Preview, annotate, and collaborate on documents in BIMcollab Twin

BIMcollab Twin facilitates document management and communication, by allowing team members to upload any file types, and preview these three file types in the application: images, PDFs, and DWG files. This guide provides quick steps for previewing and marking up these types of documents, ensuring effective collaboration. Additionally, because annotations are added through communication, it also explains different communication statuses to help track project progress.

View documents

Images (PNG, JPG and JPEG) , PDFs, and DWG files uploaded to BIMcollab Twin can be previewed directly in the web page.

These files can be previewed in two ways:

A. Directly from the document overview page

Step 1: Navigate to the Documents module and access the Documents overview.

Step 2: Look for the view icon  next to the respective file types.

Step 3: Click on the icon to display the document preview.

B. From the details page of each individual document 

Step 1: Navigate to the Documents module.

Step 2: Select the document you wish to preview.

Step 3: Click on the view icon  to display the document directly within the application.

Images

Image files can be previewed, but no additional annotations can be added.

DWGs

Because DWG files are native files, they cannot be annotated. 

However, in the preview mode for DWG files, you have the option to Download the document as a PDF (1), and re-upload the PDF version and add annotations. You can also Display the layers in black and white (2), change the background color in preview to black, gray or white (3), or enter the Measurement mode (4), which will provide a measurement on the drawing between two clicked points.

The layer panel is available on the left side. Here you can toggle the visibility of file Layers (5), and open different Layouts (6) of the DWG file (if multiple layouts exist in a file). 

Annotate and communicate on PDFs

Users can add annotations to PDF files using communication items in BIMcollab Twin. This feature allows team members to provide specific feedback, highlight important information, and make notes directly on PDF documents.

All annotations are added and attached to communication items, ensuring clarity and association with specific discussions. Follow the steps below to add annotation to PDF files:

Step 1: Click on the document and in its overview page click on the 'View' button.  

Step 2: In the document preview open the To do's panel clicking on the To do's icon:

Step 3: Click on 'Add' to create a new communication item. 

Step 4: You can choose to add a Question or a Task to the document. You can read more about these two communication items in this article.

When adding either a task or question (1), you may fill in the following information: 

1. The person responsible (2)
   
2. The parties to be informed (3)
   
3. The subject of the communication type (4)
   
4. Labels, if needed (5)
   
5. The end date (6)
   
6. A message related to the item (7)
   

Step 5: The bar (which is automatically displayed on the left hand side when adding a communication item) allows you to add annotations on the document that will be displayed together with the Question or Task.

You can choose to add:

Shapes: rectangle, oval, or line with adjustable Line width, Line color and Fill color (when applicable)

Text: With adjustable font size and line color.

Arrows: Facing left or right.

Users can scroll through the annotation panel to explore and select from the available document markup options.

Step 6: Click on 'Save' when you are finished adding your new communication item. 

For more details about general and item-specific communication, please refer to this article:  Adding communication

When multiple communication items with annotations are added by one or more users, all annotations are displayed at once when previewing the PDF. Clicking on a specific communication item will highlight its associated annotation, if it exists, while graying out annotations from other items. Alternatively, clicking on the annotation will highlight the corresponding communication item.

When a new version of the document replaces the existing one, all previous communication items will still appear in the To Do's menu. However, if a user selects a communication item from an earlier version while the latest document version is open, they will receive a warning that the communication item does not match the current document version.

Likewise, if a user tries to annotate an older document version, they will receive a warning that the selected version is not the latest.

All annotation items from previous versions of a document will also be displayed in the latest version. To view only the communications and annotations associated with the latest version of the document, click the "Show only the current version" button. 

Communication statuses

For continuous and tracked progress of the project, all communication items are assigned a status. Here is the summary of the five statuses that a communication item can have:

1. Open: A new question or task is created with an Open status.

Open items are assigned a yellow color. If a communication question is yet to be answered, it will remain open until otherwise. An answer field is available which will display "No answers have yet been given".

The following options are available for items with "Open" status:

Edit (1) - The sender can always edit the subject of the comment, or change the end date using the edit button.
Cancel (2) - A message can be canceled by the creator after posting, as long as it has not been already answered. 
Add answer (3) - The recipient of the message can reply to the question. Not only the recipient, but also employees of the same company may reply.  
Remark (4) - Remarks are additional comments that anyone can add, that are not the official answer to the item.

2. Urgent: The status changes to Urgent when the end date for a communication item has passed.

Urgent items are assigned a red color. An urgent communication item that has not yet been answered will have its end date highlighted in red in the comment view.

3. Answered: When the recipient of a question provides an answer, the status changes to Answered.

Answered items are assigned a blue color. When an answer has been provided in response to a question, this can be read in the Answer field.

Edit (1) - The recipient of the question is able to edit their answer at anytime before it has been accepted by the sender.

Accept Answer (2) - The sender of the communication can accept the answer once it has been reviewed. Once accepted, the To do's status will change to completed. 

4. Completed: After reviewing the answer provided, the sender can choose to accept it, changing the status to Completed.

Completed items are assigned a green color. A comment can no longer be edited once its status has been changed to completed.

5. Cancelled: If the sender decides to cancel a raised communication item, the status changes to Cancelled. 

An item can be canceled by clicking on the  button of item in an open, urgent or answered status. A canceled communication item will be displayed in grey.

Additional toolbar buttons

Additional viewing options are available that contribute to the efficient review of PDFs.

 

1. Document Version: Displays the version and date of the document being viewed.
2. Up-and-Down Arrows: Used for quick scroll through the document pages.
3. "-" and "+" Buttons: Control the zoom level of the document; "-" decreases the zoom, and "+" increases it.
4. Clockwise, Restore, and Counter-Clockwise Rotation: Buttons for rotating the document.
5. Print: Sends the document to the printer for printing when pressed.

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