Bring your team into the drawing

Architectural review involves sketching alternatives, coordinating disciplines and communicating decisions that others will build from. PDF markup software should make those intentions easy to understand and keep feedback connected to the correct drawing revision.

Deta supports freehand sketches, highlights, revision clouds, hatch fills, measurements and callouts with multiple leaders. These tools work alongside collaborative review and version history, helping your team move from an early design discussion to a coordinated drawing without losing the context behind the changes.

Yes. Publish your layouts from Archicad or export your sheets from Revit as PDFs, then bring them into Deta for review. Architects, consultants and contractors can discuss the same plans, sections and details even when they use different design software.

Continue developing the model in Archicad or Revit, then add the revised PDF to the existing drawing in Deta. You can compare drawing revisions and continue the relevant review. This workflow uses exported PDFs; it does not require Deta to open or edit the native authoring file.

A shared drawing gives the team a common place to explore a question, test an alternative and agree on the next revision. In Deta Cloud, people reviewing the same page, version and markup branch can see one another’s cursors and markups as they work.

An architect in the studio and a consultant on site can point to the same detail and develop the response together. Comments and replies also let the conversation continue between meetings, while collaborative whiteboards provide space for broader sketches and design exploration.

A revised drawing and a new round of comments are different things. Keeping that distinction clear helps a team understand which drawing was reviewed and whether earlier feedback still applies.

Deta’s version tree connects each PDF revision with its markup branches and issued copies. Branches let you keep separate reviews or design alternatives on the same version. When a revised PDF arrives, earlier reviews remain attached to their original drawing, and you can copy a branch forward to continue the work. Drawing comparison helps identify changes between the base PDFs.

An RFI is easier to understand when the question, affected detail and supporting evidence can be reviewed together. A photograph of a site condition often explains something that a written description alone cannot.

In Deta, you can locate the question on the drawing, attach site photos or files to its thread, and discuss the clarification with the project team. Replies and status changes remain in the event history, preserving the context behind the response and making outstanding follow-up easier to identify.

Punch-list observations need a clear location, a description of the incomplete or deficient work, and enough context for someone else to follow up. Keeping that information together makes subsequent inspections easier to review.

With Deta, your team can mark the location on the drawing, attach photographs and record the discussion in a thread. Status changes show how an item progresses, including when it is completed or reopened. The history helps distinguish an outstanding observation from work that was previously reviewed and needs further attention.

You can also export a printable punch list from your comment threads. Choose Comments → Summary when exporting the PDF to include numbered markers on the drawings and a corresponding summary of observations, current statuses and replies.

Working markups continue to evolve, but the copy circulated at a particular milestone needs to remain identifiable. Deta keeps drawing versions and their review branches together, while markup event history records replies and status changes.

When you issue a drawing, Deta creates a dated, fixed PDF with the selected branch’s markups flattened onto the drawing. That issued copy remains available in the version tree as the working review continues. Comment threads and their attachments remain in Deta and are not included in the issued PDF.