Markups: Annotations, Measurements, Snapshots and Callouts

User Personas: Project Manager

Markups are how a drawing carries a conversation. With the tools in this article you can annotate a sheet to flag a change or a question, measure off it, capture a snapshot to start an RFI, and follow a callout from one sheet to the sheet it references. Everything you add stays attached to the sheet it was drawn on, so the office and the field are looking at the same information.

Every task below starts in the sheet viewer. To get there, select Projects on the global navigation menu and choose your project, then select Sheets under Drawings on the slide-out menu and select a sheet. For a full breakdown of the viewer, its panels and its view toggles, see Sheets View Features in the Sheets article.

You will need a Drawings license and the appropriate Drawings permissions. See the Permissions table at the end of this article.

Use the links below to jump to a topic:

• Annotations
  • Using the Markup Toolbar
  • Applying a Markup to the Sheet
  • Change the Styling of a Markup
  • Move, Rotate, or Resize a Markup
  • Undo or Redo a Markup
  • Delete a Markup
• Measurements
  • Set a Measurement Scale
  • Add a Measurement to the Sheet
• Snapshots
  • View and Manage Snapshots
  • Create a Snapshot
  • Link a New Snapshot to an RFI
  • Download and Delete a Snapshot
• Callouts
• What Happens to Markups in a New Version Set
• Permissions
• FAQ
  • A new set was uploaded and my markups are gone. Where did they go?
  • Can I see who made a markup?
  • Someone else's markup disappeared after I edited the same sheet. Why?
  • Is a measurement accurate enough to order material from?
  • Why can a user open and edit sheets but not create a snapshot?
  • Can I attach two snapshots of the same sheet to one RFI?
  • Do callout links still work in a downloaded PDF?

Annotations

Annotations draw attention to a specific area of a drawing. The markup toolbar includes clouds, shapes, arrows, lines, text, and other tools to support clear communication.

Using the Markup Toolbar

The markup toolbar is available while editing a sheet. A

After you select Edit, the View, Annotate, Shapes, and Measure options appear at the top of your sheet. When you select one of these options, additional tools appear. Once a markup tool is selected, style preset options appear on the toolbar and can be used for the markup if desired.

Applying a Markup to the Sheet

Each of the markup options is different, but the general method for most markups is to first select the markup option on the toolbar, then hold and drag your cursor along the image to apply the markup to the desired area on the sheet.

1. Select a sheet to view it, then select Edit.
2. Select one of the markup options on the toolbar to reveal the markup tools.
   • Select from annotations, shapes, and measurements.
3. Apply markups as desired, then select Save.

Hold the Shift key on your keyboard while drawing a shape to constrain a 1:1 proportion, or while drawing lines to snap the line to a 180-degree or 45-degree angle.

Markups are not versioned. If two people mark-up the same sheet at the same time, one person's changes can overwrite the other's with no warning and no record that anything was lost.

Change the Styling of a Markup

Before you have applied the markup to the sheet:

After selecting a markup option on the toolbar, you can choose one of the preset style options for the markup. The preset style options can be customized by selecting the arrow icon on the style to reveal a menu of style options. The selected style is applied to your next markup.

Change the style of an existing markup:

Select the markup with your cursor, then select Style (the palette icon) on the floating menu to reveal style options. The selected style is applied to your markup.

Change the Styling of a Markup

Move, Rotate, or Resize a Markup

To move a markup: While the markup is selected, hover your cursor over the markup until your cursor switches to the move icon. Hold and drag your cursor to move the markup to the desired location.

To rotate a markup: While the markup is selected, a rotate icon appears adjacent to the markup. Hover your cursor over the rotate icon, then hold and drag your cursor to rotate the markup as desired.

To resize a markup shape: While the markup is selected, adjustment points appear on or around the shape. Hover your cursor over one of the adjustment points (some shapes require that you wait until your cursor switches to the resize icon before adjusting), then hold and drag your cursor to resize the markup as desired.

To resize a freehand text markup: Select the markup with your cursor, then select Style (the palette icon) on the floating menu to reveal style options. Select the desired font size that you want to apply to the text.

Move	Rotate	Resize	Adjustment points on a shape

Undo or Redo a Markup

Use the Undo and Redo options in the toolbar to undo or redo markup actions respectively. Markups can only be undone or redone in the same edit session.

Delete a Markup

Delete a single markup:
Select the markup with your cursor, then select Delete on the floating menu to delete the markup.

Delete multiple markups:
Use the Eraser tool to delete multiple markups by selecting it and then holding and dragging your cursor over any markups that you want to delete. Alternatively, use the Select tool to select one or more markups and then press Delete on your keyboard.

Select multiple markups by holding the Control (Ctrl) key (or Command ⌘ on Mac) on your keyboard while selecting each markup.

Measurements

The measurement tools let you take distances and areas off a sheet without leaving eSUB, which is useful for sanity-checking a field layout, comparing planned against actual conditions, or showing your team what changed.

A measurement is a calculation from the scale you set on that sheet. It is not an independently verified dimension, so treat it as a working figure rather than a certified one.

Set a Measurement Scale

A scale must be created before measurements can be added to a sheet. Multiple scales can be created.

Set a manual scale:

While editing a sheet:

1. Select Measure on the toolbar, then select Add New Scale from the floating scale menu.
2. Select either Custom or Preset, then select your desired scaling options for the sheet.
3. Select Create when finished.

Calibrate a scale based on a known distance:

While editing a sheet:

1. Select Measure on the toolbar, then select Add New Scale from the floating scale menu.
2. Select Calibrate, then use your cursor to select two points of a known distance on the sheet.
3. Enter the distance in the dialog box, then select Apply.
4. Select Create when finished.

A measurement is only ever as good as the scale entered for that sheet.  Sheets in the same set can be drawn at different scales, a sheet can be plotted to a size other than the one it was drawn for, and a scale set on the wrong sheet will produce numbers that look perfectly reasonable and are wrong.  Check the scale against a dimension printed on the drawing before you rely on it, and never price, order or fabricate from an eSUB measurement without verifying it against the drawing.

Add a Measurement to the Sheet

While editing a sheet:

1. Select Measure on the toolbar, then choose a measurement tool and select the desired scale.
2. Apply the markup to the sheet, then select Save when finished.

Use the Enable snapping for measurement tools setting (available in the style preset options menu) for easier and cleaner measurement markups.

Snapshots

A snapshot is a cropped, flattened image of part of a sheet, including any markups on it. Snapshots are how you get a piece of a drawing into the rest of your documentation, most often by attaching one to an RFI.

View and Manage Snapshots

Every snapshot taken on a project is collected on the Snapshots log.

1. Select Projects on the global navigation menu, then select the desired project from the list.
2. Select Snapshots under Drawings from the slide-out menu.
3. Use the sort and filter icons on the log to refine the list.
4. Select a snapshot to view it.
   • Select the three-dot button for the snapshot for additional options such as Delete and Download.

Opening a snapshot shows two things: 

• The Snapshot Preview displays the snapshot image, its autogenerated file name, and the date it was taken.
• Sheet Info gives the originating sheet name and number, and selecting that hyperlink opens a preview of the sheet the snapshot came from.

Create a Snapshot

Snapshots are created from the sheet itself, not from the Snapshots log. Once a snapshot is created, eSUB generates its name from the originating sheet name and saves it under Snapshots below Drawings on the slide-out menu.

From the Sheets Log:

1. Select a sheet to view it, then select Snapshot.
2. Use the buttons on the toolbar to zoom and pan on the sheet until the desired area is captured in the preview.
   • During this step, you can choose whether to save the new snapshot to Snapshots or attach the new snapshot to an RFI.
3. Select Done when finished.

Add your annotations, measurements and other markups to the sheet before you take the snapshot. Everything on the sheet appears in the snapshot, which is exactly what you want when the snapshot is going onto an RFI or being used to point at one specific detail.

Creating a snapshot requires the Create permission on Drawings, not Edit. A user who can view, edit and delete drawings but does not have Create will not be able to take a snapshot. This catches people out regularly, so if the Snapshot option is unavailable, check for Create before looking anywhere else.

Link a New Snapshot to an RFI

A new snapshot can be attached to a new or existing RFI during snapshot creation.

While creating a snapshot:

Create a new RFI:

1. Select Save and create new RFI.
2. Fill in the fields, then select Done.

Add to an existing RFI:

1. Select Save and attach to existing RFI.
2. Select Existing RFI and choose the desired RFI, then select Done.

Attaching a snapshot to an existing RFI requires the Create permission on RFIs as well as your Drawings permissions. If you can create a new RFI from a snapshot but cannot attach one to an RFI that already exists, your RFI permissions are what to check.

Download and Delete a Snapshot

From the Snapshots log:

• Select the three-dot button for the snapshot to Delete or Download it.

From the Snapshot Preview:

• Select the Download or Delete buttons.

Callouts

A callout is a reference printed on a drawing, such as a detail bubble that sends you to another sheet. eSUB detects callouts during upload and links them, so instead of hunting through the set you select the callout and go straight to the sheet it names.

From the Sheets Log:

1. Select a sheet to view it.
2. Select a linked callout on the sheet to open the referenced sheet.
3. Alternatively, open the callout side-panel, which lists every linked and manually created callout on the sheet. Selecting one navigates to it and zooms in on it. The panel collapses when you want the full width of the drawing back.

Two things are worth knowing about how far callout links reach: 

• They are not confined to one version set, so a callout can point at a sheet that arrived in a different upload.
• You are not limited to what eSUB detected: you can create your own links on a sheet where the automatic detection missed a reference or where you want a link the drawing does not print. You can create a custom callout when editing the sheet and selecting Create Callout Link from the Annotate toolbar. 

In Card View on the sheets log, an icon on a sheet's card tells you that the sheet has callout links. The icon only appears when at least one of those links points at a different sheet, so a sheet whose callouts all reference itself will not show it. Use it as a quick way to see which drawings are wired into the rest of the set.

What Happens to Markups in a New Version Set

When a revised sheet is uploaded in a new version set, its markups are not left behind on the old sheet. eSUB matches the incoming sheet to the previous one and copies the markups across, so the cloud you drew last month is still on the drawing this month.

If a sheet number changed between issues, or was captured incorrectly on upload, eSUB has no way to connect the two drawings. It treats the incoming sheet as a brand new sheet with no markup history at all, and the markups you are looking for are still sitting on a sheet you now think of as the old version. Correcting sheet numbers before you leave the upload screen is much easier than reconstructing markups afterwards.

Disciplines and tags follow the same sheet-number rule. See What Carries Forward to a New Version Set in the Version Sets article for the full picture.

Permissions

Drawings is a separately licensed module. A user needs both a Drawings license and the right Drawings permissions before anything in this article is available to them. Permission groups are managed by your account Admin in Company Settings > User Administration > Permission Groups.

If an action described in this article is unavailable to you, check your Drawings license assignment first and your permission group second. See Upload and Manage Project Drawings: Guide for how both are set up, and Permission Group Descriptions for the full permission reference.

FAQ

A new set was uploaded and my markups are gone. Where did they go?

The sheet numbering may be different in the new set. Carry-forward matches sheets by number alone, so a renumbered or mis-captured sheet is treated as an entirely new sheet with no history. The markups are not lost; they are still on the earlier version of the sheet. See What Happens to Markups in a New Version Set.

Can I see who made a markup?

No. Markups do not currently show an author, and there is no history showing who added or changed one. If you need that on the record, put the information where it is tracked, for example in an RFI created from a snapshot of the marked-up area, or in a daily report.

Someone else's markup disappeared after I edited the same sheet. Why?

Markups are not versioned. When two people work on the same sheet at the same time, the changes saved second can replace the changes saved first, and nothing warns either person that anything was lost. The practical protection is coordination: decide who is marking up a sheet, do it, and then hand it on. See Annotations.

Is a measurement accurate enough to order material from?

Treat it as a check, not as a quantity. A measurement is arithmetic performed against the scale you entered for that sheet, so it inherits every problem that scale has: a sheet plotted at a different size than it was drawn for, a set where sheets carry different scales, or a scale applied to the wrong sheet. Verify the number against a dimension printed on the drawing before it drives pricing, ordering or fabrication.

Why can a user open and edit sheets but not create a snapshot?

Because snapshots are gated on the Create permission for Drawings rather than Edit. A permission group with View, Edit and Delete but no Create lets someone mark up a drawing all day and still not capture a snapshot of it. Add Create to the group. See Permissions.

Can I attach two snapshots of the same sheet to one RFI?

Not currently. Attaching a second snapshot of the same sheet to the same RFI leads to an error when the linked documents on that sheet are retrieved. Take one snapshot per sheet per RFI, cropped wide enough to cover everything you need to show. See Link a New Snapshot to an RFI.

Do callout links still work in a downloaded PDF?

Not reliably, and it is not something to plan around. Callout navigation is a feature of the sheet viewer in eSUB. Preserving those links inside a downloaded set is not confirmed as working today, so if the person receiving the file needs to follow a reference, tell them the sheet number rather than relying on a clickable link surviving the download.