ForemanFOREMAN

File markup

Mark up plan PDFs right in Foreman — draw shapes, lines, clouds, freehand, and text notes on any page in the plan editor.

You can draw and write directly on a plan PDF without leaving Foreman. Markup happens in the plan editor — the same place you do takeoffs — so your notes stay attached to the exact page they belong to.

Open a plan in the editor

  1. Open a project and go to its files (Files → Projects → your project, or the project's Files tab).
  2. Double-click a PDF in the list — one click only selects the row. It opens in the plan editor. (On a phone or tablet, a single tap opens it.)

Note

Markup is an internal tool. Clients and vendors open a file to view or download it rather than entering the editor.

Move between sheets

Scroll down to move between sheets in the same file. Pinch, or hold Ctrl/Cmd while scrolling, to zoom around the pointer.

Click a sheet to make it the editing page. An unfinished drawing stays on its original sheet while you browse; scroll or use the page switcher to return to that sheet, then finish or cancel it before starting on another sheet.

Switch to Markup

On a plan set, pick Markups in the dropdown next to the filename to switch the toolbar to markup tools. An open annotations panel stays open; a hidden one stays hidden. Click the Annotations tab on the right edge of the canvas to open the markup list.

Note

A regular PDF or image — a contract, a permit, a photo — opens directly in markup mode without a mode dropdown. A plan set offers Takeoffs as well; scale and eligible AI tools appear in takeoff mode. The type is set from the file row's ⋯ menu in Files, never from inside the editor (see Adding files).

Markup tools

The toolbar at the top of the editor gives you:

  • Navigate — the default mouse tool; drag to pan the page or click a markup to select it.
  • Select — draw a selection box, move markups, and resize or reshape them.
  • Polygon — draw a closed shape.
  • Freehand — draw a free line by hand.
  • Text — drop a text note on the page.
  • Line — draw a straight line.
  • Arrow — draw a straight line with an arrowhead to point something out.
  • Ellipse — draw a closed oval shape.
  • Cloud — draw a revision cloud to call out a change.

Note

The tool buttons are icon-only — hover one to see its name.

Use the Width control next to the tools to set line thickness: type a value or open its chevron for presets. Selecting a markup before changing Width updates that markup. Color is per markup rather than a toolbar setting: draw it, then recolor it from the markup list — click its colored shape icon, or choose Change color in its Options menu.

Your markup saves itself

Completed shapes, lines, and notes save automatically — there's no save button. Finish a drawing before leaving; unfinished points are not a saved markup. Use Select to move and reshape a markup on the sheet, and the markup list on the right to rename, recolor, hide, or delete it from its Options menu.