Tutorials MarkupCraft help Getting started
Files MarkupCraft opens and saves
PDFs in, a marked-up PDF copy out, plus CSV, BCF and tool chest files; where each goes, online and offline.
Written for MarkupCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1.
What MarkupCraft opens
| File | How | What happens |
|---|---|---|
PDF (.pdf) | Open, ⌘OCtrl+O, or drop on the sheet area. Several at once is fine. | Every page becomes a sheet. Markups already in the file are read back (below). |
Tool chest (.json) | Tools tab, then Import | Tools are added to your chest. See The tool chest. |
Anything else is refused with "MarkupCraft opens PDF files." in the status bar. If you drop a mix, the PDFs open and the status bar says how many files were not PDF.
Markups already in a PDF
- Markups MarkupCraft saved come back exactly: type, style, author, dates, status, replies, punch number, the sheet's scale and any sheet names you typed.
- Comments from other PDF programs are read too. Rectangles, ellipses, lines and arrows, polylines, polygons, ink (pen) strokes, text boxes and sticky notes become normal, editable MarkupCraft markups. Their replies and review statuses come along.
- Everything else (text highlights made by selecting text, other programs' stamps, and other kinds) is shown as it is, marked read-only. You can select it, see it in the markups list and reply to it, but not move, change or delete it.
- Links and form fields are left alone and are not listed.
- A scale saved by another program (a measurement viewport) is used as the sheet's scale when MarkupCraft understands its unit.
Files that do not open
- A PDF that needs a password: '"name" needs a password to open. Open an unprotected copy.'
- A damaged file or one that is not really a PDF: '"name" could not be read as a PDF (…)'.
- A PDF that opens but is protected against changes opens fine. Saving it is refused (see below).
When several files are opened at once, the ones that work open and a box called "Some files did not open" lists the others.
What MarkupCraft saves
Saving is always a download of a new file. A web page cannot overwrite a file on your computer, and MarkupCraft never changes your original.
| You choose | You get | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Save (⌘SCtrl+S) | "<name> (marked up).pdf" | A copy of the original PDF with every markup written in as a real PDF comment. Saving a "(marked up)" file again keeps the same name; it never becomes "(marked up) (marked up)". See Save the marked-up PDF. |
| Markups tab, then CSV | "<name> markups.csv" | The markups as listed (filters apply). |
| Markups tab, then BCF | "<name> markups.bcfzip" | BCF 2.1 for BIM coordination tools, a snapshot per markup. See BCF basics. |
| Punch list tab, then Export CSV | "<name> punch list.csv" | The punch items in number order. |
| Tools tab, then Export | "MarkupCraft tool chest.json" | Your tool chest, to share or keep. |
"<name>" is the first open PDF's file name without ".pdf".
The CSV files open in any spreadsheet. They are UTF-8 with the marker spreadsheets look for, so accented names come out right. A cell that starts with =, +, - or @ gets a leading apostrophe so a spreadsheet never runs it as a formula.
Where downloads go
Your browser decides: usually your Downloads folder, or it asks each time if you set it to. See Browsers and computers.
Chrome or Edge
When you save every changed file of a set at once, Chrome and Edge may ask whether this site may download multiple files. Choose Allow, or you get only the first copy.
Safari
On an iPad, Safari asks before each download and puts the file in the Files app, under Downloads. On a Mac it goes to the folder set in Safari's settings.
Online and offline
- Your PDFs never leave this computer, online or offline. There is no upload anywhere.
- The PDF reader is loaded the first time you open a PDF ("Loading the PDF reader…"), and the PDF writer the first time you save ("Loading the PDF writer…") or open a file that already has comments in it.
- With a connection, both load from the website.
- To work with no connection, choose Save for offline in the bar at the top while you are online. The button counts "Saving N of M" and then says "Offline ready". That copy includes the PDF reader and the PDF writer (about 6 MB in all) and this help, so afterwards opening, marking up and saving PDFs all work offline in this browser.
- If the button says "Could not save", some files did not download: check the connection and click it again. If it says "Offline not available", this browser window cannot keep an offline copy (private windows and some managed computers); use a normal window.
- To update or drop the copy, click "Offline ready" and choose "Save again (get the newest version)" or "Remove the offline copy". More in Working offline.
Offline
You are offline. If the bar at the top says "Offline ready", everything works, saving included. If it does not and you have not saved yet in this tab, Save can fail with "The PDF writer could not load". Your markups are still in the tab: keep it open, get back online, and choose Save again.
Things to know
- Large plan sets take a while to open: MarkupCraft reads every page's text to find sheet numbers. The status bar counts the sheets as it goes.
- Opening the same PDF twice adds its sheets twice. Close the set and open it again if that happens.
- Close closes every open file at once. If any have unsaved markups it asks: Cancel, Close without saving or Save copies first.
- Cloud saving is not available yet, and there are no desktop builds yet. Keep your PDFs with your other project files and back them up as usual. See Where your files go.