Reviewing PDFs (add markup and issues)

Opening PDFs from ProjectWise Web

Click the check box next to the PDF and select PDF review from the action menu. You can also just click the PDF in the document list.

The PDF opens in PDF Markup Service within the current ProjectWise Web browser tab.

If the PDF document had a status of Checked In when you opened it and you have Write access to it, then the PDF Markup Service opens the PDF in Write mode and you can mark up, annotate, and add issues to the PDF. If the PDF document was locked when you opened it, or if you only have Read access to it, then the PDF Markup Service opens the PDF in Read-only mode.

Note: If you are not able to open PDFs at all, or if your PDFs can only be opened as read-only, then most likely your connection requires additional configuration by your administrator. Depending on the issue, it could be that CORS is not enabled in Bentley Web Services Gateway for the PDF Markup Service, or that Bentley Web Services Gateway is not public facing.

Marking Up the PDF

Use the tools across the top of the PDF Markup Service window to navigate and mark up the PDF as needed.

When you add markup to a PDF, your markup is stored in a separate XFDF document that gets created automatically and sits along side the original PDF document in ProjectWise (the original PDF is never modified). Your changes are saved as you make them.

When you are finished viewing or marking up the PDF you can click the Back button in the upper left corner to go back to ProjectWise Web.

When you need to reopen a PDF that has already been marked up in the PDF Markup Service, just select the PDF again in ProjectWise Web and select Open PDF. When you reopen a PDF, the markup stored in the matching XFDF file is loaded along with the PDF in the PDF Markup Service.

Adding Issues

You can add issues to the PDF in PDF Markup Service. The issues that you report get added to the ProjectWise Issues Resolution Service for the associated ProjectWise project.

To begin adding an issue, do one of the following:
- Click the Insert menu, then click the Create Issue button and click in the PDF where you want to add an issue.
  
  or
- Select some existing markup (for example, draw a cloud (Shapes > Cloud around something and then select that cloud), then select Publish Issue from the menu that opens.
When the Create Issue dialog opens, fill out the issue as needed and click Save.

Opening a PDF from PDF Markup Service

Once a PDF is open in PDF Markup Service, you can open other PDFs from the same ProjectWise folder directly from PDF Markup Service.

Click the Panel icon to open the Navigation Panel.
At the top of the Navigation Panel, click the Navigate Folder icon.

The panel shows a list of all the PDFs in the current ProjectWise folder, including versions if the PDF has versions.
Select any PDF in the list to open that PDF in the PDF Markup Service.

Working with PDF Versions

A PDF (like any other document in ProjectWise) may have multiple versions. You can open any version of a PDF in the PDF Markup Service, but you will only be able to mark up the active version of a PDF. If you open a non-active version, the PDF will open in read-only mode:

Whenever you markup a PDF, a matching XFDF file is automatically created, and is where the markup is stored. Whenever you re-open a PDF that has been marked up, PDF Markup Service will always load the markup from the matching XFDF file.

When you create a new version of a PDF that has already been marked up, the matching XFDF file is NOT automatically versioned along with the original PDF. This is intentional, so that you can choose whether or not you want to keep the old markup in the new version:

Option A - don't keep old markup in new version:
1. Create a new version of a PDF that has already been marked up.
2. Do not manually create a new version of the matching XFDF file.
3. Open the new PDF version in PDF Markup Service.
  At this point, because the new PDF version has no matching version of the XFDF file, only the PDF opens in PDF Markup Service; the old markup is not loaded.
4. Markup the new PDF version as needed. This will automatically create a new version of the matching XFDF file, and it will automatically be given the same version string as the new PDF version.
or
Option B - keep old markup in new version:
1. Create a new version of a PDF that has already been marked up.
2. Manually create a new version of the matching XFDF file, and make sure you give the new XFDF version the same version string as the new PDF version.
  For example, if the version string for the new PDF version is "A", then the version string for the matching XFDF version must also be "A".

Remember: Whenever you open a PDF version, PDF Markup Service will always load the markup from the matching XFDF version. If there is no matching XFDF version for a given PDF version, then no markup will be loaded when you open that PDF version.