A drawing is added to a project with its number, revision and at least one tag, and usually with its PDF, which is the page you map the welds on. This article adds one drawing at a time. To add many at once, see Add Multiple Drawings, Import Drawings, or Import Tags & Drawings with AI.

To add a drawing you need the Drawings create privilege in the project. To create a tag from this page you also need the Tags create or edit privilege.

Click "Explain this function" next to the page title for a narrated walkthrough of the form (about 3 minutes).

Step 1 - Open Add Drawing

Open the project, click "Drawings" in the project's button bar, then:

1. Click the + button to open the Add Drawing form.

Step 2 - Drawing number, title, date and revision

1. Drawing Number (required). The number and the revision together must be unique in the project. If you type a number that is already in the project, a warning shows until you pick a different revision: the drawing is then saved as a new revision of the one you have. 2 to 50 characters: letters, digits and ( ) . , # / - only. A space counts as a special character, so it is not allowed. The number is saved in capitals;
2. Title. Optional, 2 to 100 characters, for example Piping Isometric, Line 4;
3. Date of this revision. It starts as today's date; if you clear it, today's date is used;
4. Revision/Version. Pick one from the list (0 to 20 and A to Z) or type your own, up to three letters or digits, such as B2. It starts at 0 and is saved in capitals. Each revision of a drawing is kept as a separate drawing.

Step 3 - Upload the drawing file

1. Click the Drawing box or its upload button and choose the file. Only a PDF can be uploaded, of up to 5 pages. File size limits depend on your plan.

A message shows while the file is uploaded and converted; Save and Cancel are disabled until it finishes. The file is optional here: you can add it later from Edit Drawing. The welds are mapped on this file, so add it before weld mapping.

Step 4 - Service, Area and Criteria

These three fields are optional and describe where and to what the drawing is built.

1. Service: the medium the line carries, for example Superheated Steam;
2. Area: the area of the plant or equipment, for example Superheater;
3. Criteria: the code, specification or standard that applies to the drawing, for example ASME B31.1.

Each takes up to 100 characters. They show on the drawing in the Drawings list, the list can be searched by each of them (the "Search by" menu), and they are printed in the data book's drawing register.

Step 5 - Pick the tag

Every drawing belongs to at least one tag. A tag is a deliverable, a set of drawings that make up one object: a pipe spool, a pressure vessel, a process skid or a structural member. Tags group the drawings, and the welds on them, for work packs, test packs and dimensional records.

The line number, line class, equipment number and NDE settings are entered on the tag, not on the drawing. The tag's settings apply to every drawing in it.

1. Select Tag (required). Click the box and pick the tag, or type part of its number to find it;
2. If the tag does not exist yet, click the + button to create it here. The New Tag form asks for the tag number and title, the equipment and line number, the line class, comments and the NDE settings, which start as the project's. The new tag is selected when you save it. Tags can also be created from the project's Tags page.

Step 6 - A drawing in more than one tag

Pick more than one tag when the same drawing is fabricated more than once. For example, if one drawing is supplied for 3 identical air receivers, create 3 tags, one for each receiver, and add all 3 to the drawing.

1. Each selected tag shows in the box; click its × to take it off.

What happens when a drawing is in more than one tag:

• The drawing shows in each tag, and in the Drawings list with each of its tags;
• When you map the welds, every weld is created once for each tag. The weld map's save shows the welds tag by tag before they are created: 3 tags and 10 welds on the drawing make 30 weld records. Each one is planned, welded, inspected and tested on its own, in its own tag's work packs and test packs;
• Each tag's line details and NDE settings apply to its own welds;
• A tag cannot be taken off the drawing once welds have been created on it.

Step 7 - Items: spools, assemblies and pieces

This field shows when the project groups its welds into items: Weld Grouping, turned on in Edit Project where your account has the feature. The project chooses what an item is called: Item, Spool, Assembly or Piece, and the field is labelled with that name. A drawing lists its items here; each weld and component on the drawing is then put in one of them.

An item is not a tag. A tag is a deliverable that can span several drawings; items split one drawing's welds, for example into the spools fabricated from one isometric.

1. Type an item name and press Enter, or click Add. Add several at once by separating them with semicolons, for example 1001-S1; 1001-S2; 1001-S3. The box suggests a name made from the drawing number;
2. Each item shows as a chip. Click its name to rename it, or its × to remove it.

Item names follow the drawing number rules: up to 50 letters, digits and ( ) . , # / -, no spaces, saved in capitals. A name can be used only once on a drawing. Items belong to the drawing number, so every revision of the drawing shares them. Items are optional: welds without an item are shown as not grouped.

When you add a weld or a component, you pick one of its drawing's items. Removing an item that welds use (from Edit Drawing) ungroups those welds.

Step 8 - Comments and save

1. Comments: general remarks about the drawing, up to 10,000 characters;
2. Click Save. The drawing is added to the Drawings list, ready for weld mapping. Cancel leaves without saving.

Read the next article: Add Multiple Drawings