What should users do when they get the error message "Please start OpenBridge Designer first"?

If users get the error message "Please start OpenBridge Designer first" when opening an OpenBridge Modeler file, it's usually a workflow requirement to initially launch OpenBridge Designer.

Quite often the user is unaware of the workflow and it's trying to open the OBM file directly by double-clicking. But sometimes the .dgn files from PW can't be opened directly by double-clicking or using the option "Open with" with OBM from OBD because this behavior is only applicable to OBM standalone product and not for a file tagged as OBM from OBD.

One possible procedure to open the OBM file through OBD in PW is:

1) Right-click on the file and select "Open with" and in the new window "Open Document with".
2) If the OBD version is shown correctly, then open that particular file.
3) If the OBD version the user wants is not shown, then click on BROWSE and go to C:\Program Files\Bentley\OpenBridge Designer 2023.00\OpenBridgeDesigner\OpenBridgeDesigner.exe
4) Select the OpenBridgeDesigner.exe file and then in OBD program go to OBM and open the concerned .dgn file.

5) If you have OBM standalone program then follow the same procedure where in Right click on the file and select the "Open with" .
6) If the OBM version is not shown then click on BROWSE and go to C:\Program Files\Bentley\OpenBridge Modeler CE 10.12\OpenBridgeModeler\OpenBridgeModeler.exe.
7) Select the OpenBridgeModeler.exe file and then open the concerned .dgn file directly from OBM.

An alternate procedure to open the OBM file through OBD in PW is shown in the Knowledge Base article in the link below.
https://bentleysystems.service-now.com/community?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0111944