Review drawings: measure, compare, RFI and packages

The Review tab gives engineers and quantity surveyors one place to measure drawings, compare revisions, track RFIs and issue drawing packages. All work is stored offline in a project that travels with the drawing.

Requires Business edition or higher

Each command opens a panel on the right. The panel title shows Offline project and the project name. Most labels in these panels are in English.

Set up the project

Every panel has a Project & files section at the bottom.

• Project name and Project code: the code (1–24 letters, digits, - or _) is used in RFI, review and transmittal numbers. Click Save project settings.
• Sheet number, Sheet title, Revision and Discipline describe the current drawing. Click Save sheet details.
• Save project (.farproj) saves the project data, a snapshot of the drawing and RFI attachments in one file. Open project (.farproj) loads it again while the matching drawing is open.
• Save annotated PDF saves a copy of the drawing that contains the project data.

Measure and build a BOQ

Open the drawing, then click Review › Measure & BOQ.

1 · Scale

Calibrate each page before you measure. Results are in metres, m² and m³.

1. Choose the Known dimension unit (mm, cm, m or ft) and type the Known length.
2. Click Pick two calibration points, then click both ends of a known dimension on the drawing.
3. Click Use known dimension. The panel confirms Scale calibrated for page 1.

If you trust the printed scale, type it in Drawing scale 1 : and click Use declared scale instead. Check the result against a known dimension. For a detail drawn at another scale on the same sheet, click Add detail viewport, click two corners of the detail, and click Save viewport scale.

2 · Measure

1. Choose the Measurement type: length (exactly two points), polyline, perimeter, area, volume (area × Volume depth (m)), count or angle.
2. Type a BOQ description, or choose a Catalog item.
3. Click Start measuring and click the points on the drawing.
4. Click Finish measurement or press Enter. Press Escape to cancel.

With Snap to vector lines set to on, clicks snap to line endpoints, midpoints, lines and intersections. To cut an opening out of an area, select the area row, click Select hole for selected area, draw the hole, and click Subtract hole.

3 · Quantities & BOQ

Each measurement appears in the table with its page and quantity, followed by the subtotal, tax and total. Click a row to select it, then edit, move or delete it.

• Export Excel creates BOQ.xlsx with the sheets Summary, Detail and Catalog.
• Export CSV and Export PDF report create the summary as CSV or PDF.

Catalog, rates and RAB

In Catalog, rates & RAB, add items with Item code, Description, Unit, Work group, Waste factor and Unit rate, plus PPN / tax (%) and Round total to. Click Save catalog item / rates. To import a list, use Import catalog Excel: the workbook needs a Code column and can have Description, Unit, Group, Factor and Rate (10 MB limit).

Compare drawing revisions

The open PDF is treated as the new revision.

1. Click Review › Revision Overlay.
2. In Earlier PDF, choose the previous revision. Set Earlier page and Resolution (150 or 300).
3. Keep Automatic alignment on Yes, or click Pick two points in earlier drawing and then the same two points on the new drawing.
4. Click Compare.

Removed lines show in red, added lines in blue, and unchanged content in grey. Switch Display between Overlay, Side by side and Swipe.

The changed regions are listed below. Click a change, then click Mark selected region to add a revision cloud. Use Apply Changes to write the clouds into the PDF. Export overlay PDF saves the comparison image with a colour legend.

Check and plot drawings

Click Review › Drawing & Plot.

Drawing checks test each page against rules such as standard paper size, embedded fonts, title block sheet number, revision, scale, hidden layers, thin lines, image resolution and open review comments. Turn rules on or off under Rules, and adjust Sheet number pattern if your numbering differs. Click Check all pages. To accept a finding, select it, type a reason and click Ignore selected issue. Export the list with Export Excel or Export PDF.

Plot / print

• Open print preview opens the print preview for the current drawing.
• Choose plot folder opens the Windows folder picker. PDFs in the folder and its subfolders are listed.
• Print drawing set prints them one by one. The Windows print dialog opens for each drawing so you can confirm printer, paper and range.

Track RFIs

Click Review › RFI Register.

1. Click New RFI / pick drawing location, then click the spot on the drawing.
2. Enter Title and Question. Optionally add Proposed solution, Discipline, Assigned to, Cost impact and Time impact. Due date defaults to 7 working days ahead.
3. Click Save RFI. The RFI gets a number such as SKN-RFI-001 (project code, RFI, three-digit sequence) and starts as Draft.

Change the status with Next status, an optional Status note, and Update status. Allowed steps:

Enter the Answer before you mark an RFI as Answered. An Open RFI past its due date shows as Overdue. View immutable status history lists every change. Export RFI for issue saves a one-page PDF and moves a Draft RFI to Open. Export register Excel and Export register PDF export the whole list. Attach supporting file adds files up to 20 MB, kept when you save the .farproj project.

Review a document

Click Review › Document Review.

1. Enter Reviewer and Category, then click Start review. The review gets a number such as PRJ-REV-001. Markup you add with the Comment tools joins this review.
2. Type a Comment, click Place comment on drawing, and click the location.
3. Choose a Sheet status (Approved, Approved as Noted, Revise & Resubmit, Rejected or For Information) and click Place status stamp.

Under Comments & replies, select a comment, set its status (Open, Accepted, Rejected, Completed, Cancelled), add a Reply and click Save status / reply. Export review offers Excel, a PDF report with optional snapshots, and a flattened review copy.

Issue a project package

Click Review › Project Package.

1. Under 1 · Drawing set, add drawings with Add PDF files and order them with Move selected up and Move selected down.
2. Under 2 · Transmittal, fill in To, From, Purpose and Notes. Choose Output (Merged PDF, ZIP or Both), the Bates prefix and Include registers.
3. Click Preview contents to check page counts, then Create package.

The package gets a transmittal number such as SKN-TRM-001. The merged PDF has a cover page, a linked contents page, bookmarks and Bates numbers. The ZIP holds the original drawings sorted by discipline, a transmittal PDF, Registers.xlsx (RFI and BOQ) when selected, and a manifest.json with SHA-256 hashes. Use Verify received package to check a ZIP you receive.

For drawing sets larger than 200 MB, use Streaming folder package: Choose project folder, then Create drawing archive. This copies the original PDFs into a ZIP with a SHA-256 manifest. Verify folder checksums checks an extracted package folder.