Field notes that come back through the links you share
The links you share -- the drawing, the proposal, the purchase order, the weekly report -- are no longer a one-way street. Anyone who receives a drawings link can click the exact spot on the sheet and leave a note under their name, with no account to create and nothing to install. That note lands inside your drawing viewer, anchored to the same place they left it, and from there you resolve it or turn it into a team pin. The boundary is what matters: what your team says internally is NEVER shown in the link. The channel goes one way -- in, not out.
- The outside party pins the exact spot on the sheet and writes their note under their name. No account required.
- Notes land in the drawing viewer's inbox, anchored to the same coordinates.
- Your team's internal comments are never visible from the shared link: the boundary is strict.
- A note can be turned into a team pin, and from there follow the normal path (assign it, open an RFI).
- The link can be revoked at any time; with no valid token, nobody can write anything.
- 1
Share the drawing set
In Drawings, open the set and use Share. The link is generated with your company's branding. Send it by WhatsApp or email to whoever needs it: the design engineer, the owner, the contractor who is going to build that scope.
- 2
Whoever opens it pins the spot and writes
The page shows the sheet and a notice that they can comment. They click where they see the problem, type their name and their note, and send it. Nobody asks them for an email, a password, or an app download.
- 3
You see it in your inbox, on top of the drawing
When you open the drawing set, outside notes show up in the right-hand column, kept separate from your team's pins and labeled with the name of whoever left them. Tap one and the viewer takes you to the exact spot.
- 4
Turn it into a pin or mark it resolved
If the note deserves work, you turn it into a team pin: it is created with the text and the coordinates already in place, and from there you can assign it to someone or open a formal RFI. If it does not apply, mark it resolved and it stops getting in the way.
- 5
Close the channel when you no longer need it
Revoking the link shuts the door: anyone who saved it can no longer open it or write to it. The notes that already came in stay in your record.
Frequently asked questions
Does the person commenting need a Matterial account?
No. The link is the key: whoever has it can view the sheet and leave a note by typing their name. That is exactly the point -- asking the design engineer or the owner to sign up just to answer a question is the reason this stuff ends up on WhatsApp.
Can an outside party see my team's internal comments?
Never. It is a design decision, not a setting: the public route that receives the note only writes, it reads nothing from the inside. Your team can argue about pricing, blame, or a problem with a supplier in a pin's thread with zero risk of that showing up in a link.
Which links does this work on?
Today, the drawings link, which is where it makes the most sense because the exact spot matters. The other shared links already had their own way back: a proposal is accepted or rejected with a comment, a purchase order is confirmed, a change order is approved, a subcontractor reports progress. The drawings link was the only silent one.
Can I tell who left a note?
You see the name the person typed when they sent it, plus the date. It is not a verified identity -- anyone with the link can type any name -- so for anything with contractual weight, use an RFI with a tracking number, which is the instrument built for that.
What do I do if I get notes that do not apply?
Mark them resolved: they stay on the record but drop out of view. If the link is getting passed around too far, revoke it and share a new one only with the people who should have it.