Save and reopen a takeoff

A takeoff is saved as a small project file, (name).takeoff.json. It holds your items, assemblies, rates, every sheet's scale and every mark. It does not hold the PDFs; it finds them again by their contents.

Save

1. Choose Save takeoff in the File group, or press ⌘SCtrl+S. Your browser downloads (name).takeoff.json. The status bar says "Saved (name).takeoff.json. It reopens on top of the same PDFs (they are matched by their contents)."
2. Move the file next to the job's PDFs, so the two stay together.

Each save downloads a new file. Your browser may name the second one (name) (1).takeoff.json; keep the newest.

The name comes from the first PDF you opened in this takeoff.

Reopen

1. Open TakeoffCraft.
2. Drop the .takeoff.json file and its PDFs on the page together. Or choose Open PDFs for the PDFs and Open takeoff for the project, in either order. The status bar says "Opened (name): 12 items, 340 marks." Every sheet gets its scale back and the marks appear on their sheets.

The order of the PDFs does not matter, and neither do their file names or folders. TakeoffCraft recognizes each PDF by a fingerprint of its contents.

If you open a project while the current takeoff has unsaved changes, TakeoffCraft asks first: Cancel, Discard changes, or Save takeoff first. Opening a project replaces the current items and marks; PDFs that are already open stay open.

When a PDF is missing

If you open the project without all its PDFs, the status bar adds "Open its PDFs to see the marks (listed under Sheets)." Under the sheets list, a note says:

"This takeoff also covers PDFs that are not open. Their quantities are counted; open them to see and edit their marks:"

followed by the file names and sizes. Their marks still count in every total and export, with the scales they were measured at. Open those PDFs to see and edit the marks.

When a PDF has changed

A PDF that was revised, or just saved again by another program, has different contents, so it is a different file to TakeoffCraft, even with the same name. In the note under the sheets list, such a file says "a file with this name is open, but its contents differ".

• The marks stay attached to the old version. They keep counting, at their old positions and scales.
• The revised PDF opens as new sheets with no scale and no marks.

Moving a takeoff onto a revised set is not built yet. Today you can:

1. Keep the old PDF with the project, and open both versions side by side to compare.
2. Set scales on the new sheets and take off what changed as new marks.
3. Delete the old marks you replaced (open the old PDF to select them).

A damaged or foreign file

TakeoffCraft checks every project file before using it. Messages you may see:

• "(file) is not a TakeoffCraft project (it is not valid JSON)."
• "This is not a TakeoffCraft project file."
• "This project was saved by a newer TakeoffCraft. Open it there."
• "3 marks were damaged and left out." (the rest opens)

Undo history

Undo history starts fresh when you open a project. Saving does not clear it.