Document browser

In CADMATIC, the document browser dialog lists the available documents and allows the user to open documents and run various commands on them. The document browser can be opened from various different contexts, and the title of the dialog reflects the type of the documents being displayed, such as P&ID diagrams, Plant Modeller drawings or isometric drawings.

As this is a standard Plant Modeller object browser dialog, you can use normal object browser functionality, such as hierarchies and columns, to organize the drawings in a suitable way. For more information on object browsers, see Object browser.

In the left pane you can select what you intend to manage:

All Drawings or All Diagrams – Select this to list all the documents.
My Drawings or My Diagrams – Select this to list only the documents that are currently checked out to you.

Document browser context menu

In the document list of the document browser, right-clicking a document displays a context menu that allows you to manage the specified document.

The table below lists commands that you might see in this context menu.

The availability of some of the commands depends on the current state of the document, on whether you are connected to a master or replica COS server, and on whether you are working in sister projects.
Some available commands you might not be able to run if the document uses a different coordinate system than your Plant Modeller area.
Some available commands you might not be able to run if the document is not in the current document format; documents that are in the current document format have the attribute "Data Version = 2". If documents were created in an earlier software version that uses the old document format, the administrator can use the Multi-Project Maintenance tool to convert all the documents to the current document format at once, as described in Convert drawings. If the conversion has not been performed and you check out one or more documents or start to edit a document, the program automatically performs the conversion for the specified documents. If you then use the Check In command, the conversion becomes permanent and irreversible. But, if you use the Cancel Edits command, the converted local document is discarded, the document remains in COS in the old format, and the next time you open or check out that document it is again automatically converted.

Command	Description	Availability
Edit	Opens the selected document for editing in Document editor. You can also double-click a document to start editing it. If the document is currently checked in and it has been stored in an older document format, automatic conversion is performed and you are prompted that the local document has been converted to the new document format. The next check-in will make this conversion permanent. If the document has been created with CADMATIC Web API, the document has no ICGD and you are prompted to select which ICGD to use for it.	Plant Modeller and Piping Isometrics & Spools automatically check out the document if it is checked in, but in P&ID the user is prompted to confirm the check-out.
Edit Attributes	Allows editing the attributes of the selected document.	Only available for documents that are checked in.
Save As	Creates a copy of the selected document and each drawing in the document.	Not available for isometric documents.
Rename	Allows renaming the selected document.	Only available for documents that are checked in. Not available for isometric documents. Duct Main Documents and Pipe Main Documents require the associated Group to be checked out. Spool drawings cannot be manually renamed—they are automatically renamed when the drawings are regenerated.
Check Out	Checks out the selected documents. If the document has been stored in an older document format, automatic conversion is performed and you are prompted that the local document has been converted to the new document format. The next check-in will make this conversion permanent.	Not available if your COS server does not have the ownership of the document or if the document is already checked out.
Check In	Checks in the selected documents.	Only available for documents that are checked out.
Cancel Edits	Discards your local changes in the selected documents, so that your local document is the same as the document on the server.	Only available for documents that are checked out.
Plot	Prints the selected documents. See Plot.	—
Export	Exports the selected documents in a specific format. Latest Published Version – Exports the latest published document version in a user-defined format. See Export. Current Version – Exports the current (edited) document version in a user-defined format. See Export. Current Version as Multi-page PDF – Exports the current (edited) document version as a multi-page PDF. See Export. Export Main Document & Spools as multi page PDF – Exports the current (edited) document version as a multi-page PDF where the main document is followed by spool documents. See Export. TF and AM link – Opens a dialog for defining header information for the cutting list and then exports files for integration with the software of Transfluid and Addison McKee pipe bending machines. See Transfluid and Addison McKee Link. Setup TF and AM link – Opens a dialog for defining options for Transfluid and Addison McKee integration. PipeFAB link – Exports files for integration with the software of PipeFAB pipe bending machines. See PipeFAB Link. Welding Book link – Exports files for integration with the Welding Book weld management application. See Welding Book Link. PCF link – Exports a Piping Component File (PCF). See PCF Export.	Latest Published Version is only available if the document has been published. Current Version and multi-page PDF exports cannot be performed if the document does not belong to the current coordinate system.
Publish	Creates a publication of the selected documents. See Publishing documents.	—
Link to document request	Opens a dialog for linking the document to a non-complete CADMATIC Wave document request.	Only available if project administrator has enabled Wave Integration and the document is not linked to a document request.
Unlink from document request	Unlinks the document from the CADMATIC Wave document request.	Only available if project administrator has enabled Wave Integration and the document is linked to a document request.
Update drawing to master	Uploads the document files to the master server.	Only available on replica servers, not on a master. Shown if the replica owns the document. A read-only replica cannot update the master server.
Update drawing from master	Gets the latest document files from the master server.	Only available on replica servers, not on a master. This can be used, for example, when the Server file state attribute has the value "Replication pending". Shown even if the document is already up-to-date.
Regenerate	Completely regenerates the selected documents (Plant Modeller drawings, duct main documents, duct spool documents) by running a rebuild script and updating the BOM. If the ICGD of the document defines listings, the command saves them in the location defined in the shared settings: General Drawing.	Only available for documents that are checked in. Not available for isometric documents. Cannot be performed if the document does not belong to the current coordinate system.
Recreate	Recreates the selected documents.	Only available for isometric documents and pipe main documents.
Browse	Opens the selected documents for browsing. Use context menu commands to navigate between different documents and between their pages.	Not available for isometric documents.
Validate and Clean DWG Structure	Purges the block tables to remove any orphan blocks, audits the DWG structure of the selected documents, reports whether problems were found, and allows saving a log file of the operation (validate_and_clean.txt) in a user-defined folder.	—
Unlink from Sister Project	Removes the document's link to the sister project.	Available when document has been imported from a sister project.
Link to Sister Project	Restores the document's link to the sister project.	Available when a document imported from a sister project has been unlinked.
New > Drawing New > Diagram	Creates a new document.	Not available for isometric documents.
Request Ownership	Requests the ownership of the document to be transferred to the COS server you are connected to.	Only available on a replica server that does not yet have ownership of the document. Ownership is always requested downwards in the replica chain, so it cannot be requested from a replica to a master.
Relinquish Ownership	Relinquishes the ownership of the document to the master server of the COS server you are connected to.	Available only on a replica server that has ownership of the document. A read-only replica cannot update the master server.
Administrative Commands	Contains commands to force cancel check out, to take ownership of an object in a situation where a connection to other servers in replication network has completely been lost, and to request ownership from a replica.	Use with caution and only in the specified situations.
Delete	Deletes the document.	—
Export to CX File	Allows exporting the selected document as a CADMATIC Export File (*.cx), for import to another project.	Each program has some special features in export and import.
Import from CX File	Allows importing a document from a CADMATIC Export File (*.cx).	—
Add to Static Hierarchy	Allows adding the selected documents to an existing static hierarchy. See Static hierarchies.	—
Preview	Opens a preview image of the selected document. You can also open the preview by clicking the document preview in the Manage Drawings window. Note: If the drawing sheet or the drawing views of the document contain objects whose color is white or close to white, they are displayed in black color.	—
Properties	Opens the Object Properties dialog for viewing the properties of the document object.	—

Document browser context menu for publications

These additional commands are shown in the context menu for publications.

Command	Description	Available when...
Compare Publication with Current	Compares the contents of the selected publication and the checked-in document and shows the differences. See Compare Publications. Show/hide image	One publication is selected.
Compare	Compares the contents of the selected publications and shows the differences. See Compare Publications. Show/hide image	Two publications are selected.
Browse	Opens the publication in the CADMATIC Viewer/2D Symbol Editor.	One publication is selected.
Export	Opens a dialog for exporting the selected publication into a file. Show/hide image Supported file formats: JPEG DXF 2000 DWG 2004 DWG 2007 DWG 2010 DWG 2013 DWG 2018 DWF PDF SVG BMP PNG	One publication is selected.