04_Building Your Project File Structure: Creating Folders and Uploading Floor Plans (2:33)

Overview

This video shows how to build the file structure inside an AECinspire project and get your first set of floor plans uploaded. There is no single correct folder scheme — however you like to organize files on your own drive is how you can organize them in Inspire. The video walks through creating a floor plans folder, dragging in multiple sheet sets at once, merging them into a single PDF, and letting the system process, OCR, and AI-name each sheet.

What you'll learn

• Decide how to organize folders for electrical, mechanical, and plumbing sheets
• Create your first folder inside a new project
• Choose the Drawings upload path for floor plans
• Drag and drop multiple sheet sets into a folder in one action
• Merge staged PDFs into a single sheet set
• Recognize each stage of processing — sheet preview, OCR, and AI sheet naming — and how long it takes

Before You Begin

You need a project already created in AECinspire and your floor plan PDFs available on your computer. When you first jump into a new project, the system prompts you to create your first folder and then upload a file to that folder — so the two steps run back to back on a brand new project.

Part 1 — Decide How to Organize Your Folders

Folder structure in Inspire is entirely up to you. There is no wrong answer, and there is no limit that forces you to split a sheet set up.

Note: You can house as many sheets in one folder as you would like. Separating the E sheets into their own folder and creating a sheet folder for all of the other trades is totally acceptable.

Part 2 — Create the Floor Plans Folder

1. Open the project you want to upload into.
2. Select the option to create a folder.
3. Name the folder floor plans.
4. Save the folder. It now appears in your project file structure, ready to receive files.
5. With the floor plans folder open, choose upload a file to this folder.
6. Select the Drawings upload option.
7. The upload window opens, ready to accept files.
8. Drag and drop the files from a folder on your computer directly into the upload window — or click to browse files on your computer instead.
9. Drag in multiple files at once. In the video, two Volume 4 sheet sets are dragged in together.
10. Confirm the staged list. The system lists off the documents you have staged and ready to upload.
11. Review the staged document list.
12. Click Merge. This is an automatic merge function — it combines the staged PDFs into one set.
13. The system processes the merge and moves into the upload phase.
14. Wait for the upload to finish before moving on.

Best practice: Name the folder for the content, not the discipline, unless you are deliberately splitting the E sheets out. The demonstrated folder holds the electrical, mechanical, and plumbing sheets together.

Part 3 — Open the Drawings Upload

AECinspire offers two upload paths, and the one you pick determines how the system names your files.

Part 4 — Add Your Floor Plan Files

The upload window accepts files two ways.

Note: You can drag and drop multiple files onto your project, so multiple sheet sets can be brought in during a single upload rather than one at a time.

Part 5 — Merge and Upload

Part 6 — Understand the Processing Stages

Once the upload completes, the system runs the sheet set through several automated stages. Nothing is required from you during these stages except waiting.

Note: Processing time depends on the size of the file set — anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes if you are uploading hundreds or thousands of sheets.

Quick Reference

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

Continue to the next video in the series: Creating Folders and Uploading Specifications.