Once you’ve estimated a Job in EstimatorXpress™, the Notes Wizard can be used to generate automated specification notes which you can add to your PlansXpress™ drawings.
There are three different types of note generated by EstimatorXpress™. General Notes are generic remarks which apply to, and can be used with, most Jobs. They contain general statements about the way in which the Job will be approached and compliance with building regulations. In addition to the General Notes, text is supplied for each specific Workbook and Workbook Type. The Notes Wizard selects the General Notes along with text for each of the Workbooks and Workbook Types which appear in the Job. Note that the text is not based on Build Phases as in the Quote Wizard.
From within the Notes Wizard, you can override the auto-selections and specify which of the Workbook, Workbook Type and General Notes you want to appear in your specification notes. The text for the Workbooks, Workbook Types and General Notes can be edited, although you can’t overwrite HBXL Defaults. You can set up Profiles containing different Workbook, Workbook Type and General Notes text for different types of Job.
By clicking More at the bottom of the Notes Wizard dialog box, you can select which Workbooks to include in the specification notes. Simply tick the tick boxes adjacent to each Workbook you want to feature in the notes. For each type of Workbook you have selected to include in your notes, Workbook Type notes are automatically added to the specification notes. You can also include references to specified materials, drawn from the Estimate, for each of the ticked Workbooks by clicking the Advanced Options button.
You can also choose whether to use Plans Specific Descriptions in the notes. Plans Specific Descriptions allow you to use a different description for the materials than those used by EstimatorXpress™, making them more suitable for use in the notes.
This topic talks you through setting up the Notes Wizard to produce the kind of notes you want, and importing them into PlansXpress™. It assumes you have already finished your PlansXpress™ drawing, imported it into EstimatorXpress™, and estimated the Job.
1.Double click on the EstimatorXpress icon on your desktop, or go to Start > All Programs > HBXL > EstimatorXpress and click on the EstimatorXpress icon to launch the software.
2. From the Main Menu, click on My Estimates.
4. Go to the Reports tab.
5. Press the Notes Wizard button.
The Notes Wizard pops up. From the Notes Wizard dialog box you can control the level of detail which appears in the notes.
7. Click More.
The Notes Wizard dialog box expands to give you further options.
8. Click Preferences.
The Preferences page of the Notes Wizard dialog box pops up. From the Preferences dialog box you can edit all the text which appears in the specification notes, and also edit the Plans Specific Descriptions for specified materials. Notice that the PlansXpress™ House Notes Profile is selected at the top of the Preferences dialog box. This means that all the changes you make to the General Notes, Workbook and Workbook Type text are now saved to this Profile.
9. Click the Edit Text button associated with the General Notes text.
The General Notes dialog box pops up.
The General Notes are broken down into smaller sections or paragraphs. You can either edit the whole document from the General Notes dialog box, or you can open up and edit each of the paragraphs individually. Let’s do the latter.
10. Click Select Paragraphs.
The Select Paragraphs dialog box pops up. From here you can add, edit and delete sections which make up the General Notes.
12. Click Edit Section of Notes.
The Edit Text dialog box pops up. From here you can edit the General Notes intro text.
13. Makes any changes to the section by typing into the box.
14. Once you're happy with your amendments, click OK.
You are returned to the Select Paragraphs dialog box and the changes to the text are saved.
15. Work your way down the sections, right clicking on each of them and editing them as desired. If you want to remove a section from the General Notes altogether, right click on the section and click Delete Section of Notes from Selection. If you want to add a new section to the notes, right click anywhere on the list of sections, click Add New Section of Notes, give the new section a name, and enter text for the new section into the dialog box which appears.
16. Once you’re happy with the content of the General Notes, click Select
The changes you have made are carried back to the General Notes dialog box.
17. Click OK to save the changes to the General Notes.
18. Click Yes.
You're returned to the Preferences page.
Click OK to return to the main page of the Notes Wizard.
Now let’s turn our attention to the notes relating to each of the Workbooks included in the Job. EstimatorXpress™ automatically brings in text for each of the Workbooks in the Job. However, you can override the selections and choose not to show text for certain Workbooks.
At the bottom of the main page of the Notes Wizard, you’ll notice there is a list of Workbooks with tick boxes. An introductory paragraph will appear in the notes for each of the Workbooks with a tick next to it, along with any materials you choose to specify.
20. Ensure the Workbooks you want to include are ticked and untick all those you don't want to appear in the notes.
You can now choose which materials you would like to specify for these Workbooks.
21. Click Advanced Options.
The Advanced Options dialog box pops up. The Advanced Options dialog box comprises one page for each Workbook ticked. For each Workbook, you can edit the introductory text, and select which materials you want to appear in the notes. The Workbook name is given at the top left of the dialog box
22. Click Edit Text.
You have the option of creating the notes in a Microsoft® Word document or generating them ready to import into PlansXpress™. You also have the option of doing both. If you wish to provide the specification notes on a separate sheet to your drawings, you can generate them as a Microsoft® Word document using the Word Document Only option. If you want to import the notes into your PlansXpress™ drawing, you can use the Drawing Import Only option. If you want to import the notes into PlansXpress™ and create a Microsoft® Word document to preview the notes first, use the Word Document and Drawing Import option
36. For now, click Word Document and Drawing Import.
37. Tick the Plans Specific Descriptions tick box to use the simplified descriptions for any materials which are mentioned in the notes
38. Click Create Notes.
A Microsoft® Word document opens up containing the notes, which are also ready to import into PlansXpress™
39. Scroll down the Word document to check the content and format of the notes.
You can, if you wish, make amendments to the notes in the Word document, and copy and paste the text into the Add Notes tool in PlansXpress™. For now, let’s import the notes into the PlansXpress™ drawing as they are.
40. Double click on the PlansXpress icon on your desktop or go to Start, All Programs, HBXL, PlansXpress and click on the PlansXpress icon to launch the software.
41. Click Cancel on the New Drawing dialog box.
42. Go to the File menu and click Open.
43. Locate and click on the drawing the notes have been created for.
44. Click Open.
⚠ The notes you have generated will be available to import into any drawing, so ensure you open the correct drawing!
45. Go to the Drawing & Annotation tab and click Specification Notes.
46. For now, click on each of the notes you want to add to the drawing at the bottom of the dialog box and drag them in.to the input box at the top of the dialog box.
47. You can make final amendments to the text at this point, if required.
48. Once you’re happy with the notes you’ve selected to appear on the drawing, click OK.
PlansXpress™ is now ready to place the notes on the drawing.
The Command Window now gives the instruction to 'Give First Point'.
50. Hold your mouse towards the top left corner of the Notes block, or the area you are intending to place the notes.
51. Click the left mouse button to register the first point of the rectangle in which your notes will appear.
The Command Window now now gives the instruction to 'Give Second Point'.
52. Move your mouse towards the bottom right of the Notes area, or the area you are intending to place the notes.
53. Click the left mouse button to register the second point of the rectangle in whichthe notes will appear.
Your notes will appear on the plan in the Notes Block.
⚠ If the text selected cannot fit into the rectangle you have given, PlansXpress™ will increase the box in length until all the text fits. To fit the text into the rectangle given, you will need to change the Font options on the Properties Toolbar and import the notes from the Add Notes dialog box again.
Please be aware that all automatically generated notes are for guidance only and must not be relied upon without detailed review and adaptation for your specific projects. The Company does not warrant, guarantee or make any representations regarding the use, or the result of use, of the notes in terms of correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness or otherwise