Bluebeam Studio makes it simple to collaborate on documents, even if you don’t have a Bluebeam subscription plan. With a free trial, you’ll have access to all of the features in Bluebeam Revu. Once your trial expires, you can continue to collaborate in Read-only mode. Here are some tips to get you started in Studio using a free trial of Revu.

Get started in Studio

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

1. Open Revu.
2. Go to the Studio panel (Alt+C).
   By default, “Use my Revu login credentials” will be 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 in to Revu.
3. From the dropdown, select the Studio region associated with your BBID.
4. Select Sign in.

Studio Sessions and Studio Projects

Bluebeam Studio includes two collaboration solutions: Studio Sessions and Studio Projects. In short, 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 

About 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 overwrite 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.

How to use Projects

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.

Edit PDF documents

1. Open the Studio panel and select Projects.
2. Right-click 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.
3. Right-click the file again and select Open. The PDF will load in a new tab in Revu.
4. Edit the PDF as needed, and go to File > Save (Ctrl+S) to save the changes.
5. Go back to the Studio Projects tab. Right-click the file listed in the Pending section, and select Check In.

Edit non-PDF files

Other file types, like Excel spreadsheets and Word documents, can also be added in Studio Projects. These files can be checked out and edited locally using its native application, then checked back into the Project.

1. Open the Studio panel and select Projects.
2. Right-click 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.
3. Right-click the file again and select Open. This will open the file with its native application (For example, opening an Excel spreadsheet will launch Microsoft Excel).
4. Edit the document and save your changes when finished.
5. Go back to the Studio Project tab. Right-click the file listed in the Pending section, and select Check In.

Studio Sessions 

About Studio Sessions

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

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 mark up the document, and everyone can see what others are adding or have added. There’s also a Record that captures what each user adds, modifies, or removes from the PDF.

Automatic cloud backup

All markups are added in real time and uploaded to the cloud as soon as you add them to the PDF, so even if you lose connection to the Session, your markups are stored safely within that Session. Revu will even remember which PDFs you had open, and will restore them for you automatically, so you can pick up where you left off once internet connectivity is restored.

How to join a Session or Project

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

1. Open your invitation email.
2. Select Join Session or Join Project. This will depend on the type of invitation.
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 also use the Session or Project ID in the email to join the session.

If you’ve been sent a Session or Project ID

You can join a Project or Session using its 9-digit ID number if you’ve received an invitation or if access is unrestricted.

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