Totally get what you mean about the portal being unpredictable. I’ve had a three-page floor plan get bounced for “file issues” but a 40-page spec book went through in seconds. It’s wild. One thing that’s helped me is combining all scans into a single PDF and running it through a compressor before uploading—seems to keep the gremlins at bay, at least most days. And yeah, that auto-save thing… lost my mood board mockups once and nearly threw my laptop. Now I save drafts in a separate doc before even touching the portal.
One thing that’s helped me is combining all scans into a single PDF and running it through a compressor before uploading—seems to keep the gremlins at bay, at least most days.
Funny, I’ve had the opposite luck—sometimes the portal chokes on compressed files for me. What’s worked best is exporting straight from my design software to PDF, no extra steps. Also, double-checking page orientation saves headaches later. The auto-save thing is brutal... I’ve started using cloud docs just in case.
Never had much luck with compressors myself—sometimes they make the file look fuzzy, which annoys the reviewers here. Exporting straight from software seems cleaner, but I always wonder if different cities have their own quirks? Anyone run into weird requirements for file naming or versioning? I had to rename everything with project codes once... what a hassle.
I had to rename everything with project codes once... what a hassle.
Yeah, that’s the worst. Some cities want the file names like “123_MainSt_Elevations_v2” and others just want “Elevations.pdf.” It’s a pain when you’re juggling jobs in different places. I’ve had plans kicked back just because I didn’t follow their weird naming rules. Now I just ask up front for their checklist—saves me headaches down the line. Compressors never worked for me either, always made the drawings look off. Direct export’s the way to go, even if the files are bigger.
Naming conventions are such a headache, right? I’ve had projects where I had to rename every single file three times because the city changed their mind halfway through. It’s wild how picky some places get about file names, but then others barely care. I totally agree about direct export—compressors always mess up my color palettes or make the text fuzzy. I’d rather send a bigger file than risk the plans looking weird. Sometimes I wish there was just one universal standard for all this stuff... would make life so much easier.