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Upload a Tekla Structures model or PDF drawings to a Trimble Connect project

Tekla Structures
Modified: 20 Jan 2026
2026
Tekla Structures

Upload a Tekla Structures model or PDF drawings to a Trimble Connect project

You can upload the current Tekla Structures model to a Trimble Connect project folder as a read-only .tekla file. The .tekla file can then be used as a lightweight reference model with Tekla Structures or any Trimble Connect product.

Before you upload a model to a Trimble Connect project

Before you upload your Tekla Structures model to Trimble Connect, note the following:

Object colors

Object colors in the .tekla reference model might be different than in the Tekla Structures model.

Profiles

Profiles are exported with high solid accuracy, meaning that the rounding on profiles is visible.

High solid accuracy affects Tekla Structures performance. If you do not want to use the high solid accuracy, set the advanced option XS_HIGH_ACCURACY_TRIMBIM_EXPORT to FALSE.

Assemblies

To include assemblies in the .tekla reference model, ensure that the assembly export is enabled in the conf.json file.

  1. Go to ...\TeklaStructures\<version>\Environments\common\system\UploadToConnect.
  2. Copy the conf.json file to the \attributes sub-folder under the model folder.
  3. Open the conf.json file in a text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad.
  4. Check that "assemblies" is set to "true".
  5. Save the conf.json file.
Note that
  • if the assembly export is enabled: rebars belong to the part's assembly (similarly as in the IFC export) and not to the part itself
  • if assembly export is disabled: rebars belong to the part

Pours

If you want to include pours and pour units in the .tekla reference model instead of cast units and cast unit parts, enable pour management.

If you want to include cast units and cast unit parts instead of pours and pour units, disable the pours in the conf.json file.

  1. Go to ...\TeklaStructures\<version>\Environments\common\system\UploadToConnect.
  2. Copy the conf.json file to the \attributes sub-folder under the model folder.
  3. Open the conf.json file in a text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad.
  4. Change "pours" : "model" to "pours" : "false".
  5. Save the conf.json file.

Layers

Layers are available in .tekla models. You can use phases, part names, or template attributes as layer names for uploaded objects.

On the File menu, click Trimble Connect > Upload model settings and use the Layer names as option to set the layer. Select Name or Phase from the list, or type the attribute name in the box.

Note that you cannot use user-defined attributes (UDAs) as the layer name.

Template attributes and user-defined attributes

If you want to define which template attributes and user-defined attributes are uploaded with the .tekla model, use the IFC property sets. Select which IFC property sets are included in the upload.

On the File menu, click Trimble Connect > Upload model settings and use the Property sets option to set the IFC property sets.

Upload a Tekla Structures model to Trimble Connect

  1. Define settings for the upload, if needed.
    1. On the File menu, click Trimble Connect > Upload model settings.

      The Upload model settings dialog opens.

    2. In Trimble Connect folder, select the Trimble Connect project folder where the current model will be uploaded as a .tekla file. By default, the folder path is Structural\Tekla Models.
    3. In Layer names as, select Name or Phase from the list to set the layer information, or type the attribute name in the box.
    4. In Property sets, select the IFC property set for the upload. You can open the Property set definitions dialog that allows you to add and modify the property sets.
    5. Click OK to save the settings.
  2. Go to the Trimble Connect ribbon tab, and click Upload model.
  3. To confirm saving the model and uploading the entire model folder to the attached Trimble Connect project, click Save and upload.

The Tekla Structures model is uploaded as a .tekla file to the Trimble Connect project folder that you defined.

An error message is displayed if the model upload to Trimble Connect fails. In case of upload errors, see the PublishToTrimbleConnect.log file, which you can find in the /logs sub-folder under the model folder.

Note that if you want to move the model to another folder after uploading it, you need to do so manually in Trimble Connect.

Upload a Tekla Model Sharing model to Trimble Connect

The Upload model command does not upload Tekla Model Sharing models to a Trimble Connect project. Instead, use the Upload model settings dialog to select if and when a Tekla Model Sharing is uploaded to a Trimble Connect project folder.

  1. On the File menu, click Trimble Connect > Upload model settings.

    The Upload model settings dialog opens.

  2. In Upload, select when the Tekla Model Sharing model is uploaded to the Trimble Connect project folder.

    The options are:

    • Baseline (default) = The shared model is automatically uploaded to the set Trimble Connect project folder each time a user creates a new baseline.

    • Write out = The shared model is automatically uploaded to the set Trimble Connect project folder after each successful write out.

    • Never = The shared model is never uploaded to the set Trimble Connect project folder.
  3. Additionally, you can set the following on the Upload model settings dialog:
    • Select the Trimble Connect project folder where the model will be uploaded.
    • Set the layer information.
    • Select the IFC property set for the upload.
  4. Click OK to save the settings.

Upload PDF drawings to Trimble Connect

Uploading PDF drawings to Trimble Connect with accurate metadata prevens outdated drawings from being used. When you print drawings, you can automatically upload them with the option to link the PDFs directly to the corresponding parts and assemblies in the Trimble Connect model, and store drawings alongside the model objects. This prevents version control issues where shop or site teams might accidentally use outdated printed drawings.

  1. Set up the drawing upload folders that will be used in Trimble Connect.

    You can set the folders separately for each drawing type.

    1. On the File menu, click Trimble Connect > Upload drawing settings.

      The Upload drawing settings dialog opens.

    2. Click … to open the Folder browser dialog. Browse for the folder you want to use for the drawing upload, or click to create a new folder.

      Alternatively, you can enter the folder path, and a folder is created automatically.

      You can upload assembly drawings, single-part drawings, cast unit drawings and general arrangement drawings.

    3. Repeat this for all drawing types, if needed. Click OK.
    4. If needed, you can save the set folder locations to an attribute file. The file extension is TCDrawingSettings.xml, and the file is stored in the model folder\attributes folder.
    5. When you have set the folders, click OK to save the settings and to close the Upload drawing settings dialog.
  2. To upload the PDF drawings to Trimble Connect, go to Drawings & reports > Document manager.
    1. In the Document manager dialog, select the drawings you want to upload to Trimble Connect.
    2. Right-click and select Print, or click the Print button.

      The Print drawings dialog opens.

    3. In the Trimble Connect section, select the Link drawings to model objects checkbox if you want to link the fabrication drawings to related model objects in Trimble Connect, if the model has been uploaded already.

      For assembly drawings and cast unit drawings, you can select whether the drawing is linked to the assembly or the main part.

      General arrangement drawings cannot be linked to model objects.

    4. If you have not yet selected the PDF drawing upload folder for each drawing type in Trimble Connect, you can do it by clicking … next to Upload drawing settings. By default, the current settings are used.
    5. Click Print and upload to Trimble Connect to upload the PDF drawing to the set folder in Trimble Connect.

      The upload will take a while. Note that a large model can contain too many objects for the linking, causing performance issues in Trimble Connect.

      For more information on performance settings in Trimble Connect, see Display and Performance in Trimble Connect documentation.

      When the uploading is done, Tekla Structures displays a notification stating if the upload was successful or whether there were warnings or errors.

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