWise Plot Organizer. Bentley’s fix was to turn on Use up to date local copy on copy out.

When the Copies Keep Disappearing

If the check showed your copies vanishing, here are the usual reasons.

Check In from the Local Document Organizer. Closing a file and checking it in from MicroStation keeps your copy. The plain Check In button inside the Local Document Organizer checks the file in and deletes your copy. Guides from the Georgia DOT and WSDOT point to Check In Leave Copy as the button that keeps it.

Freeing files. Freeing a file (undoing a check out without saving) deletes the copy unless Leave local copy on free is on. A matching setting, Leave local copy on check in, covers check ins.

Cleaning the folder by hand. People delete the folder in Windows Explorer to free up space. That throws away the whole cache and can confuse ProjectWise about what you have. Bentley and the DOT guides say to clean up with the Local Document Organizer.

A new or rebuilt computer. A fresh machine starts with no copies, so each project is slow until they build back up.

Why Aerials Make It So Much Worse

The pain comes from everything that rides along with the sheet. Oregon DOT’s guide explains that opening a sheet copies out the parent file and all of its references. The Oklahoma DOT notes that those copies include raster images (aerial photos and scanned plans).

How references are attached matters too. WSDOT’s CAD notes describe a file with over 300 references. Changing its nested references (references attached through other references) into direct ones cut open time from 15 minutes to under 30 seconds. That is a design call, not an IT one, so bring it to your CADD lead. DOT standards often set how sheets are referenced, and changing a shared file affects everyone who uses it.

The Workspace Piece Nobody Touches

Many DOTs send their standards to designers through a managed workspace (the cell libraries, levels, seed files, and print styles ProjectWise pushes to every user). TDOT is one of them. Its 2026 consultant manual uses a Dynamic Managed WorkSpace.

Workspace files get cached on your computer too, which helps until something goes stale after a standards update or an OpenRoads upgrade. The Colorado DOT’s guide walks through purging the workspace and deleting old preference files. It also warns that the first file you open afterward will be slower, since everything comes down fresh.

Settings do not explain every case. If your copies are kept and the settings are already on, look at the workspace setup.

What You Should Do About It

Here is the order we work through:

1. Run the check first. It tells you if you have a deleting problem or an ignoring problem.
2. Turn on the four document settings if you can. In ProjectWise Explorer CONNECT Edition, go to Tools, then Options, then the Settings tab, then Document. Start with Use up to date local copy on copy out. Then turn on Use up to date local copy on check out, Leave local copy on check in, and Leave local copy on free. If you cannot see them, your admin has hidden them.
3. Give every person their own working directory. Bentley’s support article on the “checkout location is already in use” error says its most common cause is people sharing one working directory path while Leave local copy is on. Watch shared plotting computers and fixed folder paths.
4. Never work on files straight from the working directory. More copies make it tempting to open them from Windows Explorer. The Missouri DOT’s manual warns that working on local copies can lose data. Always check files out through ProjectWise. If you exported a file, import it back before you purge.
5. Plan for disk space. Purge finished projects through the Local Document Organizer on a schedule, not in a panic.
6. Talk with your CADD lead about nested references. Fewer of them means less to copy and faster opens.
7. Only if your firm runs its own ProjectWise server, check the server side. Delta File Transfer is on by default for new datasources, but Bentley notes it can slow things down on fast office networks, so test before and after. A caching server usually only pays off when you have more than one office.

If You Work in TDOT’s ProjectWise

Many small firms that do TDOT work do not run their own ProjectWise. They work in TDOT’s. TDOT’s 2026 manual shows consultants on ProjectWise Explorer CONNECT Edition 2023, and TDOT does not use ProjectWise Drive. That makes you a small fish in a big pond, because TDOT’s admins control many of these settings.

Everything on that list is still yours except the server step. You should send a short, specific request to whoever manages ProjectWise for TDOT. Name the settings and say what the check showed. “My references are kept but copied out again every morning” gives them something to act on, while “it’s slow” goes nowhere.

You may also run into Oregon DOT’s remote work tip, which is to export files with a lock and work from your own drive. It cuts downloads, but it locks others out of those files, and you must import your changes back. Use it on purpose, not as a habit.

Why This Ticket Keeps Bouncing

If your IT person is good with email, backups, and computers, that matters, and we are glad you have someone. But ProjectWise is its own world, with its own cache, settings, and workspace. An IT person who has never worked in it will often see slow opens and blame the network.

So the ticket bounces between IT, Bentley, and the DOT while designers start the download and go get coffee. Proactive is better than reactive here. Fix it once, write it down, and check it again after every upgrade.

If some machines are fast and others crawl, see why the same software works on one machine but not another. If MicroStation also kicks people out, that is a separate issue we cover in why MicroStation kicks out some users and never others.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Aspen IT Group Helps

We work with small architecture and engineering firms, including civil and DOT firms that live in MicroStation, OpenRoads, and ProjectWise. Based in East Tennessee. Serving firms nationwide. We do not stop at “the network looks fine.” We run the check, review your ProjectWise settings and working directories, and look at the machines your designers use. When the fix belongs to TDOT, we help you write a request that gets read. Then we write down what we set, so it stays fixed after the next upgrade.

Your engineers should open a drawing and get to work, so they can focus on the design, not the download bar. If ProjectWise is eating your mornings, give us a call.

Sources: Bentley ProjectWise Administrator Help: User Settings; Bentley: Delta File Transfer; Bentley: ProjectWise Explorer User Properties Dialog; Missouri DOT: ProjectWise Manual; Georgia DOT: MicroStation and ProjectWise; Georgia DOT: Local Document Organizer; WSDOT: Local Document Organizer Training 201; WSDOT: MicroStation Optimizing References; Oregon DOT: Working Remotely with ProjectWise Data; Oklahoma DOT: Purging Local Copies; Colorado DOT: ORD User Maintenance Guide; TDOT: ProjectWise Consultant User Manual (March 2026)