Compare Drawings in the Drawings Tool (Open Beta)

• Required User Permissions:

  • ‘Read only’, 'Standard' or 'Admin' level permissions to the project's Document tool.

• Additional Information:

  • To overlay two Drawings on top of each other, the files must be different versions of the same document.

  • PDF is the only file type compatible with the compare feature in the Drawings tool at this time.

  • This feature is available in both the Company and Project level Drawings tool.

1. Navigate to the project's Drawings tool.

2. Click to open the document you want to use as the base for comparison.

3. Follow the steps below depending on what type of comparison you want to do:

   • Overlay: Compare two versions of the same document, superimposed on top of each other, so new markups or content stand out in a different color. Great for drawings.

   • Side-by-side: Compare two Drawings or file versions next to each other.

Overlay

Overlay mode is best for comparing visual layouts, such as two drawings with markups. The selected files must be different versions of the same document. The two versions are superimposed on top of each other. Text that is present in the base file but not in the comparison file, and vice versa, is color-coded to highlight the differences. Text that is common to both versions is displayed in black. The original base file remains unchanged.

1. Click the Compare button in the document New Drawings Viewer (Beta). This button appears in the control panel at the bottom once the document is fully loaded in the New Drawings Viewer (Beta). OR

2. Click the Version drop-down, then click the Compare button. This will open the Compare document versions screen.

3. Click Overlay as your mode for comparison.

4. Using the Compare against drop down menu, select the second version to compare against the base version you already have open in the New Drawings Viewer (Beta).

5. Click Compare. After a moment, your new pdf ,with both versions superimposed, is ready.

6. Discover markup and content differences by looking for these colors:

   • Blue: Elements only in the second file.

   • Red: Elements only in the base file.

   • Black: Elements present and in the same location in both files (versions).

7. To change which version you're comparing the base document with, click the drop-down menu at the top of the document New Drawings Viewer (Beta) and select the version you want.

8. To select a different base document, close the current one and open a new document. Then, follow these steps from the beginning.

Note: Select the zoom control in the control panel or Exit Comparison to exit the view. 

Side-by-Side

View two Drawings next to each other, for comparing or referencing. These two Drawings can be two different files or different versions of the same document.
Note : When comparing two different Drawings, both must be in the same drawing area and must be their latest versions. When comparing different versions of the same Drawing, the versions do not need to be the latest.

1. Click the Compare button in the document New Drawings Viewer (Beta). This button appears in the control panel at the bottom once the document is fully loaded in the New Drawings Viewer (Beta). OR

2. Click the Version drop-down, then click the Compare button. This will open the Compare document versions screen.

3. Click Side-by-side as your mode for comparison.

4. Using the Compare against drop down menu, select the file that you want appearing to the right of the one you already have open in the New Drawings Viewer (Beta).

5. Click Compare. After a moment, your two files appear side-by-side.

6. Tools for side-by-side comparison. These are accessible once both Drawings are fully loaded in the New Drawings Viewer (Beta):

   • Link Zoom: Click this button in the bottom toolbar to synchronize scrolling and zooming between the two Drawings. Click Unlink Zoom to stop synchronized scrolling.

   • Show Semantics: Click this button at the top of the screen highlighted text-based differences in yellow and view a written list of the changes. Click Hide Semantics to hide these features. The semantic view is available only when differences are detected.

   • Switch Drawings: Click the drop down at the top of either document and select a different one for that pane.