Notes

Notes put comments where they belong: on the spot in the point cloud, orthomosaic, map, 3D Tiles model, XGRIDS scan or photo they are about. A note keeps the view it was made from, so anyone opening it later sees exactly what you saw.

Making a note

Open a file and expand the pill at the bottom of the viewer. Note (or press N) offers:

Kind	Key	What it is
Pin	P	One spot
Area	A	An outline traced around a surface
Volume	V	An outline plus a height, for a 3D box
Sketch	S	A capture of the current view that you draw on and keep

Write a title and text, then Save. In the note you can also:

• choose who sees it: Just me, Team, or Shared (shown on share links that include notes);
• add it to one or more lists;
• set a color and an icon. Icons include ISO 7010 safety signs and a Site hazards set (asbestos, lead, silica, confined space, live services, excavation, scaffold incomplete, working at heights); search finds them by name, so “asbestos” brings up the matching signs;
• add tags and fields, if your workspace uses them. A field can hold several values, for example two Types or two Trades;
• attach photos, documents and links (up to 200 MB per file). A link can be typed as www.example.com; Swyvl adds the https://;
• Assign to a teammate;
• on a video, set the time window when the note applies.

Photos and video take pins and areas. 360° photos take pins, areas and sketches; a sketch on a 360° photo captures the part of the panorama you are looking at. Sketches also work in every 3D viewer and on maps.

On an E57 with 360° photos, notes belong to the point cloud. Clicking in a 360° photo places the note on the 3D point the photo shows, so it appears in the cloud and in the other 360s nearby. A note on a standalone 360° photo records only a direction from the camera.

Sketching

Sketch captures the view and opens a drawing toolbar along the top:

• Select: click a shape to move it. Rectangles and ellipses get corner handles to resize, lines a handle at each end, polygons a handle at each corner. Delete removes the selected shape and Escape deselects it.
• Pen for freehand.
• Shape ▾: Rectangle, Ellipse and Polygon. Click the corners of a polygon, then close it by clicking the first corner, double-clicking or pressing Enter.
• Line ▾: Line and Arrow. Each end can be plain, an arrow, an open arrow, a dot or a square.
• Text, Sticker (any note icon) and Eraser.
• Style: line color, fill (a color and opacity, or no fill), line weight and dash. A shape you just drew stays selected, so you can restyle it straight away, and the next shape starts with the same style. Your last style is remembered for the next sketch too.
• Undo, Redo, Clear and Done.

Before you save, Edit in the note takes you back to drawing. A saved sketch note has Download on its card, which saves the picture with the drawing on it.

On an E57 with 360° photos, a sketch captures the layout you’re in: the point cloud, the 360° photo, or both side by side. Opening the note later switches back to that layout and photo.

Saving a measurement

Measurements are temporary until you save them. On a measurement’s card, Save measurement keeps it as an item in the Notes panel with its value, so it survives the session. See Measuring.

Links between files

A link is a pin that opens another file in the same site: from a site plan to the 3D scan of a room, from a 360 photo to the next one, or from a PDF drawing to the point cloud it describes.

1. In the viewer, open Add to the viewer (the shapes button in the tools at the bottom) and choose Link to a file.
2. Pick the file it should open.
3. Click where the link goes in this view.

The link appears as a door pin and its card opens. Choose Set the view it opens at to open the linked file, move to the view people should land on, and save. Without a saved view, the file opens at its start view. Anyone who opens the pin gets a Go to button, in the hub and on share links; if a share link does not include the linked file, the link shows but cannot be followed, and the file’s name stays hidden. To add a link to a note you have already made, open the note and choose Link to a file.

The Notes panel

Notes in the viewer’s top bar opens the panel for that file. From it you can:

• open a note, Go to the saved view, reply, resolve it or edit it;
• choose one or several lists from the All notes ▾ picker. With two lists picked the label reads like “Cabinets +1” and the panel shows notes from either;
• filter by kind (including Measurements), who sees it, each field and author from the funnel icon. Each filter shows as a chip you can remove;
• group the panel by list, kind, author, who sees it, date, file, or one of your fields such as Type or Trade. A note with two values shows under both;
• switch between In this file and Here. On maps, orthomosaics, 3D Tiles and georeferenced point clouds, and in the 360 photos of a georeferenced E57, Here also shows notes made in other files that cover the same ground, drawn with hollow pins. On other file types Here is grayed out, and hovering it explains why;
• search, and show or hide each list;
• hide one note with the eye on its row, or a whole kind (pins, areas, volumes, sketches, measurements) under Show in the viewer. A hidden note still shows while it’s selected. Hidden notes come back when you reload; to keep a setup, share it with Open at this view (see Share links);
• set how pins, labels and Note areas look from the sliders menu: areas Always, Faded or Selected only. With Selected only, hovering a note’s pin shows its area and label. That’s your own view, saved to your account.

Edit a saved area, volume or sketch with Edit outline: click a corner to pick it up and click where it goes, or click an edge to add a corner. Move a saved pin with Move pin: click the pin, then click where it should go. The note keeps its saved view. Editing a note also lets its author and workspace owners add or remove attachments.

When a sketch or saved view holds the camera still, trying to drag the view makes the card’s close button and Free the camera pulse, to show how to move again.

Notes on the next scan

A note made on one point cloud shows on the next scan of the same site, at the same spot, when both scans have a projected coordinate system (for example MGA2020 or a UTM zone). It’s drawn with a hollow pin, and its card says which file and capture it was made on. On an E57 with 360° photos it shows in the point cloud and in the photos.

• Notes made on another scan keep their height. Notes made on a map, an orthomosaic or 3D Tiles stand on the scan’s surface below them.
• Scans without a coordinate system, which is common for terrestrial E57s, don’t share a frame with anything, so notes neither come in nor go out.
• Notes from other scans show in the hub only, not on share links.
• Sketches and measurements stay with the file they were made on.

Working on notes together

• Replies: every note has a thread. Replies can include photos and checklists (⌘⇧9). Select the pencil next to the reply box to sketch on the view and send the drawing with your reply.
• Mentions: type @ to mention a teammate. Their name shows as you type, and they are notified.
• Assign to: give a note to someone. It appears under their Assigned to me.
• Notifications: the bell in the sidebar collects mentions, assignments and replies. You also get an email; replies are grouped to at most one email per thread every 15 minutes.
• Resolve a note when it’s done. Resolved notes are hidden by default and can be shown again.

Workspace owners and editors can make notes. A note’s text and shape can be changed by its author and by workspace owners. Only they can delete it or tick the checklists in its replies.

Lists

A list is an ordered set of notes: a snag list, an inspection round or a walkthrough for a client. Notes can be in several lists. Drag to reorder. Lists can carry a color, be archived, and be exported as a PDF with a page per note.

To file every new note into a list automatically, pin that list from its header in the Notes panel.

To copy a list, click the copy icon on its header in the Notes panel, or on its row in Lists on the site Notes tab. The copy is called “Name (copy)”, keeps the color and the order, and starts not shared.

The site Notes tab

Every note on a site, from every file, is on the site’s Notes tab:

• Scopes: All, Assigned to me, Mentions me, Created by me.
• Filters: list, file (including Not in a file, for notes whose file was deleted), status, visibility, kind, author, assignee, tags and fields. A filter that’s changed from its default is tinted.
• Views: save the current filters, grouping and sort as a named view, for yourself or the team.
• Table or media view, grouped by list, file, assignee or a field.
• Detail panel: click a row to read the note and its replies, reply, and change its status, assignee and fields. The pencil edits the text and, for its author and owners, the attachments.
• Bulk actions: select rows to resolve, change visibility, add to a list (or a new list), assign, add or remove a field value, or delete them together. Adding or removing a value leaves the note’s other values alone.

Exporting

Export ▾ on the Notes tab or in a file’s details panel exports everything (or the filtered notes), one list, or the selected notes as:

• CSV, GeoJSON or JSON, with your fields included (a column per field in CSV, with several values joined as “A; B”);
• a ZIP that includes sketches and attachments;
• a PDF with a cover page and a page per note, with its fields, its sketch or first photo, and replies. It opens in a new tab ready to print or save. Allow pop-ups for hub.swyvl.io if nothing opens. A PDF takes up to 300 notes.

Notes on share links

A share link shows notes when Show notes and measurements is on. Only Shared notes appear, never Team or Just me notes.

• Anyone with the link can read shared notes, see their sketches, and step through them. Public and password-protected links are view-only: visitors cannot reply.
• On an Invite only link, the people you invite can reply to shared notes, if Guests can reply is on. Guests can add photos and a sketch of the view to their replies. They sign in with the magic link from their invite email, with no account to set up. They are guests, not team members, and never need a seat. You can stop one guest replying with Stop replies in the link’s invite list.
• List links: share one list on its own from the link icon on the list’s header. The link opens on the first note, shows only that list, and steps across files in list order.
• Open at this view: share a file from its Share button with Open at this view ticked, and the copied address opens with your lists, filters, hidden notes, display and camera. Visitors can clear the filter or show hidden notes for themselves.

See Share links.

Settings

Settings → Workspace → Notes turns on tags and fields (for example Trade or Priority, with your own options) for the workspace. Notes start simple: lists only, until you switch these on.

Deleting files that have notes

When you permanently delete a file, notes that only exist in that file are deleted with it. Notes with a place on the site stay, marked as from a deleted file, unless you tick Also delete notes placed on the site. They are no longer drawn on other files, but remain on the Notes tab and the site map.

Plan limits

Free organizations can keep 10 saved notes and measurements in total, across all their workspaces. Replies, lists and attachments don’t count. Paid plans have no limit. See Plans & pricing.