Every weld in WeldTrace is on a drawing, so a weld cannot be created until its drawing exists. The drawing file is optional: a drawing number is enough to start. With the PDF attached, though, you map the welds by placing them on the drawing, and print the weld maps.

A drawing can be in more than one tag. If you fabricate more than one item from one drawing, for example 2 identical pressure vessels, PV-01 and PV-02, from drawing DWG-001, create the 2 tags and add both to the drawing. You enter the drawing and upload its file once; every weld you map on it is created once for each tag, so each vessel's welds are tracked, inspected and reported on their own.

Click "Explain this function" next to a page title for a narrated walkthrough of that page, or the book icon beside it to open this article.

Step 1 - The Drawings list

Open the project and click "Drawings" in the project's button bar. The list shows the project's drawings, one row per drawing revision.

1. Active: only active drawings are listed while the switch is green. Slide it to list the inactive drawings too. An inactive drawing cannot be used for new welds;
2. Search: type part of a value to filter the list;
3. Search by: what the search looks in: the drawing number or title, a tag number or title, the Service, the Area or the Criteria;
4. Welds From: list all drawings, or only those whose welds came from AI extraction, or from a manual weld map;
5. Drawing # - Rev: click a drawing number to open its Drawing Details (Step 3). When the project groups its welds, the drawing's items show under the number, for example "Spools: SP-01, SP-02". The arrow beside the number expands the row: the title, Service, Area, Criteria and date, and each tag's number, title, line number, line class and equipment number;
6. Info icons: the eye opens the weld map; the pencil opens the weld map editor; the paper clip shows a file is attached (blue: no welds mapped on it yet, red: welds mapped); AI shows the drawing was read by the AI; the tick shows the drawing is active (a cross: inactive);
7. The five counts are the drawing's welds that are planned, completed, inspected, tested (NDE) and failed. Click a count to open those welds in the Welds list;
8. Tag #: the tags the drawing is in. Click one to open the tag. Past two tags, "+N" shows the rest;
9. Progress: the share of the drawing's welds that are completed;
10. R&P (render and print): tick drawings to print their weld maps with the print button in the toolbar.

Step 2 - The Drawings toolbar

Buttons are greyed out when you do not have the privilege for them. Some show only on wider screens.

1. +: add one drawing (see Add Drawing (one at a time));
2. Spreadsheet: add or edit many drawings in a grid;
3. Tags: open the project's Tags list;
4. Bulk File Upload: upload many drawing files at once; each is attached to its drawing by the drawing number in the file name;
5. AI: extract tags, drawings and welds from drawing files with AI (Enterprise plan). The badge counts the extractions, and unread results;
6. AI Review: review the welds the AI found before they are created. The badge counts drawings waiting for review;
7. BOM: export the bill of materials the AI extracted, as a CSV file (Enterprise plan);
8. Cut List: export the cutting list the AI extracted, as a CSV file (Enterprise plan);
9. Export annotations: the weld map annotations of every drawing, as a CSV file;
10. Import as CSV File: create drawings in bulk from a CSV file;
11. Import Tags and Drawings: create tags and their drawings together from one spreadsheet;
12. Export to CSV file: the drawings list, ready to open in Excel;
13. Render and Print: print the weld maps of the drawings ticked in the R&P column, as one PDF. It stays disabled until a drawing is ticked;
14. Generate QR Code: print QR code labels for the drawings.

Step 3 - Drawing Details

Click a drawing number in the list to open its details: the weld map, the welds and how far they have got, the tags it is in, and what the AI read from it.

1. The drawing number and revision, with its title;
2. View weld map: open the drawing with its weld bubbles;
3. Annotate: open the weld map editor, to place, move and number the welds;
4. Render and Print: produce the weld map as a PDF;
5. Drawing History: every change to the drawing;
6. Edit: change the drawing's details, file, tags or items.

Step 4 - A new revision: Transfer and Welds impacted

When a new revision of a drawing is added, two extra buttons can appear on its Drawing Details.

1. Transfer shows when the new revision has no weld map yet and an earlier revision has one. It copies the annotations from the earlier revision to this one, so you do not map the welds again. Pick the revision to copy from; a revision without annotations cannot be picked. When both revisions have the same number of sheets, each sheet's annotations go to the same sheet. When the new revision has fewer sheets, WeldTrace first lists the annotations on each sheet of the earlier revision;
2. Welds impacted shows when earlier revisions of the drawing have welds. It lists those welds; select the ones that carry over and click Transfer to move them to the new revision. A weld whose number is already on the new revision in the same tag cannot be selected. Once they are moved, the Welds list opens and a message gives the number moved and any that were skipped.

Step 5 - Weld counts and the drawing's cards

1. The drawing's welds by stage: planned, completed, inspected, tested and failed. Click a count to open just those welds in the Welds list;
2. Details: the Service, Area and Criteria, the drawing file and the comments;
3. Tags: the tags the drawing is in. Click one to open the tag;
4. NDE Settings: the inspection and test percentages that apply to the welds on this drawing, from its tags;
5. Messages: the conversation about this drawing with your project team, so questions and answers stay with the drawing instead of in emails.

Step 6 - Welds by item

This section shows when the project groups its welds into items. It is named after the project's label: Welds By Spool, By Assembly, By Piece or By Item.

1. Each of the drawing's items is a row with its colour, its weld count and its progress. The welds not in an item are last, as "Not grouped";
2. Click the arrow to list the item's welds;
3. Weld map prints the weld map of that item's welds only.

Items are added to the drawing, and renamed or removed, in Edit Drawing.

Step 7 - What the AI read from the drawing

When the drawing was read by the AI, its extract is kept here, one panel per table. Click a panel to open it: each has a search box and can be sorted by any column.

1. AI Weld Register: the welds the AI found, with the review's status (for example Reviewed) and the number of rows. The welds are checked, moved, added, rejected and created in AI Weld Review, not here;
2. Bill of Materials (AI Extract): the bill of materials read from the drawing, which can be exported as a CSV file;
3. Components (AI Extract): the components the AI proposes from the bill of materials, and whether it located each one on the drawing. Exportable as a CSV file;
4. Open expands a panel. A Cutting List (AI Extract) panel is also shown when the drawing has a cutting list.

Read the next article: Add Drawing (one at a time)