Data in file is corrupt and needs to be manually recovered

Issue

When opening a file in Revit you receive the following error message, "Data in file <filename> is corrupt and needs to be manually recovered."

Solution

Please follow the recovery procedures below, based on your file type.

For non-workshared files:

Recovering non-workshared files

For workshared files:

Recovering a backup of a workshared file

If the file can be opened, complete the following steps:

1. In the Open dialog, check the Audit box and open the file.
2. Go to Manage > Purge Unused.
3. Go to the Application Menu > Save As dialog, and save the file under a new name.
4. Switch to your desktop and open Windows Explorer (Windows key +E).Type %temp% in the address bar.
5. Delete as many files as possible from this folder. Some files may not be able to be deleted if they are in use by other applications on your machine.
6. Move the local files and their backups to the desktop.
7. Open Revit.
8. Open the project file with "Create new local" checked.

If a backup cannot be opened, create a new Central file from an existing Local file, following the steps outlined in the document below:

Creating a Central Model from an Existing Workshared File

If the above steps fail, gather the following information and open a Support Case:

1. The corrupt file.
2. The last 5 journal files from each machine accessing the central file. Information on obtaining journal files can be found here.
3. The worksharing log from the central file backup folder (if workshared). It will have a .slog file extension.