A Bluebeam ID (BBID) is the account a person uses to sign in to Revu 21, Studio and Bluebeam on web and mobile. Org Admin is the web portal where an organization assigns its purchased subscription seats to those accounts.[3][15] Together they replace the serial numbers and product keys of earlier Revu versions. The Org Admin Guide notes: “No serial number or product key is necessary to get started.”[15] For a licence manager, the Org Admin user list is the record of who holds which plan. The sign-in rules decide how far a plan can be used.
Editions
The plan assigned to a user decides which Revu features unlock when that user signs in. Revu 21 is installed without any licence information. Users sign in after deployment “so that the proper subscription tier can take effect”.[12] Administration comes in two levels. Org Admin is for organizations “with more than two Bluebeam licenses”. There, admins allocate subscription seats, change subscription packages, manage other admins and set up SSO and SCIM.[6] Org Admin Pro adds organization-wide Studio controls, such as limiting which groups can use Studio, blocking external collaborators and reassigning ownership of Sessions and Projects.[6]
The guide names four roles:[15]
- IT Admin: manages SSO, SCIM and domains, as well as users and seats.
- Org Admin: allocates seats and adds or deactivates users.
- Studio Admin: manages access to Studio Projects and Sessions.
- No Access: the default for new end users.
A user who is the only subscriber in an organization is automatically its Org Admin.[15]
Metrics
| Term | Catalog row | How it is enforced |
|---|---|---|
| Authorized User | Authorized User | A seat on a plan is assigned to a BBID in Org Admin. Without a seat the account shows “Unpaid/Unassigned” and has Read-only access.[13] |
| Unpaid Collaborator | Unpaid Collaborator | Read-only Revu and limited Studio markup, with no paid seat.[1] |
| Device limit | Device (sign-in limit) | Up to five devices per user. A sixth sign-in is refused.[4] |
Counting / floors
Five devices. A subscriber or Read-only user may sign in to Revu 21 on up to five devices. Signing in on a sixth produces “The maximum number of seats has been exceeded”. The same error appears when the assigned plan has no seats left at account level.[4] The limit is per person, not a licence for five people: the General Terms forbid sharing login credentials or letting others use an account.[2] Catalog: A named user may sign in on up to five devices; Bluebeam IDs may not be shared.
Offline grace period. Subscribers must sign in online. Revu then works offline for up to 30 days, after which the user must reconnect on the same machine and sign in again.[3][5] Bluebeam says it does not plan a named-user login that works offline indefinitely, and that manual registration is not possible.[3] This affects sites without internet access. Catalog: Offline use limited to 30 days between sign-ins.
Freeing seats. A user who leaves the company should be deactivated. A user who still needs to collaborate can instead be downgraded to Unpaid Collaborator, which frees the paid seat.[7] In organizations with child accounts, an admin can move available subscriptions to a child account and return them later.[8] Catalog: Deactivate only leavers; downgrade others to free seats; Unpaid Collaborators use Revu read-only without a paid seat.
What non-subscribers can do. Without a plan, Revu 21 runs in Read-only mode. Users can open, view and print PDFs and fill forms, but markup tools are greyed out outside Studio Sessions.[9] A lapsed subscription falls back to the same mode. No data is lost, and Studio data is kept for 120 days.[14] Catalog: Expired plans fall back to Read-only; Studio data kept 120 days.
Virtualization & partitioning
There is no published VDI or terminal-server rule for Revu 21. Each named user’s sessions count toward the five-device limit, and the Addendum ties Seats to Devices the Licensee owns or controls.[4][1] Non-persistent desktops that create a new device at each logon may therefore use up a user’s five sign-ins. That is an inference from the published limit, so admins should test their VDI set-up against it.
Cloud / BYOL
Studio licensing
Studio is Bluebeam’s cloud collaboration service. Studio Sessions are for real-time review, and Studio Projects store documents.[10] Creating Sessions or Projects needs a Core, Complete or Max plan, an active trial, or a Revu 20 licence. Basics subscribers can collaborate but must be invited.[10] People without a plan can still join with Read-only access if they have a BBID.[10] Under the Addendum, anyone a customer shares content with may use it “without further restriction or compensation”. Customers are responsible for their own access controls.[1] Catalog: Basics can join but not host Studio Sessions and Projects.
Regions and retention
Studio is hosted on AWS in the region the customer selects.[1] Each region needs its own BBID, and Projects, Sessions and data are not shared between regional servers.[11] The Addendum allows archiving after 180 days of inactivity, with permanent deletion at least 120 days after that.[1] The Studio FAQ describes the schedule for unfinished Sessions:[10]
- after 80 days of inactivity, the host is warned that the Session will be archived in 10 days;
- after 170 days, the host is warned that it will be deleted in 10 days;
- archived copies of finished Sessions are kept for 120 days.
Catalog: Each Studio region needs its own Bluebeam ID; Inactive Studio content is archived after 180 days.
Deployment and discovery
Revu 21 is deployed as an MSI. The deployment guide says “A serial number or product key is no longer necessary for deployment”, and that no properties are required.[12] Installation does not need a connection to the licensing server, and the Registration button has been removed.[12] A major-version upgrade without the Uninstall Previous Versions script installs the new version side by side with the old one, so both appear on the machine.[12] For inventory, this means two things. An installation of Revu 21 is not an entitlement. A machine that still runs Revu 20 next to Revu 21 needs attention, because converted customers may not use both.
Catalog: Revu 21 deploys without serial number or product key. See Bluebeam Revu 20 end of life and legacy licences.
Out of scope
- SSO and SCIM configuration steps with specific identity providers.
- The Bluebeam Developer Portal and API terms.
- Bluebeam on web and mobile feature lists.