BXWA Help

More information: Find Content

More information: Select "Plans"

Selecting "Plans" opens the Plans Viewing screen for the project. You will see four panels showing Thumbnail images for the first four drawings in the bid set.

If there are NO thumbnails showing in the panels, you do not have the FastBid Reader installed. Click here for help with installing Fastbid.

More information: Select a Drawing from Menu

Click on the Down Arrow on the right of the pull-down menu (See above)

Select a drawing from the pull-down menu list: (See below)

The selected drawing will show as a Thumbnail image in the first of the four panels... the next three drawings in the set will display in the remaining panels.

Note: If there are NO thumbnails showing in the panels, you do not have the FastBid Reader installed. Click here for help with installing Fastbid.

More information:
Open the Selected Drawing for Viewing

When you click on the link to the drawing, it is displayed by FastBid Reader in a new window. The FastBid Reader will allow you to view, measure, print and download the drawing.

Note that it is possible to Zoom and Pan within the drawing's Thumbnail, but you will have none of the clarity, power and tools that are available in the FastBid Reader window.

More information: Check the Drawing Size

The Rulers at the top and the left of the drawing display show the size of the original paper drawing that was scanned or converted to the FastBid image.

Checking the size gives you a hint...did the scanned image originate from a full-sized or half-size set of paper drawings?

While BXWA encourages all Content Providers to provide full-sized drawings, some document Owners choose to provide half-size prints for posting. For this reason, you must always cross-check any measurements or take-offs with a known dimension in the image.

More information:
Navigate Drawing with Zoom and Pan

Moving around the drawing is easy. As shown in the image above, there are serveral methods avialable to Zoom In and Zoom Out. Try them all and see which one works best for you.

Whenever you need to get back to the Full drawing image, simply click the Right mouse button.

When you are Zoomed In on a drawing, you may Pan by holding down the Right mouse button and dragging the image around.

Open the next (following) drawing in the set by clicking on the Right Arrow on the Toolbar. The Left Arrow will open the previous drawing in the set. You may open any drawing in the set using the Drawing Selection List icon on the Toolbar. Notice that this does not open a new window; it replaces the existing drawing with the next or previous one. If you wish to open another drawing in a separate window, go back to the Plans Viewing screen (its window will still be open) and select another drawing...it will open in its own window. You may leave as many drawings open as you wish as long as your computer has the memory resources to operate.

More information:
View and Use the Toolbar functions

The Toolbar at the top of the Fastbid Reader provides powerful tools for viewing, measuring, downloading, and printing drawings:

Print Sheet or View	Prints the drawing sheet or a selected view to your local printer or plotter. Provides a preview of your printed output and allows selection of printed scale. Click here for more.
Download drawings	Downloads any or all of the Project drawings to your local computer. Provides options to download in Fastbid viewable (TIF) or Adobe PDF formats. Click here for more.
View downloaded drawings	Opens a directory listing of all of the projects that you have downloaded to your local computer. Inside each Project folder, you may select a downloaded drawing to view, measure or print using the Fastbid Reader. Note that this capability is only available if you used the default download option ("Put images in the automatic download area")
Drawing selection list	Opens a list of all drawings in the Project. You may select a drawing and open it in the window. It replaces the existing drawing. If you wish to open a drawing in a new window, select the Project's Plans window, then select the desired drawing...it will open in a new window. You may open as many drawing windows as you wish as long as you have adequate computer memory resources.
Previous drawing	Opens the previous drawing in the set of plans and replaces the existing drawing in the window.
Next drawing	Opens the next drawing in the set of plans and replaces the existing drawing in the window.
Zoom In	Zooms in (reference is the center of the existing view).
Zoom Out	Zooms Out (reference is the center of the existing view). Note: A Right click of the mouse will Zoom Out to the full extent of the drawing.
Zoom Out--Full	Zooms Out to the full extent of the drawing. Note: A Right click of the mouse will also do this.
Rotate view	Rotates the existing view 90 degrees in a clockwise direction.
Set Fastbid options	Allows setting options for the Fastbid Reader, including adjustments for the speed of your Internet connection and set up of your measuring tools.
Magnifier toggle	Turns the Magnifier on or off. If the Magnifier is on, hold down the Left mouse button to magnify the area around the pointer. Other mouse functions continue to work normally.
Measure	Opens the Measure Take-offs control window. This provides a powerful range of measurement and counting capabilities that can be used with most estimating software and/or spreadsheets. Click here for more.

Using FastBid to View Plans