Add sheets

  1. Open a job in the Manage Estimates screen.
  2. Open the Takeoff tab.
  3. Click Sheets on the speedbar and select Get Plans.
  4. Select one of the following options to add plans to your job:

    • My Computer – Select this option if the plans are stored somewhere on your hard drive, CD, or external drive. Click Browse to locate the folder that contains the files, select the individual drawings you want to include, and click Open.

      Note: You can select and import multiple sheets at once in the Select Plan(s) popup window by pressing and holding Ctrl to select individual files or Shift to select a range of files.

    • Online Plan Room – Select this option to download drawings from an online plan room. Type the URL in the text box and click Retrieve, at which point your default Internet browser will open and log onto the Web site you specified. From there, follow the Web site's instructions for downloading plans.

    • Internet Site – Select this option to launch a Web browser to a specified URL. This option still requires you to manually download the plans to your hard drive. Type the URL in the text box and click Go, at which point your default Internet browser will open and log onto the Web site you specified.

    The drawings you selected are added to the Job Plans list along with any previously-imported plans.

  5. To remove a drawing from the list and the job, click on the drawing then click Delete. To remove multiple sheets at one time, hold Ctrl, click on each sheet, and click Delete.
  6. To rename any of the drawings on the list, select the appropriate drawing and click Rename.
  7. In the New Name field, enter the new name of the sheet and click OK.
  8. In the Color field, select one of the following options to set how you want color images imported from PDF files to appear in takeoff:

    • Color Image - Select Color Image if you are importing a color image and want the colors to appear in takeoff. ProContractor maintains the colors of the drawing. This option uses more memory and you may not be able to import larger files. You may also experience performance delays while using color images.

    • Grayscale Image - Select Grayscale image to convert a color image to shades of gray. This option uses less memory than the Color Image option, but more than the Black and White option.

    • Black and White - Select Black and White to convert a color image to black and white image. When the image is imported, ProContractor removes all colors and shades of gray. This option uses the least amount of memory and has the best performance. Select this option if the image you are importing is black and white.

  9. In the Image Quality (for PDF, AutoCad import) field, click to select the image quality in DPI (dots per inch) of imported PDF and AutoCAD images. A higher DPI results in better image quality, but the Estimating module may perform more slowly. Lower DPI causes lower image quality with faster performance.
  10. Select the Use Advanced Image Manager for PDFs checkbox if you are importing a PDF file and you want to open it in Advanced Image Manager to select the layers or sheets to import. Deselect the checkbox if you do not want to open the PDF file in Advanced Image Manager before importing it. If you deselect the checkbox, an additional prompt appears to confirm that you don't want to open Advanced Image Manager.
    Note: ProContractor retains the last setting for the checkbox and uses it as the default, even when you add sheets through other methods (Manage Sheet Revisions, Manage Sheet Revisions, drag and drop into takeoff). The checkbox is disabled if you do not have Advanced Image Manager installed
  11. When you are finished, click OK.
    Tip: You can add a sheet from your computer by dragging and dropping it directly into the digital takeoff area in the Takeoff tab. You can also add new sheets from your computer within the Sheets tab.