Foundations and drawing lifecycle
What happens while a drawing set is processing
After an upload, Constructable prepares the PDFs for review. You don't need to keep the page open while this happens.
After an upload, Constructable prepares the PDFs for review. You don't need to keep the page open while this happens.
Best for: Uploaders and drawing administrators · Outcome: Know when a set is ready and what to do when extraction fails.
What Constructable does
For each uploaded PDF, Constructable:
- Separates the file into individual sheets.
- Creates thumbnails and viewer-ready versions.
- Reads drawing text for search and sheet links.
- Looks for likely sheet numbers, titles, and disciplines.
- Attempts to detect a usable drawing scale.
These results are suggestions, not final drawing data. A person still reviews the details before publication.
Follow processing progress
The Drawing Sets page shows the set under Processing. Once pages are available, a progress bar reports how many sheets have finished metadata extraction.
Constructable emails the person who uploaded the set when every page is ready for review, unless that person has unsubscribed from email. Drawing-area notification preferences do not control this one-time processing email.
Large or complex PDFs may take longer than small, text-based files. Scanned pages can also require more manual correction because there may be less readable text.
If detected details are blank or wrong
Processing can finish even when Constructable can't confidently read a field. That isn't necessarily an upload failure. Open the review workspace and enter the missing sheet number, title, date, or discipline manually.
If the upload fails
A failed set appears with an error message. Constructable records the failure for investigation, and you can dismiss the failed set.
Before uploading again:
- Confirm that each attachment is a valid PDF.
- Try opening the file locally.
- If practical, re-save or flatten a damaged PDF.
- Avoid uploading the same set repeatedly while an earlier attempt is still processing.
If a valid file fails more than once, contact Constructable support with the project name, drawing area, set name, and original PDF filename.
When processing finishes, the set moves to Needs Review. Continue with Reviewing and confirming an uploaded drawing set.