A PDF that has to go out as a drawing
A site sketch or a supplier’s detail needs to be issued to the team, but it has no number, no revision and no record of who checked it. Retyping it in CAD to add a title block takes longer than the drawing did.
Drawing Studio · Title block
How to add a title block to a PDF drawing
A sketch, a marked-up print or a consultant’s sheet becomes a drawing others can rely on once it carries a title block: who drew it, who checked it, which revision it is, at what scale and for which job. Below are the fields a title block on a UK drawing is expected to hold, and how Fidrel’s Drawing Studio puts one on a PDF, fills most of it from the project, and prints it into the PDF you export or publish.
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Why title blocks cause trouble
Someone else’s title block on your sheet
A subcontractor reissuing a consultant’s drawing under its own name has to remove the consultant’s title block cleanly, not just cover it with a white box that still leaves the text in the file.
Fields typed by hand drift
The revision in the title block says P02 while the register says P03, because someone updated one and forgot the other. The fields that the project already knows should not depend on memory.
What goes in a title block on a UK drawing
Practices have their own layouts, but the same information turns up on almost every UK sheet: the project and client; the job number and drawing number; the drawing title; the discipline; the scale and the paper size it is true at; the date; the status, such as for information or for construction; the revision; who drew and who checked the drawing; and a revision table recording what changed in each revision, when and by whom. A note such as NOT TO SCALE replaces the scale on sketches and diagrams. The drawing number and revision together identify the sheet; the rest tells the reader whether they can build from it.
Documents, drawings & models
The fields Fidrel prints in UK terms
The UK title block labels its fields Project, Job no., Client, Company, Drawing no., Drawing title, Discipline, Scale, Size, Date, Status, Revision, Drawn, Checked, Responsible, Description of change, Sheet and Notes. Where a template prints a revision table, its UK column headings are Rev, Description, Date, By, Chkd, Status and Orig. rev. Disciplines are named as UK drawings name them, such as Civils, Mechanical and public health, or Building management and controls. The labels follow the title block language you choose, whatever language you work in.
Adding a title block in Drawing Studio
Step 1
Open the PDF in Drawing Studio
Choose New drawing, start from an existing drawing and pick the PDF from the project’s documents, or drop a new PDF in, which is saved as a document in the folder you choose. The original file is never changed.
Step 2
Choose the title block and frame
Pick Full title block (A0–A2), Compact title block (A3–A4) or Supplement stamp. On a blank sheet you can also choose a drawing frame, with or without grid references. You can change or remove the title block later.
Step 3
Check the fields and place it
In Title block mode, fields marked Auto come from Fidrel and any field you edit becomes manual. Choose the title block language, then drag the block into place and resize it by its corners; the lettering scales with it.
Step 4
Export or publish with the title block
Use Export PDF and tick Include the title block to download a copy, or Publish to Documents to save it in the project, where the revision is set automatically and your description of change appears in the title block.
Fields filled from the project
Fields marked Auto take their values from Fidrel: the project name, the job number from the project’s number or key, the client, the company, the drawing number and title of the document, the discipline, the scale and paper size of the sheet, the date, status and revision. Edit a field and it becomes manual, and a manual value is kept when the title block is later updated. The project’s logo is used when there is one. A blank sheet gets its drawing number when you publish it. Only the drawing’s owner or an administrator can change the title block.
Replacing a consultant’s title block
When the PDF already carries another firm’s title block, choose Replace the whole title block. Fidrel looks for that title block on the page, removes it from the file you export and puts yours in the same place; check the result before you publish. If none is found, mark the area with a removal area instead. Removal takes the text, lines and images under the area out of the exported file, unlike a white cover, which only hides them.
Keeping the office layout as a template
Once a sheet looks right, choose Save as template under Drawing settings and save it for the organisation or for one project. The template keeps the sheet size, scale, drawing frame, title block and layers. The title, drawing number, date and revision are not included, because each new drawing sets its own.
What adding a title block does not do
The title block is not added to the original PDF: Fidrel exports or publishes a new file, and the original in Documents stays as it was. Auto fields are filled from Fidrel’s own project and document data, not read from the text of a title block already printed on the PDF. A DWG drawing cannot take a title block in Drawing Studio; title blocks are for PDF drawings and blank sheets. On a mobile phone title blocks are not added; that is done on a computer or tablet.
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Drawing Studio · Title block
Frequently asked questions
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usAt least the project, the drawing number and title, the scale and paper size, the date, the status and revision, and who drew and checked it. A revision table records each change.
No. The original stays as it was in Documents. Fidrel creates a new PDF when you export, or a new version or document when you publish.
From the project in Fidrel: its project number, or its key when no number is set. You can overwrite it, and the field then stays as you typed it.
Yes. The title block language sets the printed labels, whatever language you use Fidrel in, so a UK sheet can carry UK labels on any project.
Yes. Replace the whole title block finds it on the page, removes it from the exported file and puts yours in its place. You check the result before publishing.
When you publish to Documents, the revision is set automatically. If the revision on the title block would differ from the one the version receives, Fidrel tells you and asks you to publish again.