PLANSONLINE

Texas Department of Transportation

Plan Information Website – User Guide Page 1 of 19 TxDOT, 3/3/2006

Plan Information Website – User Guide Providing Project Plans and More!

http://www.dot.state.tx.us/business/planinfo.htm

Table of Contents

Plan Information ...................................................................... 2 What does this site provide? ..............................................................................2 Who will benefit? .............................................................................................2 System Requirements........................................................................................2 Software..........................................................................................................2 Plan Information Home Page Contents .................................................................3

Plans Online – View, Search, Email, Print ................................. 4 View ...........................................................................................................5 Table of Contents Pane ...........................................................................6 Item View Pane .....................................................................................7 Item Details Pane ..................................................................................8 Toolbars .............................................................................................10 Search .........................................................................................................13 Simple Search .....................................................................................13 Advanced Search .................................................................................14 Saved Searches ...................................................................................15 Email .........................................................................................................17 Print .........................................................................................................18

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Plan Information What does this site provide? The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) provides free access to project plans and related documentation for bidding purposes. Projects include construction, maintenance, building facilities and airports. Project documents include engineering drawings, informational proposals, project addenda, contract plans and bid tabs. This site hosts a five-month rolling window of information on projects that are currently out for bid, including projects bidding in the current month and any advance plans that have been released by the Design Division. Information is posted on the site for three months after the bid opening.

Who can benefit?

• Contractors • Sub-contractors • Suppliers of materials • CPM schedulers • Project support service companies • Other public entities such as city and county governments, utilities and railroads • General public

System Requirements For the best experience when using the TxDOT Plans Online web site to access project documents across the Internet, your system should meet the following minimum system requirements:

Operating System: ◄ Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, NT, or XP, each with the latest Service Pack

Web Browser: ◄ Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher

Screen Resolution: ◄ 800 X 600 or higher

Software Adobe Acrobat® Reader 6.0 or above Get Reader - For viewing proposals and addenda WinZip® – For downloading plans Plans Online databases use Alchemy Web 4.0 software application by Captaris (www.captaris.com), but it does not require special software. The first time using Alchemy Web, if asked to download the free viewer tool, please accept this in order to use Alchemy. Also, turn any pop-up blockers off that might prevent the viewing of plans.

Plan Information Contents

• Plans Online – View, Search, Email, Print - Find plans, proposals, addenda, and bid tabs for state and local letting databases for construction, maintenance, aviation and facilities.

• Plans Online – FTP Download (Print) – Download plans, proposals, addenda and contract plans for archiving and printing. Use this option if needing to print more than one page of the plans at a time.

• Reprographic Plans Companies – List of authorized distributors for purchasing TxDOT plans and proposals.

• Frequently Asked Questions • Other links to related information.

For questions, please contact Plans Online at plansol@dot.state.tx.us or 1-888-900-7322.

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Plans Online – View, Search, Email, Print The Letting Databases for each month contain the engineering plan set, informational proposal, addenda and bid tab for each project. Addenda (revisions) are inserted in the original plan sets, as well as posted separately for convenient viewing. Enter a database by clicking on the month of interest. Once inside the databases, it is easy to select another month from the top-left dropdown menu. Plans Online provides two views that can be used to find and retrieve documents for viewing; the Explore view and the Search view.

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The Explore view allows you to browse through the contents of the databases, email and print. The Search view allows you to submit queries to search a single database or across multiple databases and select files from the search results list.

View Clicking the Explore Tab opens the Explore View. The Explore view consists of three panes; the Table of Contents (TOC) pane, the Item View pane and the Item Details pane.

The Item View pane displays the contents of selected folders in the TOC pane or displays the selected item (document/image).

The TOC pane is used to navigate the database(s). This pane is where the database to be accessed is selected and the contents and structure of the database can be viewed. Clicking the plus sign (+) to the right of a specific folder expands the folder and displays the contents of that folder. Clicking on an item selects the item for viewing.

In addition to viewing the structure of your selected database and files conyou can also perform the following tasks in Explore view: • View the details of an Item • Download an Item to your workstation • Email a selected Item • Add custom columns to the Item view • Sort Items based on a specific column These will be explained later in the manual.

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When viewing a document or image, the Item Details pane can also be displayed on the screen. The Item Details pane can be added to or removed from the view by clicking on the Show/Hide Item Details button (See Toolbars section).

tained in that database,

TxDOT, 3/3/2006

Table of Contents (TOC) Pane On the left is the TOC (Table of Contents) pane where you select the database that you want to access and can view the contents and structure of your selected database.

Select a database from the dropdown list. Switch between databases on the fly.

Browse the contents of the selected database. Clicking the plus sign (+) to the right of a specific folder expands the folder and displays the contents of that folder. Clicking the minus sign (-) to the right of a folder retracts the folder listing. Clicking on an item displays the item in the Item View pane.

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Item View Pane The Item View pane is located on the right hand side of the Alchemy Web browser window. From the Item View pane, you can view database items (files), view item details, download items to your local machine, and e-mail items. Toolbars give you quick, easy access to the viewing tools available in Item View. The toolbars displayed for use vary based on the type of document displayed in the Item View pane (image, PDF, Text, etc.). Viewing an Image File

Viewing a Document

While viewing the selected item, you can perform the following tasks: • Download the item to your workstation • Print a hard copy of the item • View the Item Details • E-mail the item

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Item Details Pane The Item Detail pane is located on the lower-right hand side of the Alchemy Web browser window. The Item Detail pane displays additional indexing information (metadata) for the database, the CCSJ folder and individual items (images/documents). Plans Online provides Item Details on two item levels; the CCSJ folder and the document/image. The CCSJ folder details list information about the TxDOT project. The Item Details for the CCSJ folder

can be displayed by clicking on the View Item Details button . Click on the Back link to close the Item Details for the CCSJ folder. View Item Details button

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CCSJ Folder Item Details

The document/image details list information about the document/image displayed in the Item View pane. When viewing a document or image, the Item Details pane can also be displayed on the screen. The Item Details pane can be added/removed from the view by clicking on the Show/Hide Item Details button. Show/Hide Item Details button

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Document/Image Item Details

Toolbars Toolbars give quick, easy access to the viewing tools available in Item View. The toolbars displayed for use vary based on the type of document displayed in the Item View pane (image, PDF, Text, etc.).

Client Toolbar

The Client toolbar is separate from the toolbars for the Item View pane and offers different options than the viewer tools.

The Download button executes a standard Windows download. The downloaded file has the original file name of the file being downloaded.

The Client Print button opens printing on the client workstation. It does not offer the options available through the Print button on the Item View toolbar.

The Show/Hide Item Details button will add or remove the Item Details pane to the view. The Item Details for the document displayed in the Item View pane is shown.

Item Toolbars

The viewer Toolbars display the viewing tools that can be used when viewing files in the Item View pane. Appropriate toolbars will be displayed for various file formats (e.g. .tiff/.jpg/,bmp images, .PDF files, .txt files). Buttons that are not available for use with the file format being displayed will be grayed-out.

Upper Toolbars

(Images and PDF files)

(Text files)

Lower Toolbars

(Image files)

(PDF files)

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Toolbar Buttons

The Save button saves a copy of the document/image to your PC. The document/image is saved with the descriptive filename shown in the TOC pane database listing.

The E-mail button allows you to email the displayed item using your own e-mail client. (See the Email section for instructions.)

The Print button on the viewer toolbar offers additional print options through the viewer. (See the Print section for additional instructions)

The Navigation Pane button opens the thumbnail view and allows you to scroll the document using the Panning View. (See Panning view for more information.)

The Properties button displays the properties of the file displayed in the Item View pane.

The Find button provides full-text searching for searchable documents.

The Find Next button moves to the next instance of the search term in the document. This button is only available when a search (find) has been executed.

The Find Previous button moves back to the previous instance of the search criteria in the document. This button is only available when a search (find) has been executed.

The Zoom buttons allow you to zoom in, zoom out and show the current zoom resolution of the item displayed in the Item View pane.

The Size buttons allow you to quickly re-size the item to Actual Size, Fit in Window and Fit Width.

The Page Layout button allows you to set certain display and print properties for the document. This button applies to text documents only.

The Navigation buttons for text documents allow you to page through the document line-by-line and shows the current position in the document.

These buttons apply to text documents only.

This button opens and closes the Navigation pane and allows you to scroll through the document using the Panning View.

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The Panning View is a thumbnail view that opens in the Navigation pane. When a zoomed area of the document is displayed in the Item View pane, the red box represents the zoomed area that is displayed. You can scroll around and through the document by dragging the red box with the Hand tool.

The Panning View gives a reference of where you are in the document (as a whole), while allowing you to see an enlarged view of the document.

The Navigation buttons for PDF files allow you to page through files page-by-page and shows the current page of the document displayed.

The Document Dimension button displays the physical dimensions of the document currently displayed in the Item View pane.

The Full Screen button opens a full-screen view of the document currently displayed in the Item View pane.

The Document Display buttons allow you to display the document by single page, continuous pages, facing pages or continuous facing pages.

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Search Clicking on the Search Tab opens the Search view. Search has two possible Search views; Simple Search and Advanced Search. The default Search view for Plans Online is the Advanced Search view.

Simple Search Simple Search allows you to perform quick searches on the text of the document, the document title and/or file name.

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When the search is executed, the results list is displayed in the Search Results pane. To perform a Simple Search:

1. If necessary, switch to Simple Search View by clicking the Simple Search button (binoculars with a minus (-) sign) next to the search criteria tabs in the Search pane on the left side of the Web page.

2. In the Search in list box, select the database(s) that you want to include in your search and click the Use These Databases button.

3. If necessary, open the Query tab.

4. Enter your search word(s) in the appropriate search fields.

5. Click the Search button to perform your search.

6. Alchemy Web displays a list of documents that match your search criteria in the Search Results pane as well as the database(s) in which the items were found.

7. If necessary, before beginning another search, click the Clear button to clear your search from the Search pane. This includes the database(s) you selected for the previous search, any word(s) you entered in the search fields, and other search options you may have selected.

Advanced Search From Advanced Search the user can define detailed search criteria that searches in the document contents, document profile fields, folder profile fields, or document annotations. The Document Contents tab on the Advanced Search pane contains options that allow you to narrow the scope of your search by targeting document contents, document profile fields.

Folder Profile Search Document Profile Search To perform an Advanced Search on Profile Fields:

1. If necessary, switch to Advanced Search View by clicking the Search View button next to the search criteria tabs in the Search pane on the left side of the Web page.

2. In the Search in list, select the database(s) that you want to include in your search and click the Use These Databases button.

3. Enter your search word(s) in the appropriate search fields under the Document Profile tab and/or the Folder Profile tab.

4. Click the Search button to perform your search. Alchemy Web displays a list of documents that match your search criteria in the Search Results pane as well as the database(s) in which the items were found.

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Saved Searches The Saved Query feature in Plans Online allows you to save up to ten search queries and their associated settings for searches that you use frequently to search files contained within Plans Online databases. The Saved Search Query feature also allows you to edit your saved search queries to accommodate your changing needs and delete and save different search queries as your needs dictate. You access the Saved Query feature in the Search pane in the Simple and Advanced Search Views. The searches are saved to your local system and remain persistent until they are overwritten or deleted. Saved Search Result To save your search criteria as a query:

1. While in the appropriate Search View, enter your search criteria as necessary and enter a name for your query in the Saved Searches box.

2. In the Saved Query drop-down list, select an unused Query. Blank Saved Queries are numbered 1-10.

3. Click the Save Search Options button to save your search query.

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To use a saved search query:

1. While in the appropriate Search View, select the database(s) that you want to search in the Search in list and click the Use These Databases button.

2. Select the appropriate Saved Search Query from the Saved Query drop-down list and click the

Load Search Options button. Your search criteria appear in the appropriate areas of the Search View.

3. Click the Search button to perform a search using the loaded search criteria from your saved query. The results of your search are displayed in the Search Results pane.

To delete a saved search query:

1. Under the appropriate Search View, select the saved query you want to delete from the Saved Queries drop-down list box.

2. Click the Delete Search Options button. Your saved query is deleted from the Saved Queries drop-down list box, which adds the open "unsaved" query back to the Saved Queries list.

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E-mail Plans Online gives you the ability to e-mail selected items from the Explore View when viewing an item. Depending on the file format, you may have the option to e-mail the files as an Image, a PDF, a Text file, or an HTML document. The e-mail facility is MAPI compliant and should work with any e-mail client. To E-mail a document from Plans Online:

1. Click on the E-mail button on the Item View toolbar. 2. Select the file format to be used.

A new e-mail message will open 3. Enter the recipient address and message. 4. Send the e-mail.

E-mail an Image File as PDF

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Print The Plans Online application utilizes Windows printing. The application can print to any print device for which there is a Windows print driver – from a desktop printer to a plotter. To Print an item from the database:

1. Select the item that you want to print. The selected item will appear in the Item View pane.

2. To print the item, click the Print Item button on the viewer toolbar. The Print dialog box will open.

3. In the Print dialog box, select print options as necessary and click Print. The document will print on the selected printer. The Print dialog box

Select a printer from the dropdown list.

Additional print options are available through the Print button on the viewer toolbar.

Set the properties for the printer (paper size, orientation, etc.) if necessary.

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