The Document Library

Six copies of the same datasheet named DS_final(2).pdf, each linked somewhere different, is how packages go stale. The Document Library keeps one entry per unique file and points every part at it.

Browse the library

Open Documents to see every PDF your parts share: file, type, size, linked part, and when it was added. Sort orders the list by when it was added, its name or its size. Search by file name or category. The rail on the left narrows the list, with a count beside every choice: by Type, Datasheet, Manual, Warranty, or Other, or under Needs a look to Not linked to any part, which is your cleanup list, Lists parts to add or link, or Possible duplicate. On a narrow screen the rail folds into a Filters button above the list that says how many are on.

Upload without duplicates

Drop PDFs anywhere on the list, or a whole folder of them with its subfolders, or press Upload PDFs. Upload as picks how they file: by their detected type, or as datasheets, manuals, warranties, or other. Re-uploading a file you already have always lands on the existing entry; a second copy is never created.

A vendor datasheet downloaded a second time is trickier, because the file differs even when the document doesn't. When a new upload reads the same as one you have, a Possible duplicate notice appears showing what it matched, when that was added, and links to open both, since two sheets in a product line can read alike and differ only in a photo. One click keeps the existing file and drops the copy, or Keep both if they really are different documents.

The document page

Open any file to manage it in one place. The page leads with the file itself, fitted to your screen, with thumbnails down its edge and every catalog number it lists marked where it prints. Full screen fills the screen with it, and Esc leaves it. If the file cannot be shown, the page says so and offers Download and Open in new tab.

1. Under the file, On page N lists the parts printed on the page you are looking at. Link attaches a part you already have in one click, and Add part creates one and links it. Turning the page updates the list.
2. All parts lists every catalog number the file covers as Linked, To link (a part you have that this file should back), or New (no part yet). Tick several New rows and use Add N parts, with Undo if you change your mind. Mark a number that is not a part with Not parts. Click a catalog number you have a part for to open that part. Click its page, or a New catalog number, and the file opens at that page.
3. On All parts, link a part the file does not print by searching for it, or unlink a part that no longer belongs; unlinking removes only that part's highlights on the file. Analyze all parts reruns page analysis for every linked part at once. See Part documents for what highlights and analysis do.
4. Highlights shows what was found for each linked part, and Used in lists the projects that compile the file.
5. The title block under the file's name reads its Type, Category, Always full sheet, Pages, Size and when it was Added. Set the category there, and for datasheets, Always full sheet, which ships the complete document even in Relevant Pages Only packages.

The rail beside the page goes back to Documents, finds another part or document by name, and, when you came from the list, steps Previous and Next through it. It lists the page's sections and the parts the file is linked to.

The Parts page has a From your documents tab that lists every file's New and To link numbers in one place, newest file first.

A library document can back parts across many projects, so editing a shared file's category or Always Full Sheet asks first, with live counts of the parts and projects linked to it. A document used in one place edits without ceremony.

Redact a header or footer

A manual pulled from an old job carries that job's name in every header, and it shouldn't ship on the next one. On the document page, Redact opens the file in the markup editor with one drawing tool: drag a box over the header, footer, or stamp to remove it. Each box picks what the emptied area shows: nothing, white, or black.

Redaction removes the text, images, and drawings under the box from every submittal and O&M manual that compiles the document, and from source document exports. A highlight that sat under a redaction is dropped too, so a catalog number found only in the removed area is reported as missing. The library keeps the original file, so the preview and Download still show it. Turn on As compiled in the editor to see the document the way it will ship.

Straight to the right page

Results from searching inside documents and links in highlight reviews open a document at the matched page, not page one, so a 90-page manual stops being a scrolling exercise.

Delete in bulk

Check the rows you want gone, or check the box in the bar above the list to take the whole page. With a page selected, Select all matching widens the selection to every document your search and filters match, across pages. Delete selected shows what will happen before anything does: unlinked documents go, and linked ones are kept unless you check the box to unlink them first and delete them too.

Delete document, under More on a file's page, says how many parts it unlinks and which projects compile again without it, then deletes it. Issued submissions keep their copy.