Review PDF drawings together

One place for the drawing and the review

A drawing review often starts with a simple request: send a PDF to a few people and ask for comments. That works until several reviewers are involved.

One person returns a marked-up PDF. Another writes comments in an email. Someone adds a spreadsheet to keep track of outstanding points. A new revision is issued while older comments are still being discussed. The review gradually becomes a collection of files and conversations that someone has to organise manually.

Xenmark is designed to keep that process in one place. Reviewers work around the same drawing, comments remain connected to the area they refer to, and replies stay with the original issue.

How a drawing review works in Xenmark

1. Upload the PDF drawing

   Create a project and add the drawing you want reviewed.

   The PDF becomes the shared reference point for the review instead of another attachment being passed between participants.

2. Invite reviewers

   Bring the people who need to comment into the project.

   That can include colleagues as well as people outside your immediate team, depending on how the review is organised.

3. Add markups and comments

   Place feedback directly on the drawing.

   Use visual markups, comments, measurements or symbols where they help explain what needs attention. A reviewer can point to the relevant location instead of describing it separately in an email or spreadsheet.

4. Discuss individual issues

   Replies stay connected to the original comment.

   That makes it easier to follow why a change was requested, how someone responded and whether the issue still needs attention.

5. Track the review

   Update the status of comments as the review progresses.

   Instead of reading through every message to work out what remains open, the team can keep a clearer view of the current state of the review.

6. Export when you need a separate record

   Export an Excel comment register and a matching comment plan PDF, numbered to each other, when the review needs to be shared, archived or handed to another organisation.

   The collaborative review can happen in Xenmark without removing the option to work with a familiar spreadsheet afterwards.

Keep feedback in context

A comment such as “move this 200 mm” or “check clearance here” is difficult to interpret when it is separated from the drawing.

On the drawing itself, the context is immediate.

Xenmark keeps the visual location, written comment and subsequent discussion connected. That reduces the need to reference screenshots, coordinates, long descriptions or separate lists simply to explain where a comment applies.

For technical reviews, that context matters as much as the wording of the comment.

Review with internal and external participants

Drawing reviews rarely involve only one team. An engineering company may need comments from a client. A manufacturer may need feedback from a customer. A contractor may be reviewing plans with consultants. A shipowner may be working with a yard and an engineering company at the same time.

Xenmark is browser-based, so an external drawing review can be shared with the people who need to participate without making emailed PDF copies the collaboration system.

Everyone can work around the same review rather than creating another parallel version of it.

Track comment status instead of chasing replies

As reviews grow, simply collecting comments is not enough. The team also needs to know what has happened to them.

Which issues are still open? Which have been answered? Which have been dealt with? Which need another response?

Xenmark lets the review progress around individual comments rather than treating every markup as a static note on a PDF.

That makes the review easier to follow while work is active and easier to understand later.

Continue when the drawing changes

Technical drawings rarely stop at the first issue. A review leads to changes, and those changes lead to another revision.

Xenmark is intended for that ongoing process. Keep the review organised as revised drawings are issued instead of starting from another disconnected folder of PDFs and comments each time.

For teams that regularly move through review cycles, this is often more important than the markup tools themselves.