Manage fabrication drawing collections and libraries

A fabrication drawing cloud collection contains finalized fabrication drawings or drawing settings from previous projects, organized in libraries. Drawings have been added to the cloud collection of your company account by the collection editors. Only assembly and cast unit drawings can be added in a collection. If some drawings get outdated in a collection, they can be re-uploaded.

When you create a collection, you are automatically assigned as an editor. For more information about roles inside a collection, see Manage access and roles in collections.

When drawings are added to a collection, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used and drawings are classified into libraries inside the cloud collection based on how similar the properties of the cast units or assemblies behind the drawings are. Collections can be shared with other users, and other users can share their collections with you. Inside collections, libraries are automatically created, but you can make corrections, such as move drawings between libraries or create new libraries. Libraries cannot be empty.

Open a collection

To access the Collections dialog, click Collections on the AI Cloud Fabrication drawings ribbon menu.
You can also click the Collections button in the Creation review dialog.
The name of the active collection is displayed at the top. You can activate another collection by selecting it from the list.

Libraries that contain incompatible drawings are marked with a yellow exclamation mark .

Incompatible drawings are drawings that have been uploaded with a Tekla Structures version that is newer than the one that you are currently using. When creating drawings, all drawings that are marked as incompatible will not be used.

Collection editors can do the following in the Collections dialog:

See collection details (creator, creation date, modification date, your role type, and collection description) and the models from which drawings were added to the active collection, and modify the collection description. Search is also available.
Create a new collection by clicking Create new.
Rename, duplicate, or remove the active collection.
Manage access to collections and user roles. If you are not allowed to manage the access to the active collection, the button is dimmed. For more information, see Manage access and roles in collections.
Add drawings to and remove drawings from the collection. You can add drawings from several models to the active collection.
Activate or inactivate the selected library, remove the selected library, or override drawing layouts for drawings created using the drawings in a library.
Control collection appearance: select list or icon view, icon size, and color mode.
Manage library content: View the drawings in the library, move drawings to a new library or another existing library, merge libraries, remove drawings from the library, or override drawing layouts and sizes for drawings created using the drawings in a library.
Use search to filter libraries.
Sort the library view by the name, type, total drawing number, creation date, or the modification date.

Collection viewers are limited to actions related to the drawing creation only, such as activating and deactivating libraries and changing the assigned layout of a library. Unavailable actions appear dimmed.

To give feedback on the feature, click the Submit feedback button in the upper-right corner of the Collections dialog.

Create a new collection

Click Collections on the AI Cloud Fabrication drawings ribbon menu.
In the Collections dialog, click Create new.
In the Create a new collection dialog, enter a name and a description for the new collection and click Create.

Special characters, such as <, >, ", /, ?, and *, are also allowed in the name.

If the name already exists, or if you leave the name empty, you will get an error message.

The new collection becomes the active collection and you can start adding drawings in it.

Add fabrication drawings in a collection

You can add fabrication drawings to a collection only if you have an Editor role in the collection. The service can learn from your previous drawings, so the more drawings you add to your collection the better the results.

You can add only assembly drawings or cast unit drawings in a collection, single-part drawings are not supported. If you select drawing types that are not supported, you will get an error message.

Open a model that contains the drawings that you want to add to a collection.
You can add drawings from several models to the active collection.
Click Collections on the AI Cloud Fabrication drawings ribbon menu.
In the Collections dialog, activate the collection where you want to add drawings.
Click the Document manager button.
Select the desired up-to-date drawings that you want to add, and click the add button in the Collections dialog to add the drawings in the collection.
Only assembly or cast unit drawings that are up to date and have their numbering up to date can be added to a collection.
When you add drawings, AI analyzes the drawings and classifies the drawings into libraries within the active cloud collection based on how similar the properties of the cast units or assemblies behind the drawings are. Similarity is based on a predefined list of cast unit or assembly properties (weight, profile, name, volume, UDAs, etc). For example, column drawings are classified into one library and beam drawings into another.
The processing queue at the bottom of the Collections dialog shows the progress. When the drawings have been analyzed and classified into libraries, you have a chance to review the classification.
Click Review if you want to check in which libraries the drawings will be added. To skip this step, click Accept.
If needed, select the desired drawings and assign them to other libraries by doing one of the following. You can select multiple drawings and assign them to a library at one go.
- To select another library, select a library from the Available libraries list.
- To define a new library, click Define a new library, enter a name for the library, and click .
Ensure that your libraries contain very similar assemblies or cast units. For example, keeping a library for “miscellaneous” items might not be a good idea.
To accept the classifications, click Accept.

Drawings are added to the defined libraries.

In Document manager, a cloud icon in the In collection column indicates that the current version of the drawing has been added to the currently active fabrication drawing cloud collection.

For details on giving access to other users to your collection, see Manage access and roles in collections.

Note:

If Tekla Structures detects an older version of a drawing in the collection, you will be asked how you want to add the new version of the drawing. You can select to remove or replace the existing versions or add a new version of the drawing without removing the existing one. For details, see "Re-upload drawings from current model only using Document manager" below.

Re-upload drawings in a collection

Starting from Tekla Structures 2025 SP7 and 2026 SP1, the system alerts if the collection contains drawings that would benefit from being re-uploaded. A yellow exclamation mark icon is displayed on the Collections button in the Creation review dialog and on the options button in the Collections dialog. When this icon is displayed, it means that improvements in the drawing creation are available in the latest Tekla Structures service pack that can only be applied if the drawings are re-uploaded. The tooltip of the Collections button also tells that drawing updates are available and re-upload is recommended.

You have two alternatives for re-uploading:

If you want to re-upload drawings only from the current model, use the plus button and re-upload the drawings from Document manager.
If you want to re-upload drawings that need to be re-uploaded from several models at once, we recommend that you use the Update collection dialog.

Re-uploading drawings is a recommendation. Drawing creation will still function normally, but the latest improvements and fixes in the latest service pack might not be implemented.

Re-upload drawings from current model only using Document manager

In the Collections dialog, click the Document manager button , select the drawings from Document manager, and re-upload the selected drawings by clicking the plus button .
- If there are only new drawings in the selection, the drawings will be uploaded as usual.
- Outdated drawings (missing parts, decreased quality, etc) will be ignored in the upload.
- If the active collection already contains other versions of some of the drawings you are adding, a dialog will be displayed asking how you want to add the drawings.
  
  The drawing you are adding might have been created in an older Tekla Structures version and you uploaded the drawing using a newer Tekla Structures version, or the local drawing has been modified and saved and is now different than the drawing version in the cloud.
Select what you want to do:
- Remove and replace: Deletes all existing versions of the drawings and replaces them with the new drawings. Adding drawings with a newer Tekla Structures version will not be compatible if you are using a older Tekla Structures version.
- Add new versions: Adds the new versions of the drawings. This will not remove the existing versions of the drawings.

Re-upload drawings using Update collection dialog

If you want to re-upload drawings that need the re-upload from several models at once, use the Re-upload drawings command and the Update collection dialog.

Note: If you are using the Update collection dialog to re-upload drawings in the currently open model, we recommend that you save the model beforehand, so the latest drawing status can be retrieved.

In the Collections dialog, click the options button and select the Re-upload drawings option.

The Update collection dialog lists the drawings organized by model, with sortable column data.
Define the model locations.
To list only outdated drawings, select the Show only drawings that need re-upload checkbox at the top.
Select which drawings you want to upload.
- To upload only the selected drawings, select the checkboxes next to the desired drawings.
- To upload all outdated drawings in a model, select the checkbox next to the model.
- To upload all outdated drawings, select the Re-upload checkbox on the title row.
Click Update and select one of the following options from the message dialog:
Update existing collection: The outdated drawings in the collection will be updated with new versions. This is the best option if you want to maintain your current collection structure.
Duplicate existing collection: The active collection will be duplicated and the drawings will be uploaded there. Select this if you want to keep the original versions separate.
If the model that contains the drawings to re-upload is the same model you have open, you will be asked to save the model to apply the latest changes and continue with the upload. Click Save.
If the model was created in an older Tekla Structures version, and you save the model, you can no longer open the model in an older Tekla Structures version. You will be asked if you want to continue with saving. Click Yes to continue.

The uploading starts and the message Processing is displayed next to the drawings being uploaded. You can follow the upload process at the bottom of the dialog.

You can cancel all ongoing tasks by clicking Cancel. The Process cancelled message is displayed for all rows that are being processed. This will not undo the changes that have already been done in the current collection.

When the drawings have been uploaded, the message changes to Updated and the Cancel button changes to Close.

Error messages

Error message are displayed if:
- A drawing is missing or not available. This might happen when a drawing or a model is corrupted or if the drawing GUID cannot be found.
- A model path is incorrect or missing. Define the correct model path.
- The drawing is out of date or there was an extraction error.
- Some technical errors occurred. Try to upload the drawing manually through Document manager.

Remove a drawing from a collection

You can remove a drawing from a collection only if you have an Editor role in the collection.

Open the model that contains the drawing that you want to remove from a collection.
Click Collections on the AI Cloud Fabrication drawings ribbon menu.
In the Collections dialog, activate the collection from which you want to remove a drawing.
Click the Document manager button.
In Document manager, select the drawing that you want to remove from the collection.

Drawings inside the active collection are marked with a cloud symbol in the In collection column.
In the Collections dialog, click the remove button and confirm the removal.

The drawing is removed from the active collection.

Rename a collection

You can rename a collection only if you have an Editor role in the collection.

In the Collections dialog, activate the collection that you want to rename.
Click and select Rename.
In the displayed Rename collection dialog, enter a new name for the collection and click Rename.

If the name already exists, or if you leave the name empty, you will get an error message.

The collection is renamed.

Duplicate a collection

You can duplicate a collection only if you have an Editor role in the collection. For example, you might want to duplicate a company collection for your own needs, or create a back-up copy of a collection.

In the Collections dialog, activate the collection that you want to duplicate.
Click and select Duplicate.
In the Duplicate collection dialog, enter a new name for the duplicated collection.

If the name already exists, or if you leave the name field empty, the field will get a red frame.
Enter a description for the duplicated collection.

The field is prefilled with the description of the original collection. If there is no previous description, there is a placeholder text that asks you to enter a description for the collection.
Click Duplicate.

The collection is duplicated.

Remove a collection

You can remove a collection only if you have an Editor role in the collection.

In the Collections dialog, activate the collection that you want to remove.
Click and select Remove.
In the displayed dialog, click OK to confirm the removal of the collection.

The collection will be removed permanently from the service and all its content will be lost.

You can also remove collections through the Management Console.

Manage libraries and library contents

You can activate or inactivate libraries, remove libraries, view drawings in the library, move drawings to another library, or remove drawings from the library. You can also assign a specific layout or size for all drawings that are created using drawings in a library.

The Drawing library properties dialog showing library details:

The snapshot that represents the library in the Collections dialog and in the library properties is the snapshot of the first drawing added to the library. It cannot be changed. Each drawing inside a library has its own representative snapshot.


To	Do this
Inactivate a library	Active libraries are considered when AI searches for the best matching library in the Creation review dialog. Inactive libraries are not considered in the search. Inactivate a library if the next time you want to create a drawing, you know that you do not want AI to select this library as the best match. This is a useful alternative to deleting a library. In the Collections dialog, under Libraries on the Drawing libraries in use tab, click a library that you want to inactivate. Click the Activate/Inactivate button or right-click and disable Active. You can also drag the library to the Drawing libraries not in use tab. The library is moved to the Drawing libraries not in use tab and is no longer used in the search.
Activate a library	In the Collections dialog, under Libraries on the Drawing libraries not in use tab, click a library that you want to activate. Click the Activate/Inactivate button or right-click and enable Active. The library is moved to the Drawing libraries in use tab and is used in the search again.
Remove a library	In the Collections dialog, under Libraries, click a library that you want to remove. Click the delete button or right-click and select Delete.
Open a library	In the Collections dialog, in the Libraries area, do one of the following: Double-click a library. Right-click and select Properties. Click the folder icon . The library is displayed. You can see the library details at the top: the layout and the drawing size that will be used for the drawings to be created, the creation date, the creator email address and the date when the library was modified. To display the contents of the library, click the Drawing list arrow button at the top.
Manage library contents	To display the contents of the library, in the Drawing library properties dialog, click the Drawing list arrow button at the top. To select the next drawing in the list and display its snapshot, click Next at the bottom. Select one or more drawings and do any of the following: Move to a new library: Click , define a name for the new library, and click Create. Move to another library: Click , select a library, and click Move. Delete from the library: Click and confirm the removal. The commands are also available in the context menu.
Merge libraries	NOTE: Libraries containing different drawing types cannot be merged. In the Collections dialog, in the Libraries area, click the library that you want to merge to another library. To select multiple libraries, hold down Ctrl and click the libraries. Drag the selected library on another library and release the left mouse button. The displayed message lists all the libraries selected for merging. If merging is not possible, you will get an error message. In the message box, click Merge to confirm the merging of the libraries.
Override drawing layouts and size for a library	You can create drawings using a specific drawing layout and drawing size that were not the ones used in the uploaded drawings. In the Collections dialog, in the Libraries area, double-click a library. At the top, select a new layout and a new size for the drawings to be created. All drawings that are created using a drawing in this library will be created with the selected layout and size. TIP: You can also override drawing layouts in several libraries at one go. To do this, in the Collections dialog, select the desired libraries and click Assign layout. Changing a library layout is a user-specific change, so other users of the collection are not affected by this change.