Work with the Tool Chest

The Tool Chest makes marking up documents much more efficient by storing and organizing frequently used markups for easy use and reuse. It automatically remembers recently used markups, can reapply a markup in its entirety or just using its properties, and automatically scale tools to fit different drawings without having to recreate the tool to match the drawing's scale.

To save a markup from a PDF to the Tool Chest, right-click it, then go to Add to Tool Chest and select the desired tool set.

To use a tool to place a markup on a PDF, select the tool in the Tool Chest to select it, then select where on the document to place the markup.

To copy a tool in one tool set to another tool set, drag it from one to the other.

To reorder the tools within a set, drag them to desired locations.

To delete a saved tool, use either of the following methods:

  • Select a tool to select it, then press Delete.
  • Right-click a tool and select Delete.

To duplicate a tool, right-click it and select Duplicate.

To change the colors of a tool, right-click it and select Change Colors. On the Change Multiple Colors dialog, change the desired Destination Colors.

To use a markup to create an offset of an existing markup, right-click it and select Offset as.

The Recent Tools tool set records markups as they are added to a PDF.

To reuse a tool, select it, then place it on the PDF.

When more tools have been saved in Recent Tools than can be shown, an arrow appears to the right of the tools as shown in the image above. To see all the tools in Recent Tools, select the arrow.

The maximum number of tools that are kept in Recent Tools is configurable. To change the maximum number of tools kept, go to Properties > Maximum Recents and select the desired value.

The Recent Tools history is automatically cleared when Revu is closed. To clear your recent tools before then, go to Properties > Clear Recents.

The Recent Tools tool set saves a limited number of tools and is cleared of saved tools every time it is closed. You can save a recently used tool so it will remain available after Revu has been closed.

  • Drag the tool from Recent Tools into another tool set.
  • Right-click the tool in Recent Tools and select Add Item to My Tools. Be aware that this method automatically saves the tool to the My Tools tool set. Use the drag method described above to save the tool to a different tool set.

To save a markup on the document as a reusable tool, right-click the desired markup, go to Add to Tool Chest, and select the tool set to which to save it.

The My Tools tool set is designed to be a configurable collection of frequently used tools that provides easy access to them. As such, it has a few special properties:

  • Tools in the My Tools tool set are automatically assigned hot keys for quick access. The hot keys are numeric, according to the tools position in the My Tools tool set. Its hot key is shown in the upper right corner of its icon in the My Tools tool set and changing a tool's position in the My Tools tool set automatically changes its associated hot key.

  • The My Tools tool set is a permanent part of Revu. It is available in all Profiles by default and, while it can be hidden, it cannot be completely removed.
  • Tools in the My Tools tool set can be toggled between Properties Mode and Drawing Mode (described below).

Many tools can function in two different modes: Drawing Mode and Properties Mode. Each mode serves a distinct purpose:

  • Properties mode adds a new markup with the same appearance properties of the saved markup. In this mode, the properties (as shown on the Properties panel) are retained but the exact dimensions, text, and so on are not. Consider the example of a text box markup: using the tool in Properties Mode would create a new text box with the same color border and fill pattern and text properties, but no text would be inside the box yet, nor would the box have a fixed size. You would need to define the box's shape and content.

  • Drawing mode adds a new markup that is an exact duplicate of the saved markup, as if you had copied and pasted the original markup rather than made a new one of a similar type.

To change the mode of a tool in any of these tool sets, double-click on the tool's icon or right-click it and select Properties Mode/Drawing Mode (which mode is shown depends on which mode is currently active). All of the markup's information is retained when switching modes; only the icon and the way that the markup is added to the file changes when the mode is changed. By default, most tools are saved in Properties Mode, though there are some markups that always remain in Drawing Mode; Stamps and Grouped markups are two examples.

If a tool has a defined Action, the action will only be added to markups created with it when in Drawing mode.

The Recent Tools tool set can be configured to default to either Properties Mode or Drawing Mode. To set the mode, select the Properties gear to the right of Recent Tools and either select or clear Properties Mode.

For quick and easy access, a tool set can be pinned to any Toolbar. To do so, select the Properties gear to the right of the tool set's name, then go to Pin and select the specific Toolbar.

Tool sets can be created at a certain scale and set to automatically scale up or down when placed in a calibrated drawing or viewport using Revu's Dynamic Tool Set Scaler. This can be a particularly powerful tool option, especially when used in conjunction with Sketch Tools, which allows for the creation of precisely sized markups.

Once a scaling tool has been placed on a PDF, its scale is set and it will no longer automatically scale up and down.

  1. Select the Properties gear to the right of the section name and select Set Scale.

  2. There are three ways to set a tool set scale. If you know the scale and can be assured that no scaling errors occurred during the PDF creation process, using a preset scale or entering a custom one is quick and easy. If you can't be assured that there are no scaling errors on the drawing, calibrating the scale to the drawing is recommended. Choose the one that works best for you:
    • Use a preset scale: Select Preset and choose the scale from the Scale dropdown. If you have previously saved a custom or calibrated scale to your presets, they will be listed at the top.
    • Enter a custom scale: Select Custom and enter the scale: Enter the drawing length on the left and the real-world length on the right. Select the appropriate units for each. Units do not need to match and can be from different systems.
    • Calibrate the scale to the drawing: Select Custom and select Calibrate. If a dialog appears explaining how to use the calibrate tool, select OK to dismiss it, then locate a measured length on the page. Select the first point on the known length, then select the second point to finish the line.
      • Hold down SHIFT to snap the two points horizontally, vertically, or diagonally (as appropriate).
      • If you are working with a vector-based drawing (as opposed to a scanned PDF), you can enable Snap to Content which makes the cursor snap to the underlying lines and drawing elements, making it much easier to accurately select the two points.
  3. To save this scale to the list of preset scales for use on other drawings, select + Add Preset. The scale configuration is saved and can be selected as a preset scale later and on other drawings.
  4. Select Apply Scale.

A icon appears to the right of the tool set's name to indicate that a baseline scale has been established.

Repeat the process to change the scale, if necessary.

When a tool set has a baseline scale set, the icon appears to the right of its name.

When a tool set has an established baseline scale, you can choose whether or not the tools from it will scale when placed on a drawing. To turn scaling on, select the icon to the right of the tool set's name. It will be highlighted to indicate that scaling has been turned on.

To turn scaling off, select the icon again.

See Markups Legend.

Related topics

Tool Chest Panel

Managing Tool Sets

Markups Legend