# What is a Document? A Document is one plan PDF. Markups live on that file, on the desk. Who can open it follows the Project. You don’t permission every sheet by hand. A **Document** is one plan file. Not the [Project](/guides/projects). That’s the drawings plus the people. Not the company. That’s the [Organization](/guides/organizations). `S-201.pdf`, twenty-four pages, markups on page 12. That’s a Document. Bluebeam people already think this way: the open PDF is the document. We kept the noun. We stopped calling that row a Project. A Project holds the drawings. ## Where this lives Project → **Documents** is every live file in the Project. **Recents** is what you opened on this device. On the desk, **Documents** is Recents plus pins while you’re measuring. **Add a Document** is a plan PDF. Drop it on Documents or the empty desk, use File > Add documents…, or the Documents CTA. Same upload. The qty sheet out of that file is [how it works](/how-it-works), or, if you’re still in Revu, [Bluebeam into Excel](/resources/bluebeam-to-excel). ## Add a Document 1. Open the [Project](/guides/projects). 2. **Documents** → **Add a Document** (empty Project shows the same action). You can also drop PDFs on Documents or the empty desk, or use File > Add documents…. 3. Choose one or more PDFs. You need Project **Edit** or Full control. Uploading does not put anyone new on the Project. Share is still [Collaborators](/guides/project-collaborators).
Two Documents on one Project: the set and an addendum.
A second PDF is another Document on the same Project.
## One PDF, pages inside Upload a commercial PDF. Multi-page is fine. Page 1, page 12, page 24: those are leaves of **this** file, not extra Documents. A second PDF is **Add a Document**, not a `files[]` bag on the first one. Combine/merge into one PDF is a different job (later). Sets (many Documents as one tab without merging) come later. Until then, the Project Documents list **is** the set. ## Markups stay on the file You calibrate on a page. You measure Length / Polylength / Count / Area. Those markups belong to this Document’s live graph, not to the Project as a pile of qty. The Project is people + files. Takeoff lives on the sheet. After a signed-in visit, the takeoff stays on the machine. Airplane wifi still shows the markups you already opened. First visit of a new PDF, extract, and AI stay online. That’s [cloud sync](/guides/project-cloud-sync). [How it works](/how-it-works) is the measure loop. ## Access follows the Project There is no per-Document permission list. If you can open the Project, you can open its Documents. The Project is the permission unit, not each sheet. Want estimating hidden from the shop floor? That’s [Organization Project access](/guides/organizations) plus [grants](/guides/project-access) on the **Project**, not a checkbox on `S-201.pdf`. Create a Document = Project **Edit** or Full control. Archive a Document = Full control (and only while the parent Organization and Project are live). Rename = Edit+. ## Recents, Documents, Documents | Surface | What it lists | | ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | **Recents** | Documents and Projects you opened on this device | | **Project → Documents** | Every live file in that Project | | **Desk Documents** | Recents + pins while you’re on the sheet | Recents is what you opened on this device, not a second cloud folder, and not a permission list. The cloud list is still every Document this login can open. Same login on a second machine: [cloud sync](/guides/project-cloud-sync). ## Archive Archive a Document (Recents or Documents overflow says **Delete**) and it leaves the Documents list. You need Full control. [Trash](/guides/delete-and-restore-archived) holds it for 30 days. After that it leaves Trash and you cannot restore it. Archive the **Project** instead and the live Documents hide with it without each row being stamped. Restore the Project, those files are back. A Document you deleted on its own stays archived; restore that Trash row too. ## Evaluating this A one-PDF bid is a Project with one Document. A hospital set is a Project with many. You never permission the sheets one by one. Access is the Project, not each PDF. A precon team does not need a second estimating platform to hold these files. [A measure desk](/resources/takeoff-without-a-platform). That’s takeoff, not a priced bid: [takeoff vs estimating](/resources/takeoff-vs-estimating). What’s **on** the sheet: [measuring a commercial set](/resources/measuring-a-commercial-set), [scale](/resources/scale-calibration), [scale detection](/guides/scale-detection). Next: [delete and restore](/guides/delete-and-restore-archived), [Browser desk](/guides/browser-desk-app), [cloud sync](/guides/project-cloud-sync), [Working together](/guides/working-together-collaboration), [organization members](/guides/organization-members), [Project collaborators](/guides/project-collaborators), [who can open a Project](/guides/project-access). ## FAQ ### Can one Document hold several PDFs? No. One PDF per Document. A second file is a new Document in the same Project. That keeps markups, scale, and the desk honest. ### Where do markups live? On the Document (the live graph for that PDF), not on the Project row and not as pixels in the file. Close the laptop and the takeoff you already visited is still there. ### What’s Recents vs the Project Documents list? Project Documents is the Project’s files. Recents is what you actually opened on this device. Documents on the desk is the same idea while you’re measuring. ### Can I move a Document to another Project? No. A Document belongs to exactly one Project. Same PDF on two Projects is not a move and not a cheap copy. Duplicate later would be a new Document with new ids. ### What happens if I delete a Document from Recents? Delete on Recents or Project Documents archives it. Trash holds it for 30 days. Restore it there. Archive the Project instead if the whole bid should leave the list. [delete and restore](/guides/delete-and-restore-archived).