Mark up plans and talk about them in place
You spotted something on a plan. A door that opens the wrong way. A socket missing from the kitchen. A measurement that does not look right. Until now, your only option was a screenshot in WhatsApp with a clumsy red arrow drawn on top, and a week later, no one remembers which plan, which page, or which version. Annotations fix that. The drawing, the question, and the answer all live in the same place.
01Open a plan and start annotating
Any PDF or image you have uploaded as a plan can be annotated. Open it from your project, and you will see an Annotate button at the top of the viewer. Tap it to enter edit mode. The toolbar appears, and you can start drawing.
Tap Stop annotating when you are done. Your markups are saved as you go. There is no separate save step.
02The five tools
Hemma gives you five ways to mark up a plan. Pick whichever fits what you want to say.
- Pin. Drop a single point on a spot. Best for "look here" moments and quick questions.
- Circle. Draw around an area. Good for "this whole zone" or "this fixture".
- Rectangle. Frame a region with straight edges. Useful for rooms, panels, or anything boxy.
- Arrow. Point from one thing to another. Use it when you need to show a relationship, "this connects to that".
- Freehand. Sketch freely. Best when nothing else fits: a curve, a line you want to redraw, a shape you want to suggest.
Each tool comes with a colour palette of eight colours. Most people use red for problems, green for things that are fine, and a third colour to group changes that belong together. But there is no rule. Use whatever helps you keep things clear.
03Add a note to your markup
After you draw, Hemma asks if you want to add a note. The note is optional. Sometimes a circle says enough on its own. But if there is a question, a measurement, or a decision to discuss, write it here. The note stays attached to that exact shape, on that exact page.
Short notes work better than long ones. "Door swings the wrong way?" beats a paragraph. The plan does the heavy lifting. You just point at things.
04Replies and resolving
Every annotation can hold a thread of replies. Anyone with access to the plan, like your partner or your architect, can reply, and you will see new messages appear in the sidebar with an unread indicator. The conversation stays right next to the markup that started it.
When a question is answered, a change is made, or you simply do not need to track something anymore, mark the annotation Resolved. It stays visible on the plan, but moves out of your open list. Nothing is lost. You can reopen it any time.
05On your phone
The full annotation experience works on mobile. Drawing uses your finger, two-finger pinch zooms in and out, and the comment input opens full-screen so you have room to type. The tools and colours live in a bottom sheet. Tap the tools button and pick what you need.
If you are on site and you spot something, you do not need to wait until you are back at your desk. Open the plan, drop a pin, write the question, done.
06What annotations are not
Annotations are not a redline tool. They do not change the plan itself. The original PDF or image stays untouched. Think of them as sticky notes on top of the drawing. The plan stays the source of truth; your markups are the conversation around it.
Spot it. Mark it. Discuss it. Resolve it. That is the whole loop.