Issue drawings with a clear record.

This guide and its practice files are free. The paid application is downloaded separately from Perunlight. All illustrated drawings are fictional.

Before you begin

• Desktop Google Chrome and a mouse or trackpad (marking title-block regions needs a pointer).
• Drawing PDFs with a text layer. Scans and PDFs whose text was exported as outlines cannot be read (there is no OCR).
• Somewhere to keep the project file between issues: your work is saved only when you click Save project.

Buy, download and open

Buy from /store/vidr-register/ and download vidr-register-0.1.1-20261030.zip from the checkout page. Extract it and open vidr-register/index.html in Chrome (double-click, or drag it onto a Chrome window). The samples folder contains a fictional project and drawings; “Load sample project” on the Project step shows a full example with deliberate problems. Open GUIDE.html for the illustrated workflow and practice/ for a three-sheet starter project.

1 Project

Click “New project” and fill in Project name, Project number, Client, “Issuing organisation (your practice)”, Default “issued by” and the “Transmittal number prefix” (numbers continue as prefix + 001, 002 …). Choose the revision Sequence your office uses (letters, numbers, P-series then C-series, or a custom order) and add recipients with “Add recipient”.

2 Drawings & regions

Click “Choose PDF files…” and select the drawings for this issue. Files without a text layer are rejected with a reason. The first page opens on its bottom-right title block at a readable zoom. Pick Sheet no., Title or Rev and drag a box around the value, excluding its label. Each field immediately shows its actual text, “box is empty” or “not marked”. The page list and setup check show where sheet number or revision is missing across pages of this paper size. Adjust the boxes and check every page, especially if drawings from different consultants share a paper size. Date and Status are optional. Click “Continue to review →”.

3 Review sheets

Check the table and correct any wrong value. Repeated missing-region and duplicate-sheet findings are grouped, with links to affected pages. Resolve errors and confirm revision decisions before issuing. A manual value remains a Review correction: it does not make an empty PDF box pass the extraction check. The counters show errors, decisions and warnings; “Only rows with open problems” helps focus the review. Click “Continue to issue →”.

4 Issue & transmittal

Fill in Transmittal number, Issue date, “Purpose of issue”, Format, “Issued by”, Recipients and Remarks. “Draft PDF” and “Print draft” produce a transmittal marked DRAFT. When everything is fixed, click “Record issue” and confirm in the dialog. Recorded issues cannot be edited; a wrong issue can later be voided with a reason and stays in the history.

5 Register

The register shows every sheet by issue. Click “Register CSV” or “Issue log CSV” to download spreadsheets, and use “PDF” or “Print” on an issue in the history for its transmittal. Use “Prepare next issue” when the next set of drawings is ready.

Save the project

Click “Save project” (or press Ctrl+S) to download the project file, named after the project number, for example HB-26.vidrregister.json. It holds project details, regions, recipients and recorded issues; the PDFs are not stored in it. VidrRegister keeps nothing in the browser: next time, click “Open project…”, choose that file and add the new PDFs. Chrome warns you if you try to close the page with unsaved changes.

Practice: your first three-sheet issue

practice/: three fictional A3 drawings with a text-layer title block (HB-100_Site-Plan_RevP01.pdf, HB-101_Ground-Floor-Plan_RevP01.pdf, HB-201_Elevations_RevP01.pdf) and harbour-boathouse-project.json, a project file whose A3 title-block regions are already marked (project HB-26, prefix HB-TR-, two recipients, draft issue HB-TR-001 For comment).

1. Open vidr-register/index.html in Chrome, click “Open project…” and choose practice/harbour-boathouse-project.json.
2. Go to “2 Drawings & regions”, click “Choose PDF files…” and select the three HB PDFs.
3. Go to “3 Review sheets” and check the counters.
4. Go to “4 Issue & transmittal”, click “Record issue” and confirm “Record issue” in the dialog.
5. Go to “5 Register” and click “Register CSV”; click “PDF” in the issue history; click “Save project”.

Drawings: 3 accepted, each read as A3 with its sheet number (HB-100, HB-101, HB-201), title, revision P01, date 12.10.2026 and status PRELIMINARY. Review: 3/3 sheets included, 0 errors, 0 decisions, 0 warnings. The dialog asks “Record HB-TR-001?”. The register lists the three sheets at P01 under HB-TR-001. Downloads: HB-26_drawing-register_<today>.csv (Sheet number, Title, Current revision, one column per issue), HB-26_HB-TR-001.pdf (the transmittal) and HB-26.vidrregister.json (the project file).

When something needs attention

A PDF is listed as Rejected: “No text layer found on any page.”

The drawing is a scan or its text was exported as lines. Re-export it from CAD with text kept as text, or enter that sheet manually.

A page shows “No regions”.

That paper size has no title-block regions yet (for example an A3 sheet in an A1 set). Open the page on “2 Drawings & regions” and drag boxes for its fields.

A field reads the label (for example “Sheet no.”) or nothing.

Redraw the box around the value only. Use “Title block” zoom and “Show text runs” to see where the text sits.

The setup check still reports a missing revision after I typed it in Review.

This is intentional: the setup check describes the PDF boxes, while Review holds your manual correction. Redraw the empty box to improve extraction, or keep the checked manual value for this issue. Before recording, verify every included sheet.

“Rev order unknown” or “Rev goes back”.

The revision is outside, or earlier in, the project's revision sequence. Correct the value or confirm it; you can change the sequence on “1 Project”.

Non-Latin characters are replaced in the PDF transmittal.

The direct PDF uses Helvetica (Western European characters) and reports replacements. Use “Print” and choose Save as PDF in Chrome's print dialog; printing supports every script.

Compatibility and limits

Keep the project JSON and source PDFs together. Check the exported register and transmittal before sending a real issue.