An engineer or an architect often sends a drawing as a DWG, the file their CAD program saves. You do not need that program to look at it. BuildersAI turns every DWG or DXF you upload into a PDF of the sheet, and opens that when you open the drawing, on the web and on the phone. The DWG itself is kept, untouched, for anybody who needs it in CAD.
Where you can put one:
- In Files, on the web or the phone, like any document
- In the Drawings register, on the web: drop it in with your PDFs and it becomes a drawing like any other, with its number, title and revisions. The phone views DWG drawings but does not add them
- “Start from a folder” files DWGs in Files rather than the register, because a folder usually holds a PDF of each sheet as well, and that PDF is the drawing
What happens when it lands:
- BuildersAI makes the PDF, usually within a minute. Until then, opening it says “Getting this DWG ready to view”
- Each sheet (each layout in the DWG) becomes a page, at its own paper size, so a drawing at 1:50 on A1 still measures at 1:50
- The words on the sheet are real text, so “Search inside plans”, the specifications and SiteBot read it like any PDF drawing, and a DWG reissued as a new revision shows what changed (see “drawing_changes”)
The line above the sheet:
- It always says the sheet was converted from the DWG, and that colours, fonts and line weights may differ from the designer’s own print. The designer’s plot settings live on their computer, not in the file
- Not shown: … names any drawing this one refers to that was not sent with it. Structural sheets often draw the architect’s plan underneath from a separate file. Ask the designer for it, or for a PDF
- Logos and pictures kept in separate files show as empty boxes
- Not to scale means the DWG had no sheet set up, so the drawing has been fitted to the page. Measure from a dimension you know rather than from the scale
Getting the original: the download button gives you the DWG exactly as it was uploaded, for your CAD program. On the phone, press and hold the file in Files and tap Share.
When it cannot be shown:
- The same place says why: the file is damaged, it was saved by a version of its drawing program we cannot read, it is too large, or there is nothing in it to draw. The download is always there
- “This DWG cannot be viewed here yet” means it has not been converted. Download it, or ask the designer for a PDF
- Nothing about the DWG changes, and nobody else’s copy is affected
It is for looking at, not for drawing: you cannot edit the drawing, switch its layers on and off, or open a 3D model (IFC files are stored, not viewed).