Tools Menu

The Tools Menu is used to access tools that can help fix issues in your project. This menu is only available when you are working inside a project or when in the Library Editor.

Draw Gear Group

When on the Draw Page, this will allow you to draw a Gear Group. This will create a new gear group in the drawing that you can add gear items to.

When the checkbox is checked, that means your cursor mode is set to gear groups. This will allow you to draw a gear group by clicking and dragging in the drawing. Once you release the mouse, the Gear Group will be created.

See Gear Groups for more information.

Insert Text Box

When on the Draw Page, this will allow you to insert a text box into the drawing. This is useful for adding notes or labels to your drawing.

When the checkbox is checked, that means your cursor mode is set to text boxes. This will allow you to click to insert a text box into the drawing.

See Text Boxes for more information.

Server Sync

Due to the nature of being a real-time, server-backed data application, data is constantly being saved back and forth between the server and your app. If there are any network issues, or if you close the app too quickly / without saving, you may end up with a desync between the server and your app.

As such, we need to have a robust syncing system in place to ensure that your data is validated. A lightweight sync is run every time the project has a Version History saved, which will handle many conflicts automatically. However, if it is unable to resolve the conflict, you will be prompted to run a full sync.

The full sync process runs when projects are opened and imported, but you can also manually trigger it by clicking the Server Sync button.

Tip

If you are ever having issues with your drawing, the first thing to check is run a server sync. This will ensure that your data is up to date with the server and there are no data mismatches.

When a sync is run, the project is locked and it performs the following:

1. Saves your project to the server – This ensures that the server has the latest version of your project.
2. Performs a validation check – This checks every item in your drawing against the server to ensure that there are no data mismatches.
   • If there are any mismatches, you will be alerted and prompted to remove the conflicting items.
3. Cleans up any orphaned data – This removes any data that is no longer needed, such as old versions of items that have been been removed or deleted that are not currently in use. During this process, some gear items may be marked as not used in the drawing if they weren’t in fact in the drawing.
4. Re-opens the project – Once the sync is complete, your project will be re-opened fresh from the server, skipping the Version History copy to ensure that you are working with the latest version of your project.
5. Re-runs the validation check – This is to ensure that the sync process was successful and that there are no further data mismatches. If there are, it will repeat the process once more.

Note

For very large projects and depending on your internet connection, this process can take a few minutes to complete.

For most projects, this process should only take about 10-20 seconds to complete.

Caution

This tool is not available if a project is not open.

Reload Library

You will notice that the library is automatically updated when it detects a change, both from the default library and your own custom library (Pro feature). This is a delta update and will continue to update your local library with each each update (the copy of the library saved to your computer), adding any new library items or versions that have been added.

When you open other people’s projects, you are also loading their specific library items found in the project into your local library as well. Overtime you may want to clean up your library cache and remove items that you no longer need.

Reloading the library from the Tools Menu will purge your local library and re-load the default and your custom user library items. This is also useful if you are having issues with your library with items not showing up or being able to be inserted into the drawing correctly.