Document control
A naming convention only helps if people follow it and the system can use it. Here is a rule for drawings, specifications and reports, built around the three things Fidrel reads from a file name when you upload it: a document number, a title and a revision. Everything else you type or leave alone.
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A file saved as "A-101 floor plan FINAL v2" looks like a document of its own. Without a stable number nobody can tell that it replaces A-101, so two copies sit side by side in the folder and the crew opens whichever one sorts first.
When titles come first and numbers come later, a folder of three hundred files lists the architectural sheets between the structural ones and drops a specification section into the middle of the drawings. Nobody can scan it, so everybody searches.
The convention was agreed at kickoff and nobody has opened it since. Each consultant names files their own way, and the document controller renames them by hand before anything can be filed.
Use one pattern for every kind of file and put the identity before the description. A sheet is A-101, a specification section is SPEC-08-71-00, a report is RPT-014, each followed by a plain title: A-101 Level 1 Floor Plan, SPEC-08-71-00 Door Hardware, RPT-014 Geotechnical Report. The number is the identity of the document and it should not change. The revision is what changes, so it stays out of the number and goes at the end, after rev. If the revision were part of the number, every issue would be a different document and the history of a sheet would be lost. Keep the number short, use hyphens between its parts, and do not reuse a number for a different document even when the first one is retired.
Documents, drawings & models
Fidrel strips the file extension and a trailing copy marker such as (1) that a browser or Windows added. It looks for a revision at the end of what is left: the word rev or revision followed by up to three letters or digits, or a single capital letter after a space or an underscore, so Framing Plan_B reads as revision B. Then it takes a leading code as the number and turns underscores in the rest into spaces for the title. Numbers are compared trimmed and in upper case, so a-101 and A-101 are the same document. When the number already exists, the file is offered as a new version and every earlier version is kept with its date and change note.
Step 1
Name the file like A-101 Level 1 Floor Plan rev B.pdf. Fidrel reads the leading code of letters and digits as the document number, a trailing rev followed by letters or digits as the revision, and treats what is left in between as the title.
Step 2
Choose your files and the Upload files dialog shows each one with its number, title and revision as Fidrel read them. Change any of the three before you upload, because everything read from a name is only a suggestion you can overwrite.
Step 3
If the number already exists in the project, the file is offered as New version of that number, and a byte-identical file is marked Same file as the current version. A missing number or a number used twice in one upload is flagged on that file only.
Step 4
An empty revision field follows the revision before it, so C02 becomes C03, P01 becomes P02 and A becomes B, or it follows the revision scheme the project has chosen. A revision you write is always kept exactly as written.
A revision someone writes is never rewritten. Left empty, the next one is counted from the one before it, and the project can choose how it counts: A, B, C with or without a first letter, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, or P01, P02, P03 for preliminary issues where later revisions are written by hand. Name the scheme in your convention so that consultants, subcontractors and the document controller agree before the first upload, not after the third reissue.
Fidrel does not read the title block of a PDF sheet to find its number or revision; both come from the file name or from what you type. Only the word rev or revision, or a single letter after a space or an underscore, is read as a revision, so R1 or Ed.1 at the end of a name stays in the title until you type the revision. Fidrel suggests values from the name and accepts what you type, so it enforces no naming rule and the project still needs its own written convention. A name that does not begin with letters followed by digits has no readable code, so the whole name becomes the number until you change it. Fix any of these in the upload dialog before you confirm, and agree the rule with the consultants so it does not need fixing every time.
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Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usStart with the sheet number, then the title, then rev and the revision if the file carries one, for example A-101 Level 1 Floor Plan rev B.pdf. Fidrel reads the number, title and revision from that order.
No. The number identifies the document and stays the same; the revision identifies the issue. Keep them apart and Fidrel can offer each new file as a new version of the same document.
It compares the number with the documents already in the project. When the number exists the file is offered as New version of that number, and a file identical to the current version is marked as the same file.
Each affected file is flagged with Same number as another file in this upload. The rest of the batch is not stopped, so you can change one number and carry on.
Yes, as long as the name starts with letters followed by digits, such as SPEC-08-71-00 or RPT-014. A name that starts with digits has no readable code, and you type the number in the dialog.
Upload them anyway and correct the number, title and revision in the dialog. Fidrel keeps what you confirm, so the project's register follows your rule even when the files did not.
