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Drawing markups, measurements, and navigation

Mark up your drawings directly in BuildPass - no more exporting a sheet, redlining it in another tool, and re-uploading. Draw straight onto the drawing, then control exactly who sees each markup.

The markups toolbar gives you:

  • Pins to flag a spot on the drawing
  • Shapes and clouds to ring an area
  • Freehand to sketch anything by hand
  • Text to note instructions in place
  • Measurement to take dimensions off the sheet

Measure to a calibrated scale

Calibrate a known distance once - set a line on the drawing to its real length - and BuildPass scales the rest. From there, measure openings, setbacks, and clearances straight off the sheet, with the calibration saved against the drawing so it's ready next time you open it.

To get started, open any drawing, choose the measurement tool, and hit calibrate.

Control who sees each markup

Every markup starts private, in your Personal list, so you can think a drawing through before anyone else sees it. When it's ready, publish it to Admins (you and other admins, hidden from workers) or to Everyone (admins, your workers, and anyone with a public link).

  • Workers can view published markups and reply in the comment thread, on the app or the web
  • Public link viewers see the same published markups, without the comment threads
  • Only admins create markups; everyone else views what you publish

From Drawings, open any drawing and select the Markups tab, then Publish to choose who sees it.

Link, discuss, and lock

Link a markup to an RFI or another drawing so the context travels with it. Talk it through in the comment thread on each markup - your workers can reply, public viewers can't. Lock a markup to stop it being moved, resized, or deleted; any admin can unlock it again, so it's a safeguard, not a personal lock.

Select a markup on the drawing and it highlights in the sidebar, and the other way around, so you can always find the one you mean.

Move between drawings

Open the navigator from the icon next to the drawing title to jump across every sheet on the project without leaving the viewer. Go fullscreen for a clear, distraction-free space to mark up, and collapse the navigation to give the drawing the whole screen.

Available on Premium and Enterprise plans - reach out via live chat if you'd like this enabled.