In any AEC project, proper documentation handling is the foundation for success. When your team has dozens or even hundreds of PDFs moving between people, platforms, and revisions, effective file management and version control become essential for staying on schedule.

That’s where Drawboard Projects comes in. It creates an efficient, centralized resource where you can keep essential drawings and supporting documentation organized, versioned, and review-ready—and if they need more markup, Drawboard’s PDF editing tools are just a few clicks away.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to upload drawings and documents into Drawboard Projects for easy organization, management, and collaboration at scale.

File Management: Drawings vs Documents

As soon as you open a project in Drawboard Projects, you’ll see two key areas for uploads that help you stay organized.

• Drawings stores design files, such as architectural plans, engineering layouts, and shop drawings. These files are optimized for markup, version control, and template use.
• Documents handles specifications, approvals, or any long-form references that don’t need to be redlined or revised frequently.

Separating these types of uploads helps keep fast-moving files, like drawings, visible and easy to update, while ensuring your supporting information remains accessible without cluttering the review process.

Uploading New Documents and Drawings

Uploading files into Drawboard Projects is designed to be simple, whether you’re adding a single drawing or a full document set. You can upload directly from your computer using drag-and-drop, browse your file explorer, or connect storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Revit.

Once uploaded, drawings are prepared for markup and document control, while other file types are stored in a dedicated space for easy access and reference.

To upload files:

1. Open your project and navigate to either the Drawings or Documents section
2. Click New Drawing or New Document
3. Drag and drop your files or select them from connected storage

4. Confirm your file list, then click “Process” to upload them
5. Once the upload completes, click “Review & Publish”
6. After publishing, you can choose to use a Template (Drawings) or edit metadata (Documents) before sharing the live files

This process ensures every file is uploaded to the right place, instantly accessible to collaborators, and ready to be marked up.

Scale File Uploading and Organization with OCR Templates

If your drawings use a consistent title block layout, Drawboard Projects can automatically read key metadata like drawing number, title, and revision using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) templates.

Rather than entering this information manually for every drawing, you can define it once where it appears, then let Projects do the work going forward.

Creating a template is quick and flexible, and once applied, you can seamlessly upload drawings in similar formats, even in bulk.

Creating and applying a template

Immediately after publishing your files, you’ll be greeted by a Template prompt that lets you create a new template, reuse an existing template, or skip templates altogether.

To create a new template:

1. Click “Create new template”
2. Review the drawing and locate its name, number, and version title blocks
3. Click in the “Name,” “Number,” or “Revision box to start selecting the content area
4. Draw a rectangle around the section’s designated area

1. Repeat the process for the other two title blocks and ensure the OCR’s text is accurate
2. Once confirmed, check the “Save” textbox, name the template, and click “Next” to apply the template to the entire drawing set

Before completing the upload using a template, double-check that all content extracted from each drawing is accurate. If you need to make changes, you can easily edit one or multiple fields by selecting the file and modifying the desired field.

Once you’ve created a template, you can save it and reuse it for future uploads. Projects will automatically detect the template it’s using, extract the metadata, and populate the fields during upload.

Seamless Version Control with Automatic Revision Stacking

Once your templates are in use, revision management becomes seamless.

When a drawing with the same number is uploaded again—regardless of whether it's next week or next month—Drawboard Projects will recognize it as a newer version and stack it automatically. There's no need to rename files or move them to a special folder.

Projects tracks each drawing’s version history in a single location, where your team can:

• Open older versions for comparison
• View markups and issues specific to each version
• Confidently work on the most current file

Drawboard Projects: Organized, Scalable File Management

Drawboard Projects makes file handling easier from the start. Keeping drawings and documents separate, supporting quick uploads, and using templates to automate repetitive steps helps your team stay organized without adding extra work. Additionally, it tracks revisions automatically, allowing everyone to focus on the latest version without having to worry about keeping track of changes. 

Projects is a straightforward way to keep your project files clear, consistent, and easy to manage as things scale. 

Ready to take the next step? Contact us today.