A photo somebody sent you on WhatsApp, a quote in your email, a drawing in Google Drive: you can send it straight into a project from the app it is in, using that app’s Share button. It works on the phone only, and needs the latest version of the BuildersAI app from the App Store or Google Play. Adding photos from inside BuildersAI is in the “photos” topic, and uploading files there is in the “files” topic.
How to share something in:
- In the other app (Photos, Files, WhatsApp, Gmail, Google Drive and so on), choose the photos, videos or files and tap Share
- Choose BuildersAI in the row of apps. The first time it may be hidden under More at the end of the row, and you can move it to the front from there
- BuildersAI opens on Add to BuildersAI, listing what you shared. If you were signed out, sign in first and it carries on
- Check the Project. The one you last had open is already chosen; tap it to pick another
- Choose where it goes (below), and tap Add
- BuildersAI then opens the project where the files went. Cancel throws the share away and puts you back where you were
Where it can go:
- Gallery: photos and videos, offered when everything you shared is one or the other. Tap Album to file them into one. They keep the date and place the photo carries, and they are queued like any photo you add in the app, so they go up when you have signal
- Files: anything, including photos. Tap Folder to choose where. It needs a signal to upload, and the screen says so if there is none
- A drawing: one PDF, JPEG or PNG, and only for a project admin. The Add drawing form opens with the file already attached, ready for its number, title and discipline. See the “plans” topic
- A share with photos and documents together goes to Files, rather than splitting it
What it will not take:
- Anything larger than the app allows: 50 MB for a photo or a file, and 100 MB and five minutes for a video. The screen names each one it cannot add and why, and adds the rest
- Text or web links on their own. BuildersAI is only offered when there is a photo, video or file to share
- A project where you are a Follower, or one that is locked because its plan has lapsed. Followers can view but not add, so their projects are not offered
How a shared photo is labelled:
- Open it in a browser, and its Info tab says Shared from another app under How it was added, so nobody mistakes it for one taken on site in the app. See the “photo_annotations” topic
- An evidence pack counts shared photos on a line of their own