Support Central
Use secondary files (renditions) to store multiple file formats for a single document, making documents easier to manage, organize, and find.
A rendition is a secondary file associated with a document, allowing multiple file types to be stored under a single document record. This means you no longer need to register native files (such as a .dwg) as separate documents, making it easier to find and manage them.
Each document includes one primary file (recommended as a PDF for most use cases) and can support up to four secondary files, known as renditions. In most cases, we recommend using only one rendition per document.
A document's version and metadata belong to the document record as a whole. This includes the primary and any secondary files. When updating files for a document you must update the primary and any secondary files at the same time. This ensures revisions are kept together for data accuracy.
Renditions are typically used for:
Required permissions
Features supporting primary files only
The following modules and features only support viewing and interacting with primary files. Secondary files are not currently available for these features:
Project Admins can enable Renditions for a specific project from their project preferences.
Important: You cannot switch off Renditions once it's been used. Once a secondary file (rendition) has been added to a document, Renditions cannot be turned off for that project
Note: When Renditions becomes generally available, it will be disabled by default for all existing projects, including template projects. Make sure you review your template projects and decide whether Renditions should be enabled. You may want to duplicate a template project to have one version with Renditions enabled and another with it disabled. For new projects created from scratch after general availability, Renditions will be enabled by default. However, it can be switched off before any project activity begins.
Project Admins or Org Admins can set a project-level preference that controls whether secondary files are included by default when users in their organization send documents. Users can override this setting during the process and choose whether to include secondary files for each document. The default setting is to exclude secondary files.
This applies to transmittals sent from Mail, Packages, Tenders, Supplier Documents, and Workflows.
Before you add documents, make sure your primary and secondary file names match (except for the file extension). This helps to group associated files in the upload process. For example, DRW-1000_A.pdf and DRW-1000_A.dwg.
By default, the upload process recognizes a PDF as the primary file for a document. Secondary files are recognized based on their filename and are nested under their primary file. You can change the file hierarchy during the process, but we recommend keeping the PDF as the primary file, as only primary files can be used in review processes.
Metadata applies to the document record as a whole (including both the primary and secondary files). There is no separate metadata or version history for secondary files.
Note: the existing filetype and filename search codes only apply to searching primary files.
When updating files for a document, you must update the primary file and all secondary files together at the same time. This ensures revisions are kept together for data accuracy.
If you only update a document's metadata, the existing primary and secondary files from the current version of the document will automatically carry forward to the new version. If you upload fewer files than exist in the version being updated, a message will appear to remind you to include all relevant files. For example, you'll see this message if you try to update the secondary file only.
When sending a transmittal, an icon next to each primary file indicates if secondary files will be sent. If the icon is greyed out, the secondary files will not be included for that document. The default behavior is determined by your organization's project preference.
In the example below the icon is greyed out for all documents, meaning secondary files will not be sent.
You can choose to include or exclude secondary files for specific documents. To do this, select them, click Secondary Files, and select the appropriate option.
In the example below, we selected the first three documents and chose to include secondary files. Their secondary files icon is solid, indicating that secondary files for these documents will be sent on the transmittal.
Only the primary file can be reviewed, marked up, or replaced. Any included secondary files are sent on the workflow transmittal and made available to recipient organizations to download and view. If a primary file is updated during a workflow, the existing secondary files are carried through to the next version of the document.
As with transmittals, when starting a workflow, an icon next to each primary file indicates if secondary files will be sent. You can choose to include or exclude secondary files for specific documents. To do this, select them, click Secondary Files, and select the appropriate option.
As with transmittals, after attaching documents to a tender invitation, an icon next to each primary file indicates if secondary files will be sent. You can choose to include or exclude secondary files for specific documents. To do this, select them, click Secondary Files, and select the appropriate option.
When searching supplier documents, click Add/Remove Columns and add the File Count and Secondary Files columns. The File Count shows the total number of files associated with each document record. The Secondary Files column shows the filename and size of each rendition.
When updating files for a document, you or the supplier must update the primary file and all secondary files together at the same time. This ensures revisions are kept together for data accuracy.
As with transmittals, when sending a supplier document transmittal, an icon next to each primary file indicates if secondary files will be sent. You can choose to include or exclude secondary files for specific documents. To do this, select them, click Secondary Files, and select the appropriate option.
When reviewing submissions an icon next to each primary file indicates if secondary files were received.
Can a secondary file have separate metadata? No. Metadata is the same across all files of a document. This follows document control principles where the same revision is consistent across all files of the same document.
How many secondary files can a document have? Four, but we recommend only using one (for example, a primary PDF and a secondary DWG) to make your documents easy to manage.
Can I replace a secondary file? Yes, you can update a document to replace files, but you must update both the primary and all secondary files together at the same time.
