Plan import & auto-conversion

Partly availableSome of what this page describes is in DimSum today and some is still coming. Parts marked Coming are designed but not built yet.

Drop in PDFs, scans, images or CAD files; DimSum converts every page into its own fast format, embeds it in the `.dsum`, and lets you zoom almost infinitely without lag.

Overview

Most plans arrive as PDFs; some arrive as scans, photos or CAD files. DimSum does not make you care: every file is auto-converted into one of two internal page kinds and stored inside the single project file.

Page kind	Made from	What you get
DimSum Vector Page	Vector PDFs, SVG, DXF (DWG later)	Lines and text re-drawn sharp at any zoom (10,000%+). Snapping to plan lines and line extraction work. Text On/Off and PDF/CAD layers work.
DimSum Raster Page	Scanned PDFs, TIFF, PNG, JPG, BMP, WebP, HEIC	A multi-resolution tile pyramid: instant at any zoom, but detail is limited to the scan resolution. OCR adds searchable text (later).

The original file is also kept inside the .dsum for re-conversion and fidelity (unless you run Compact or Export for Sharing).

Where to find it

• New Project Process → step 4 "Upload Plans" (drag and drop). See New Project Process.
• Adding more plan sets to a job that's open: the Project Tree's toolbar → Add plans…, or drop PDF files onto the tree — onto a group to put them there.
• Adding a revised sheet (Revision 2 of A-101): right-click the page → Add new page version…. See Page Versions.

How to use it

Import plans while creating a project

1. Project Info: type the project name. The description defaults to the plan file name once plans are uploaded.
2. Reach Upload Plans. Drag PDFs (and any TIFFs, images, DXFs…) onto the drop area, or browse for them. You can add several files; each becomes a plan set.
3. Import runs in the background with a progress bar. Thumbnails appear as each page is ready; the first page is usable in under 2 seconds even for a 200-page set.
4. Click Next to Assign Pages. This is the first real job: reorder the pages, rename them so you know which is which, and drag each onto a Plan Level (a level can take several pages) or the Details section. Mark cover sheets Ignore.
5. (Low priority, best effort) Auto-suggest may read sheet titles ("BASEMENT PLAN", "A-101") and propose names/levels.
6. Continue to scaling (usually Auto Scale all pages, then fix the odd ones) and alignment, or skip them and come back later.

Add plans to a job that's open

Plans are added from a toolbar on the Project Tree, and new pages go into the group you pick.

1. Pick the group the pages belong in: click its row in the Project Tree (a storey, a section, or Details). A page picked in the tree counts as its group.
2. Press Add plans… on the tree's toolbar. Windows' Open box asks for PDF files, as many as you like. Or drop PDF files onto the tree — onto a group row (or any page under it) to put them there; onto the tree's empty space for the group picked. The group they will land in lights up as you drag.
3. The pages convert with the same progress window a new job's import shows, and appear at the end of that group, in each file's page order.

Where they go: the group they were dropped on; else the group picked in the tree; else Details — which is always there, so there is nothing to make. Add plans…'s tooltip names the group before you press it.

• Named as a new job's import names them — today the file name and page number (A-Set.pdf – p3); bookmarks and title-block reading are not built, for a new job or an added one. Rename them afterwards as any page.
• Unscaled until you set a scale, as on a new job; the tree's ⚠ says so and the notice after the add says so too. The job's scale, its groups and its existing pages are not touched.
• One Undo takes the whole add back — every page of every file, and their plans — however many files it was. Redo puts them all back.

What it refuses: a file that isn't a PDF, or a PDF that can't be read, is named and skipped — listed under the tree's toolbar until you dismiss it — and nothing of it is written (no page, no stored file, no step in the Undo History). Images (PNG, JPEG, TIFF) still import through Import Plans, not Add plans….

Then scale the new pages (Page tools), and align them later (Overlay & Align).

Blank pages

1. On the Project Tree's toolbar press Add blank page… (beside Add plans…).
2. A small box asks for a Name (Blank 1, Blank 2…), a Size — 24 × 36 (the default), 11 × 17, 18 × 24, 30 × 42, 36 × 48, or Custom… width × height in inches (36, 36" or 3', from 1" up to 200" a side) — and Landscape (the default: 24 × 36 is 36" wide, 24" tall) or Portrait. A size that can't be used is refused in the box, saying why.
3. Add page: it goes where Add plans… would put pages — the group picked, else Details — at the end, and opens on the canvas. One Undo takes it back.

A blank page is a plain white sheet of that size — no plan, nothing to render, the canvas asks for no tiles. It starts unscaled; Set scale opens on the standard scales (Page tools). Drawing, snapping, takeoff, quantities and print work on it as on any page; it prints as white paper with your takeoff on it.

Add a revised sheet (keep the old one)

1. Right-click the existing page → Add new page version… and pick the file/page.
2. The new version converts and inherits the page's scale and alignment; give it its own scale or alignment if the revision moved things, or point it at a different sheet/location entirely.
3. Align it to the old one with the 4-click Overlay & Align. The old version is never deleted, and every version stays in the file — including Export for Sharing. See Page Versions.

Zoom in on detail

1. Scroll the mouse wheel over the area of interest (or pinch on a trackpad). Right-drag or middle-drag to pan.
2. On a vector page, lines stay crisp no matter how far you go; read small callouts or snap to a corner at 5,000%.
3. On a raster page, detail stops at the scan resolution; past that, pixels are smoothed. Ctrl+0 fits the page again.

Search plan text

1. Press Ctrl+F (universal search) and type text such as "HDU5" or "SHEAR WALL". Plan text from vector PDFs is found on every sheet; scanned sheets are found once OCR is available. See Search, Media & Attachments.
2. OCR text also feeds Auto Scale (reading SCALE: 1/4" = 1'-0" on scans) and Text Off on scans.

Options & settings

Supported inputs

Format	Converted to	Notes
PDF (vector) — primary	Vector Page	Most plans; highest priority for quality and speed
PDF (scanned)	Raster Page + background OCR	OCR supports search, Auto Scale and Text Off
TIFF (incl. multi-page, CCITT G4)	Raster Page
PNG / JPG / BMP / WebP / HEIC	Raster Page	Photos of plans can be straightened with the Straighten tool
SVG	Vector Page
DXF	Vector Page (layers, blocks, units kept)	Best for line extraction; scale comes from drawing units
DWG	Vector Page	Nice-to-have, later (licensing)
Office docs (xlsx/docx) of specs	PDF → pages	For spec sheets in Details, "if feasible"

Non-plan files you just want to keep with the job are attachments, not pages: see Search, Media & Attachments.

Related settings

Setting	Where	What it does
Cache folder, size, Clear	Settings → Storage & Files	Rendered tiles live here, never in the .dsum; regenerated as needed
GPU on/off, tile cache memory, background rendering threads	Settings → Performance	Rendering speed vs. memory
Compact / Export for Sharing	File menu	Compact trims history and can remove embedded originals; Export for Sharing writes the smallest possible copy for emailing or backup. Page versions are always kept, even here — accepts the bigger file
Refresh Center	Project menu	Shows what has moved on outside the project — settings, list prices, tools, newer page versions, unmatched items — and lets you pull each one in

Examples

• Architect's PDF set (60 sheets): imports as Vector Pages; thumbnails fill in within seconds. Reorder, rename A-101 "Main Floor Plan" and drag it to Main Level. Snapping to wall lines works immediately.
• Foundation plan and basement finish plan: both go on the Basement level as two pages.
• Hand-drawn plan scanned crooked at 300 DPI: imports as a Raster Page. Use the Straighten tool, then Manual Scale → Calibrate on a known dimension.
• Site plan DXF from the civil engineer: imports as a Vector Page with its layers; scale is set from drawing units; turn off the topo layer in PDF/CAD Layers.

Tips & shortcuts

• Scan paper plans at 300–400 DPI; lower resolutions blur when zoomed, higher ones just make the file bigger.
• Prefer the architect's original PDF over a scan of a print: you get sharp zoom, snapping and text control.
• Ctrl+0 fit page · Ctrl+1 100% · Z zoom to selection · mouse wheel zooms · right-drag, middle-drag or Space+drag pans.

Rules, limits & edge cases

• DWG is not in v1 (later, licensing). Convert DWG to DXF or PDF first.
• Before OCR ships, scanned PDFs import as Raster Pages without searchable text, and Auto Scale / Text Off on scans are unavailable.
• Raster detail is capped by the scan; "infinite zoom" applies fully only to vector pages.
• Line extraction from scans is later (best effort).
• Office document conversion is "if feasible"; it may not ship in v1.
• Sheet-title reading is best effort and never automatic; expect to rename pages yourself.
• Password-protected or damaged PDFs: behavior not yet specified. (DimSum's own protected pages — one optional password per project, hiding the page everywhere until unlocked — are a different feature, see Search, Media & Attachments.)
• Deleting the original via Compact means the page cannot be re-converted from source later.

Related features

• New Project Process (upload, assign pages)
• File types & the .dsum project file · Performance targets
• Page tools (Scale, Straighten, Text On/Off, Layers) · Project Tree · Page Versions
• Search, Media & Attachments
• Line extraction · Engineered Layout Overlays