1. Open the document/task smart folder.
2. Select single or multiple documents or tasks.
3. In the list of operations click Live Commenting.
4. In the pop-up menu click Create Session.

Figure: Opening Live Commenting Session

Create Bluebeam Session window is displayed. In the window.  Session name will be generated automatically based on a common logic, that contains Login Name, Discipline/Origin Name, Server date and time. The session name can be edited by a user. 

By default, all specter files are selected for creating the session and all the current stage users are selected for inviting them to the session. Apart from the current stage users, option to add external or internal (WRENCH) users is also available. External Users can be added by entering the emaild and clicking the Add button.

NOTE: The option for adding external users is available only if the setting is enabled while creating integration gateway from Administrative Settings>>Plug In Configuration.

Figure: Creating a Live Commenting Session

1. Enter an Expiry Date.

The expiry date is passed to Bluebeam session properties, and based on this date the Bluebeam session expires automatically.

In the Add Users section,  two option Internal and External will be available. The option can be selected by clicking the radio button next to it. By default, radio button next to Internal will be selected.

To add internal users

1. Select the radio button next to the option Internal.
2. Type in the required user name in the text box User Name. Matching names will be listed.
3. Select the user name from the list.
4. Press enter key or click Add to add the user to the invitee list.

To add external users

1. Select the radio button next to the option External.

NOTE: This button will be enabled only when the option ‘Allow addition of external users’ is checked in the Plug-in Configuration of Administrative settings.

Figure: Adding External Resources

2. Type in the complete email address of the person in the text box.
3. Press the enter key or click ‘Add’ to add the person to the list. If a valid email address is not available in the text box when pressing enter, it will not be added.

To grant manage permission to users

1. A column, Manage will be available in the User List section.
2. Click the checkbox under the column Manage, corresponding to the user who is to be assigned manage rights.

To remove users

1. Select the required row from the list of users.
2. Click on the ‘Delete’ icon or press DEL key to remove the selected row. An alert message is displayed.

3. Click OK to continue the operation and click Cancel to abort the operation.

4. After entering the details click Create Session.

All the specter files are uploaded to Bluebeam cloud and selected users are invited through a default notification mail from WRENCH. For the external users, the URL to join the session will be automatically inserted in the invitation email. For internal users, this will be inserted based on the control setting ‘‘Allow sending session invitation link through default mail’ (See configuration for details).

After creating the session and sending the emails, a message “Session created successfully” is displayed.

In the Create Bluebeam Session an option to set reminder prior to expiry date is available. Here number of days can be set. A reminder is send to the session users based on the set days.

1. In the document transmittal window select the documents.
2. In the tool bar click Live Commenting.

Figure: Creating Live Commenting session from transmittal window

Create Bluebeam Session window is displayed.

Transmittal documents PDF (Specter) are picked up for creating the session. Transmittal ‘To’ and ‘Cc’, ‘Distribution’ users are picked up for creating the session in Bluebeam.

When a user clicks the option Create Session for the first time from Smart Folder or Transmittal for the first time, Bluebeam Gateway window is displayed.

1. Enter the Email Id and Password of the user and Click LOG IN.

Following window is displayed.

2. Click Allow to complete the configuration.

This is a onetime activity for a user to configure the BDN user and password, to show the configured id while creating session. This will expire in 80 days and the activity has to be done once again after 80 days by following the preceding steps.

1. In the options menu click Live Commenting>>Join Session.

Bluebeam Sessions window is displayed. In the window list of Bluebeam sessions to which current user is invited is displayed.

Figure: Bluebeam Sessions window

2. Select a session from the list and click Join Session.

Documents under that session are opened in Bluebeam for commenting.

NOTE: If there is only one open session for the user, instead of displaying an intermediate window to show the open sessions, directly Bluebeam application would be launched with the selected document ready for commenting.

1. Click Live Commenting>>Close Session. Close Bluebeam Sessions window is displayed.

The system will raise a request to Bluebeam for closing the selected session, generating the Consolidated file and Comment Summary File. 

Once the request to close session is issued successfully, several activities are performed by Bluebeam as part of session closure such as creation of a consolidated comment file and a comment summary file. 

Status of the snapshot will be checked in an interval of 3 seconds.

Once the status is Complete for all files, Attach button is enabled and user is allowed to close the session. 

2. Select a association type from the drop-down list.
3. Click the ‘Attach’ button to attach the consolidated files to the respective document. When all files are successfully completed, they are attached to the respective documents. 

Figure: Attaching comment files

In case of any failure, Attach button will not be enabled and user will not be able to attach the consolidated file.

1. Select the association type from a drop-down list.
2. After selecting the association type, click ‘Attach’ button.

Files are attached to the main document in WRENCH under the specified attachment type.

After attaching the files, Live Commenting session is closed automatically.

NOTE: In the case of IDC (Approve by All) using blue beam session, only the final user will be able to view Close Session option. When the administrator or originator close a blue beam session, if all the current stage users have not closed the document from their stage, a pop up message indicating the same is displayed.

1. In the smart folder, under Live Commenting options click Live Commenting>>Re-Send Invitation.

If there is no open session for the selected document, a message “There are no active sessions for the selected documents, please try again” is displayed.

Once the invitation mail is send, “Mail Sent Successfully” message is displayed.

1. Select one document from the smart folder and select the ‘Session Details’ option from the live commenting menu Or, click on the ‘Session Details’ menu without selecting any documents.

When a single document is selected and the option Session Details is clicked, its active session name and session details is displayed in the window.

When no documents are selected, list of active sessions where the current user has ‘Manage’ permission is displayed in the ‘combo box.

If all selected documents have active commenting sessions, window same as ‘Create Bluebeam Studio Session’ will be displayed. In the window, instead of the button Create Session, Save button will be available.

Figure: Bluebeam Session Details window

The list of session invitee's of the selected document will be displayed in the list on the right to the documents list. User may add or remove invitee's as required (procedure is specified in the preceding sections). Details like expiry date, remarks and the reminder period can be edited as required.

2. Click ‘Save’ to store the altered session information. Email notifications will be sent to the new invitees. When session detail such as the ‘Expiry date’ is changed, email notifications will be sent to all invitee's.

NOTE: In the Commenting Session Status Column, if the displayed status is Active, on clicking the displayed status, Bluebeam Session Details window is displayed.

1. Open the document or task smart folder.
2. Select the documents or tasks for live commenting session and in the menu click Create Session.

Live Commenting Session Details window is displayed.

Figure: Live Commenting Session Details window

Session name will be generated automatically based on a common logic, that contains Login Name, Discipline/Origin Name, Server date and time. The session name can be edited by a user.

By default, all specter files are selected for creating the session and all the current stage users are selected for inviting them to the session. Apart from the current stage users, option to add external or internal (WRENCH) users is also available. External Users can be added by entering the Email Id and clicking the Add button.

1. Enter an Expiry Date and Time for the session.

An option to set reminder prior to expiry date is available. Here number of days can be set. A reminder is send to the session users based on the set days.

2. After entering the values click Create Session.

All the specter files are uploaded to Bluebeam cloud and selected users are invited through a default notification mail from WRENCH. For the external users, the URL to join the session will be automatically inserted in the invitation email. For internal users, this will be inserted based on the control setting ‘‘Allow sending session invitation link through default mail’ (See configuration for details).

After creating the session and sending the emails, a message “Session created successfully” is displayed.

1. In the options menu click Live Commenting>>Join Session.

Live Commenting window is opened.

Figure: Live Commenting window

The list of attachments to the session will be listed in the ‘Files’ table in ascending order of the file name. The first file is opened in the viewer

The list of people who have commented on the selected file will be listed in the table below the list of files. The list will be in ascending order of the names. Active users will be displayed in blue letters and inactive users will be displayed in grey colour.

If there are any comments made by the current user on the selected file already in the current session, it will be displayed in the viewer.

NOTE: If the current version of the document is different from the document for which  Live Commenting has been created for, a warning message is displayed. However live commenting session can be continued.

2. After entering the comments click Save to save new comments or modified comments.

NOTE: User may select one or multiple users from the list displayed below the files table to display the comments made by the selected users. In case the current user changes or remove such comments, such changes will not be saved. However, current user may copy a comment created by another user and paste it as new. Such copies will be treated as new comments created by the current user.

A live commenting session can be joined from the global menu.

To join a live commenting session from global menu

Consolidating and closing comments

Comment Consolidation is a process that can be done before or after session expiry or closure.

Different  options are available in the Live Commenting window.

Importing Comments

Comments of other users can be imported and edited. It is not possible to edit comments inserted by other users directly until they are imported.

To import comments

Consolidating Comments

Comments marked by different users in the file in the current session can be consolidated. 

To consolidate comments

Saving to CRS

The comments can be exported to CRS. 

To save to CRS

Closing a Session

 Participants with manage permission can close the session.

To close a session

Viewing Session Details

Details of a session can be viewed and user with Manage rights can make modification to the session details.

To view session details

Creating Link

When the session participants missed the invitation or failed to join the link, a link can be created for the live commenting session and forwarded to the participant, so that the participant can join the session by opening the link.

To create link

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