The Viewer & Markup

3.1 · Finding your way

Finding your way

The sidebar. Search sheets (press /), filter by package, issuance, and discipline, show superseded sheets, and group the list by discipline, package, or issuance — as a list or a grid. Detected callout bubbles on sheets are clickable: click one to jump to the referenced sheet.

Moving between sheets. ← → step to the previous or next sheet (PageUp/PageDown always work); Alt+←/→ steps back and forward through your viewing history. In grid view, the active sheet’s thumbnail becomes a minimap — an amber “you are here” box you can drag to pan a large sheet.

The view. An on-canvas zoom cluster (zoom %, fit to width, fit to page); the wheel zooms in every tool; hold Space to pan with any tool armed; the Zoom tool (Z) drags a box to zoom straight to it. ⇧F is full screen; ⇧P is Present mode — Space steps through sheets for a meeting.

3.2 · Compare & Split View

Compare & Split View

Compare puts the Former revision beside the Current one. Chevrons step the left pane back through every revision (“2 of 5”); zoom and pan stay synced, and the sync can be toggled off. With two or more revisions the amber Diff overlay switches on automatically, highlighting exactly where the drawing changed — and a “What Changed” summary appears when DOC has read the change. The pair exports as a two-page comparison PDF.

Split View shows different sheets at once — 1-up, 2-up, or 4-up. Right-click a sheet › “Open in Split View” (4 panes max). Compare and Split View are one-or-the-other.

3.3 · The markup toolbar

The markup toolbar

Any overflow tool can be pinned to the toolbar. Pressing an armed tool’s key again returns to Select; Reuse mode keeps a tool armed after each placement. “Set Default” in the properties strip saves your styles per tool — managed later in Settings › Markup Preferences.

Stamps. Sixteen built-ins — FOR CONSTRUCTION, FOR PERMIT, PRELIMINARY, NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION, REVIEWED, APPROVED, APPROVED AS NOTED, REVISE AND RESUBMIT, REJECTED, FOR REVIEW, DRAFT, RFI, ASI, VOID, SUPERSEDED, RECEIVED — plus Firm stamps: upload your own, labeled in your firm’s words.

Count. The first click starts a numbered group, each click adds a marker, right-click or Esc finishes — the badge totals the group.

3.4 · Measure

Measure — calibrate first

Three ways to set a scale: pick a preset (architectural 3" = 1'-0" down to 1/16" = 1'-0"; civil 1" = 10' to 1" = 200', 1:100, 1:500) · Calibrate manually — pick two points on a known dimension and type the real distance in feet and inches · or enter the ratio directly. Recalibrating warns you that it updates existing measurements.

Scale Zones. Draw a zone to override the sheet scale in a region — for details drawn at another scale. The scale pill shows the zone’s label whenever your cursor is inside it.

Precision. Snapping to endpoints, midpoints, and intersections (F9 toggles; hold Alt to invert it for one point); Shift locks orthogonal.

3.5 · Layers

Layers — what ships and what stays

Every project starts with two layers — Project Record SHIPS (goes out with the record) and Internal notes INTERNAL (stays in LODE) — plus a personal layer per person. Hide and show affect only your own view; lock means lock — a locked layer is closed to everyone, its owner included. Record-layer markups can only be edited by their author; internal layers are open to the project team.

Guests on share links. Contributing guests (consultants) see working and record layers and get six tools on a layer of their own; reviewing guests (Owner, GC, AHJ) see the record and their own marks only — internal coordination never leaves the office.

3.6 · Comments

Comments are not markups

Comment (K) drops a conversation pin — per-author colors, threads, replies, @mentions, and resolve (resolving clears the pin). Filter by Open · All · Resolved · Mentions.

The distinction worth teaching your team: comments drive toward resolution; markups are the formal record.

3.7 · Getting it out

Getting it out

The eye at the top of the Layers panel hides every markup for a clean view of the drawing at any time; hidden markups can’t be selected until they are shown again.

Select Text (⇧V) treats the drawing’s own text — a general note, a schedule cell, a keynote — like text. Click to place the caret, drag to select (the highlight follows the pointer), double-click a word, triple-click a line, ⇧-click to extend. The keyboard walks it the way an editor does: ← → a character, ⌥/Ctrl+←/→ a word, ↑ ↓ a line, Home/End the line — hold ⇧ to extend — and Ctrl+Space sets a mark so plain movement extends from it. ⌘A selects the whole sheet; ⌘C copies as prose: a wrapped note comes out as one paragraph, and a blank line separates one block from the next. Scanned sheets carry no text layer, and the viewer says so.

3.8 · Supplemental Sketches

Supplemental Sketches (SK)

An SK is a sheet with a pointer. It lodes through an issuance like any drawing, keeps its own number (SK-A-012, SK-12), and sits in its own Supplemental Sketches section at the end of the set — never inside a discipline. What makes it a sketch is the reference: SK-A-012 amends A501, optionally at a detail and a region.

3.9 · Keyboard shortcuts

The shortcut reference

This card is the complete reference — worth printing for the desk.