Fix Broken IFC External Links

Remove references to external files that your model no longer needs — gets rid of the 'missing file' popups when someone else opens your IFC.

Remove an IFC model's references to external files. Upload the model, run the strip, and download a file that opens without the "cannot find" prompts your recipient has been clicking through.

External references make sense while a model lives on the machine that authored it. They point at a spec document on a network share, a linked drawing in a project folder, a classification file two directories up. Then the IFC gets emailed, uploaded to a common data environment, or opened by a consultant in another company — and every one of those paths is dead. The model itself is completely fine; it just spends the first thirty seconds of every open asking about files nobody has.

When to reach for it: When your IFC points at external files that no longer exist and popups appear every time someone opens the model in a viewer. This strips the broken links so the model stands on its own.

What you get: A standalone IFC with every reference to external files removed. The model opens cleanly in any viewer.

Example: Clean up an IFC model that pops 'file not found' errors when a consultant opens it in their viewer.

What gets removed, and what doesn't

The strip removes external document references and file links: the pointers to documents, drawings and files outside the IFC. Nothing INSIDE the model is affected — geometry, property sets, relationships, GlobalIds, the spatial hierarchy and all the data an element carries stay exactly as they were. The run reports how many references it removed, so you know whether that was the problem.

Being precise about this matters, because "strip external references" sounds more destructive than it is. The references are pointers, not content. Removing a pointer to a file the recipient could never open loses them nothing.

Symptoms this fixes

"Cannot find file" or "missing reference" prompts when the model opens on someone else's machine.
A viewer that stalls on load while it tries to resolve paths that will never resolve.
Warning lists in a validation or import tool full of unresolvable reference errors that bury the findings that matter.
Absolute paths from your file system travelling out with the model — which, aside from being broken, tells the recipient your directory structure and often your username.

Make it part of the hand-off

Broken references are a hand-off problem, so the fix belongs in the hand-off. Save the strip as a step in an outgoing pipeline — strip references, remove sensitive property sets, anonymise, export — and every outgoing model gets the same treatment without anyone remembering to do it.

If the paths themselves are the concern rather than the prompts, Anonymize IFC covers the wider identity surface: author names, organisation, application and machine identifiers, addresses and the STEP file header. The Repair Center handles structural problems — broken relationships and identity defects inside the model — which is a different class of fault from a dead pointer out of it.

How to fix broken external links in an IFC file

Upload your IFC file
Click Run — no configuration needed
Download the standalone file

Under the hood

BIMCamel parses IFC files in the browser using the open-source web-ifc engine and renders models with @thatopen/components + three.js. Heavy operations (clean / optimise / validate / convert) run on disposable server-side workers using the same web-ifc stack plus our own .NET pipeline; results stream back to your browser as soon as they're ready. Uploads sit on our servers only as long as your tier's retention window allows and are never used to train AI.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my IFC ask for missing files when someone else opens it?

Because it carries external document references pointing at paths that only existed on the authoring machine — a network share, a project folder, a linked drawing. The model is fine; the pointers are dead. This tool removes them.

Does removing external references lose any model data?

No. External references are pointers to files outside the IFC, not content inside it. Geometry, property sets, relationships, GlobalIds and the spatial hierarchy are all untouched, and the run reports how many pointers it removed.

Will this make the model open faster?

Often, yes — viewers that try to resolve external paths stall while the lookups time out. Removing references nothing can resolve removes that wait.

Do external references leak information?

They can. Absolute paths travel with the model and typically reveal your directory structure and often your username. For the wider identity surface — author names, organisation, application, addresses, the file header — use Anonymize IFC.

Is this the same as the Repair Center?

No. This removes dead pointers to files outside the model. The Repair Center fixes structural problems inside it — broken relationships, identity defects, orphaned geometry. Different class of fault.

Which IFC versions are supported?

IFC2x3 and IFC4 — the two schema versions exported by essentially every AEC authoring application. IFC4x3, the infrastructure schema, works too: it opens in the viewer, and validation, health reports, property-set editing and georeferencing all run on it. Tools that need geometry processing, such as clash detection and 3D export, aren't verified on IFC4x3 yet.

What's the maximum IFC file size?

Up to 25 MB as a guest, 100 MB with a free account, 500 MB on Pro, and 1 GB on Team. The caps are on upload size only — every tool itself is available on every tier.

What happens to my file after processing?

Your file is uploaded over HTTPS and processed on our servers. Guest uploads are stream-only — the working files are deleted as soon as your download finishes. Free accounts keep results for 7 days; Pro and Team keep saved models until you delete them. Files are never shared with third parties or used to train AI.

Is Fix Broken IFC External Links free?

Yes. Fix Broken IFC External Links is free to use — guests get 3 runs a day with 25 MB uploads, and a free account raises that to 10 runs a day with 100 MB uploads. No trial clock, no watermarks.