Drawing viewer

The Drawings view contains the published drawings that you can open in the drawing viewer. By default, the current version is displayed, but you can also open an old revision or compare two drawings.

In the Drawings view, the following information is available on each tile:

  1. Number
  2. Title
  3. Drawing set name
  4. Total number of revisions
Drawing tile example
  • Click menu (Navigation) > Drawings and Specifications > Drawings.

    • On the Drawings and Specifications tile of the project dashboard, you can also click chevron_right (Open) > Drawings.

If you only have access to the Drawings view, the current versions of the published drawings are displayed after you open the Drawings module.

  1. If the Search panel is closed, click Search icon (Search) on the navigation toolbar.
  2. Set the filters.
    • The search field terms apply to the text inside the indexed drawings, text annotations, and the drawings’ text fields, including lookup lists, company and contact fields, and custom fields. When you open a drawing from the filtered list, the search terms are highlighted on the drawing.
  1. In the Drawings view, click the drawing.

    2. —Or—

    On the drawing, click more_horiz (More) > Open Full form.

  2. To view the drawing in the full screen, click (Full Screen) in the bottom-left corner.
  3. Navigate around the drawing.
    • To zoom in, hover over the drawing, and then move the mouse wheel forwards.
    • To zoom out, hover over the drawing, and then move the mouse wheel backwards.
    • To pan across the drawing, click and drag the drawing.
  4. To open the previous or next drawing based on the list when the current drawing was opened, click Previous item icon (Previous) or Next item icon (Next) on the navigation toolbar.

    5. Previous item icon (Previous) and Next item icon (Next) are not available when you open the drawing in a new tab.

    —Or—

    Click the drawing in the index panel on the left side of the drawing viewer.

    • To open or close the index panel, click the drawing number on the navigation toolbar.
      • Link to open or close the drawing index panel
    • To search for a drawing by its number or title, click search (Search) and then enter the text in the search bar.
  1. Open the drawing.
  2. In the Information panel, select the revision from the Select Version list.

In the Search panel of the Drawings view, you can also select a different drawing set to see the associated revisions.

  1. Click Specification search (Search) on the toolbar, and then enter the search terms in the field.
  2. To apply a filter, select the checkbox:
    • Case sensitive: Find matches with the same capitalization.
    • Whole word: Find exact matches of the search term.
    • When you navigate to the next, previous, or different revision, the search terms are still applied.
    • If search terms are used in the Search panel of the data view, the search terms are also applied in the search panel from the drawing toolbar. After you open a drawing and then navigate to a different drawing, the search terms are still applied but aren't visible in the search field.
  1. In the drawing, on the navigation toolbar, click group .
  2. In the Link section, click Copy.

    3. The link is copied to your clipboard and is ready to be shared. For example, you can paste the link in an email.

    • If ProjectSight doesn't have access to your clipboard, the entire hyperlink text is selected automatically. Then you can use keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste it.
    • The recipient must have the related permissions to view or edit the drawing set.
  • At the top-right of the view, click the Sort list, and select an option.

    • Drawings are sorted alphanumerically in ascending order by the selected option and then by the number.

    When sorting by number, alphanumeric numbers are sorted intelligently by default. Each letter and number is viewed as a segment and each segment is sorted before the next one.

    Sorting example

    Drawings sorted intelligently using the Number option

    You can also sort by number (alphabetically), where alphanumeric numbers are sorted alphabetically.

    Sorting example

    Drawing numbers sorted alphabetically using the Number (Alphabetically) option

If you update the drawing details, they're also updated in the drawing set.

Changes to an old revision aren't copied automatically to the current version.

  1. Open the drawing.
  2. To open the Information panel, click info (Information) on the navigation toolbar.
  3. Edit the drawing details.

    4. If you change the status to Obsolete, the drawing will not be available in the drawing viewer after you save and close the drawing.

If you update the drawing details or annotations, save the drawing. Your changes are saved automatically if you navigate to the previous or next drawing.

  • To keep the drawing open, click save (Save).

    • —Or—

    To close the drawing, click arrow_back Done.

You can download drawings and their annotations with an optional cover sheet. If you select the As Builts option, you can include items that are linked to the visible annotations. When you click an annotation in the downloaded drawing, the linked item is opened.

Annotation link example

Opening a record that's linked to an annotation in the downloaded drawing

The following linked items can be included in the ZIP folder for as-built drawings:

  • Linked Records: The default report is generated for each record or specification set and included in the Records folder.
  • Hyperlinked Designs & URLs: Linked drawings are included in the Drawings folder, and linked spec sections are included in the Specifications folder. In the downloaded drawing, you can click the annotation to open the linked drawing, model, spec section, or URL.

    • You must select the linked drawing as part of the download. Otherwise, the linked annotation isn't displayed in the downloaded drawing, and the linked drawing isn't included in the ZIP folder.

  • Files (Linked Files & Photos): The linked files are included in the Files folder.

This video includes the following information:

  • Options for downloading (0:43)
  • As-builts example (1:57)

If you want to download a large number of as-built drawings, you can use the project export feature. When the export is completed, you receive an email link to download it.

  1. Open the drawing.
  2. To filter the annotations that appear in the downloaded drawing, set the filters in the Layers panel.
  3. On the navigation toolbar, cloud_download (Download).
  4. In the Download dialog, set the download options.
    • Content: Select the cover page.
    • Public Annotations: Include or exclude all public annotations.
    • Private Annotations: Include or exclude your private annotations.
    • As Builts: Include linked drawings, spec sections, models, URLs, and files, as well as reports for linked records and specification sets.

      • If you only download one drawing, its linked drawings aren't included.

    • File Name: Edit the file name.
  5. Click Download.
  6. To ensure that the linked annotations work in the downloaded drawing, extract the files from the ZIP folder.
    7. Extract files

    Extracting files in File Explorer

  7. Open a drawing in a PDF reader, and then click an annotation to open the linked item.

    8. If you open the downloaded drawing in a browser, the annotation links don't work.

  1. In the Drawings view, select the checkboxes for the drawings.
  2. On the navigation toolbar, cloud_download (Download).
  3. In the Download dialog, set the download options.
    • Content: Select the cover page.
    • Public Annotations: Include or exclude all public annotations.
    • Private Annotations: Include or exclude your private annotations.
    • As Builts: Include linked drawings, spec sections, models, URLs, and files, as well as reports for linked records and specification sets.
    • Download As: Download one .pdf file with all the drawings, or download a .pdf file for each drawing. If the As Builts toggle is on, the files are downloaded in a ZIP folder.
    • File Name: Edit the file name.
  4. Click Download.
  5. To ensure that the linked annotations work in the downloaded drawing, extract the files from the ZIP folder.
    6. Extract files

    Extracting files in File Explorer

  6. Open a drawing in a PDF reader, and then click an annotation to open the linked item.

    7. If you open the downloaded drawing in a browser, the annotation links don't work.

If you delete the current version of a drawing, the previous revision, based on the revision date, becomes the current version. Any links to and from that specific revision are also deleted.

Any files that were linked to the deleted drawing remain in the File Library.

  1. Open the Drawings view.
  2. To switch to the Select mode, select the checkbox for a drawing.
  3. To select more drawings, click each one.

    4. —Or—

    To select all the drawings, click done_all (Select All) on the navigation toolbar.

  4. Click more_horiz (More) > Delete Selected Records.

To delete one drawing, you can also:

  • Click more_horiz (More) > Remove on the drawing.
  • Open the drawing, and then click more_horiz (More) > Delete on the navigation toolbar.