Why notes are useful
Most takeoffs carry decisions that are not visible in the count. A group might be an assumption pending a drawing revision, a query with the M&E consultant, or a deliberate exclusion. Left in an email, that context is gone by the time somebody checks the figures.
Notes attach that reasoning to the group itself. Anyone opening the drawing can see who wrote what and when, next to the count it explains.
Every group type has notes — Detection, Count, Linear, Area and Annotation.
Opening the notes for a group
- 1
Open the menu on the group's row.
- 2
Choose Notes... . When the group already has notes the item reads Notes (3)... with the number it holds.
- 3
The dialog opens, headed Notes followed by the group's label.
If nobody has written anything yet, the dialog reads "No notes yet. Add the first one below."
Adding a note
- 1
Click into the box at the bottom of the dialog, marked Add a note....
- 2
Type the note. There is no length limit and line breaks are kept, so a short list is fine.
- 3
Click Add note. It appears at once in the list above, stamped with your name and the date.
What each note shows
Every note in the list carries a header line with the name of the person who wrote it and the date it was written. A note that has been changed since shows (edited) after the date, so a figure that moved is never quietly rewritten.
Editing and deleting
Two controls sit on the right of every note's header line:
- turns the note into an editable box. Make the change and confirm with , or back out with .
- deletes the note. There is no confirmation, so read before you click.
Both work on any note, not only your own, so treat the team's notes the way you would a shared document.
What to write
Notes work best when they answer the question the count itself raises. A few patterns that earn their keep:
- Assumptions. "Counted on the 1:100 layout — riser diagram not issued at tender."
- Queries. "Two of these are shown dashed. Confirm whether they are existing before pricing."
- Exclusions. "Existing fittings on the north wing, excluded from this group."
- Method. "Found with two captures — the drawing shows this symbol at two sizes."
- Revision tracking. "Rev C added four more in the plant room. Recounted 12 March."
Keep them short. A note is a signpost for whoever picks the job up next, not a report.
What notes do not do
- They are not written into the Excel quantities export, which carries counts, codes and descriptions only.
- They are not drawn on the drawing and do not appear in PNG or PDF exports.
- They do not change any total.
If a note needs to reach the drawing itself, use an annotation instead — a text box or an arrow reads on an exported PDF where a note never will. See Annotation markers.
Next steps
- Managing groups — the rest of the group menu.
- Annotation markers — putting a comment on the drawing rather than on a group.
- Working with others — who else is in the project and what they can see.
- Preparing a project for export — the checks worth making before the figures leave the building.