Beginner: Top 7 Things Every Architect Should Know In Bluebeam

Hey there!

In this post I’m going to go over the top 7 things every beginning Bluebeam user should know how to do in Bluebeam. Bluebeam is a great PDF viewer and editor that is tailored towards the architecture and construction field. It’s a tool you should definitely know your way around.

There’s a ton of things you can do in Bluebeam, and it can be a bit overwhelming to start out. That’s why I want to show you the top 7 things that you should know how to do in Bluebeam. So, let’s get to it!

Here’s the agenda:

Interface and Profiles
Using Markups
Inserting Images
Inserting Pages
Rotate Pages
Ordering and Re-arranging pages
Erase, Cut, and Snapshot

1. Interface and Profiles

It’s important to understand the interface of Bluebeam. It’s a little tricky to give you a real in-depth rundown of the interface because you can customize the look of Bluebeam through the use of Profiles. However, in the video I give a quick explanation of finding your way around the interface and tools.

There are preset profiles that have different tools in different places depending on what you’re looking to do. You can also customize them to whatever suits you best and then save that profile off to import into another user’s Bluebeam. This is useful if you want to create an office wide standard for everyone to use.

2. Using Markups

Markups in Bluebeam is one of the main reasons that so many people use Bluebeam. They’re really easy to use and modify.

The video below walks you through how to use and manipulate the markups to make them look however you need them to.

One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that if you double click a tool, you’ll be able to keep using that tool rather than closing out of it and having to select it again. For example, if you double click the rectangle tool you’ll be able to make a rectangle like usual. But, instead of the tool being de-selected after you’re done, you can keep clicking to make another rectangle without going to select the tool again!

3. Inserting Images

I use this tool quite a bit when I’m making titleblocks – usually to grab a logo and place it in my pdf. The video is quick and shows you exactly how to do that, so I won’t go over all the details here.

If you are inserting a logo, check out my other post on how to remove the white space using Photoshop before you insert it into Bluebeam.

5. Rotate Pages

You can rotate a single page, every page in the PDF, or any combination in between.

It’s a lot harder to explain in words, so check out the video to see the details!

6. Rearrange Pages

This is one of the tools I use the most in Bluebeam. I rearrange pages all the time. Basically anytime I am assembling a set, I have to move some pages around.

Good news is, it’s super easy to do! I’ll let the video do the talking here.

7. Erase, Cut, and Snapshot

I use these three tools a lot, and they’re all very similar. The erase and cut tools work exactly like you’d expect.

The Snapshot tool is almost identical to what the Snip tool is in windows. It’s essentially a screenshot of a particular area – or in this case PDF – that you can copy into another document.

Thanks for checking out this post, I hope you were able to find some value! As always, let me know if you have any questions or suggestions below!

See ya next time!

Craig
The Archi-Tech Guy

Thanks for following along! Check out my youtube channel for other How-To Videos for Architects.