Sidecar files

Every markup, measurement, and scale calibration in Plan Markup is stored in a sidecar file: a JSON file that sits next to the PDF it belongs to, named after it.

site-plans/
  C-101 Site Plan.pdf
  C-101 Site Plan.pdf.markups.json   <- the sidecar
  C-501 Details.pdf
  C-501 Details.pdf.markups.json

The PDF itself is never touched. Mark up a plan set for a week and every PDF is still byte-for-byte what the GC issued. That is worth a lot when an addendum argument starts.

What lives in the sidecar

Your markups and their styles, each page’s scale calibration, and related per-sheet data. It auto-saves as you work; there is no save button.

Sync is your folder sync

Because a sidecar is just a small file next to the PDF, whatever already syncs your plan folders syncs your takeoff: Dropbox, iCloud, a network drive, a USB stick. Mark up a sheet at the office, open the same folder on your laptop, and the markups are there. No Plan Markup cloud, no account, no upload.

The Mac app, the browser app, and the Plan Markup viewer embedded in Contractor Takeoff all read and write the same sidecar format. The file is the interchange; every version of the app is just a different window onto it.

Moving markups with plans

The pairing is by name and location: the sidecar must sit in the same folder as its PDF and keep the <exact-pdf-name>.markups.json name.

• Moving or copying a plan? Move or copy its sidecar with it. Two files, one bid item.
• Renaming a PDF? Rename the sidecar to match, or the app will see a fresh, unmarked sheet. C-101r1.pdf needs C-101r1.pdf.markups.json.
• Sending plans to someone? Send just the PDF and they get clean plans. Include the sidecar and another Plan Markup user gets your markups too. To send markups to someone without Plan Markup, export a marked-up PDF instead.

In the browser app’s single-file mode, the Download markups button produces this same sidecar file. Drop it next to the PDF on disk and the desktop app owns it from there.

Caution

If a GC reissues a sheet under the same filename, the old sidecar happily pairs with the new PDF, and your markups may be sitting on changed geometry. When a sheet is reissued, review your markups against it before you trust the totals.

Plain JSON also means no lock-in: your takeoff data is readable by anything that reads JSON, forever.