Troubleshooting

Messages appear in the status line at the bottom of the stage, in red when something failed. Find the message below.

Opening files

"name is not an IFC, RVT, RFA, DWG or DXF file." BimCraft did not recognize the file. Check the extension and that the file is not empty. PDFs, images and office files do not open.

".ifczip is not supported yet. Save or export the model as a plain .ifc file." (also for .ifcxml) Unzip the .ifczip (it is an ordinary zip holding an .ifc) or export plain IFC.

"web-ifc could not open this file." The IFC file is damaged or not really IFC. Open it in a text editor: a real IFC file starts with ISO-10303-21;. Export it again.

"This file is incomplete: it is … MB, but its own index points to data at least … MB in. …" The project or family file was cut off while being copied, uploaded or synced. A cloud-drive file that is "online only" looks the same. A file opened on its own still opens, with this message at the top of the card and "Showing what was recovered; copy the original again for the full model.": the card shows only the parts whose every byte is in the file and lists the rest under Not in the file. Make the file available offline in your cloud drive, or copy the original again, and reopen it. In a folder, BimCraft shows the newest complete backup instead.

"… The file's own list of contents is in the missing part too, so nothing in it can be opened." The file was cut off so early that not even its list of contents is there. Nothing can be recovered from this copy. Copy the original again and reopen it.

"This compound file has no BasicFileInfo stream, so it is not a Revit file." The file is a compound file of another kind (old office documents use the same container). Check you picked the right file.

"Still working on the last one…" BimCraft is still busy with the previous file or folder. Wait for the status line to finish, then try again.

The file chooser greys out my file. The chooser only offers .ifc, .rvt, .rfa, .rte, .rft, .dwg and .dxf. Drag other files onto the page instead, and BimCraft will tell you whether it can read them.

Opening folders

"This folder has more than 20,000 files. Pick a smaller folder, such as one project." You picked a folder too high up, such as a whole drive. Pick one project folder.

"The browser did not give access to name. Choose it again with Open a folder." You clicked Reopen on a recent folder and the browser's permission was refused or has lapsed. Choose the folder again, or drag it in.

The browser says it will "upload" files. That is the browser's own wording for handing files to a page. BimCraft does not send them anywhere. Drag the folder in to avoid the question.

Nothing happens on a phone or tablet. Many mobile browsers cannot choose folders. Open single files, or use a computer.

The IFC engine loads the first time

The status line stays on "Starting the IFC engine…", or shows an error such as "Failed to fetch". The IFC engine could not be downloaded. You may be offline, or a firewall or content blocker is stopping it.

Saving for offline use

The button says Could not save. Some files did not download, usually because the connection dropped. Check your connection and click the button again. Any earlier offline copy is kept until a new one is complete.

The button says Offline not available. This window cannot keep an offline copy, for example a private window or a managed work computer. See Working offline.

The button stays on "Saving n of m" for a while. BimCraft's copy is about 11 MB, most of it the IFC engine. Keep the tab open until it says Offline ready.

BimCraft opened offline but looks out of date. Your saved copy is from an earlier visit. When you are online, click Offline ready and choose Save again (get the newest version).

3D view

The model is not where I expected, or it is tiny. Press FF or click Fit. Fit always frames everything in the model, including storeys you have unticked and stray elements far from the building, so the building can look small. Zoom in from there.

Clicking does not pick anything. Hold the mouse still while you click: a small drag orbits. Elements on unticked storeys cannot be picked. With Spaces on, the see-through spaces are picked before what is inside them.

The Edges button is greyed out: "Edges are off for very large models". The model has more than 1.5 million triangles. Edges are left off to save memory.

The tab turns slow, white, or shows the browser's crash page. The model is too large for the memory the browser gives the tab. Close other tabs and reload. Export a smaller IFC: one building, one discipline or fewer storeys. See Browsers, devices and memory.

The 3D view stays blank. WebGL may be turned off or blocked. In the browser's settings, turn hardware acceleration (or graphics acceleration) on and restart the browser.

Editing IFC

"Use a number." The value is numeric. Type a plain number without units, such as 2.4.

"Use a whole number." The value is a count or integer. Remove the decimals.

"Only single-value properties can be edited." Lists, enumerations and quantities are read-only.

⌘SCtrl+S opens the browser's "Save page" window. There are no unsaved changes, so BimCraft left the key to the browser. Close the window.

⌘ZCtrl+Z does nothing. It works only while you have unsaved changes and are not typing in a field. After a save, there is nothing left to undo.

The Changes list still shows edits after I discarded them and opened a drawing or a folder. When you answer the "Discard them?" question with OK and then open something other than an IFC model, the old edits are kept in memory and Save as IFC would still save them. To really start fresh, open the original IFC again, or reload the page.

My edit changed more elements than I picked. You changed a property in a set marked "(type)". Type properties apply to every element of the type. Click Undo. See Change a type property for every element of a type.

Drawings

"name could not be read. It may be damaged, or saved in a format the reader does not handle yet (…)." Save the drawing from the program that made it as an older DWG (2018 or earlier) or as DXF, and try again.

"This drawing has nothing to show." or "name is an empty drawing: it holds no lines, text or blocks." The drawing is empty, or holds only things BimCraft does not draw yet (see Not drawn yet on the right).

"This drawing is very large; only part of it is shown." BimCraft stopped drawing to stay responsive. Turn off layers you do not need, or open the sheets you need from a smaller drawing.

Parts of a sheet are missing. Linked drawings may be missing: look under Linked drawings on the right. See Find linked drawings and pictures. Layers may also be off: click All on.

A picture shows as an empty frame. Its file was not found, or it is a TIFF ("TIFF cannot be shown in a browser"). Add a PNG or JPEG copy with Add pictures….

Scrolling on my trackpad zooms instead of moving the drawing. That is how drawings work in BimCraft. Click and drag to pan.

Still stuck

Read What is not built yet: the thing you are looking for may not exist in this build.