Skip to main content

Working offline

Basements, stairwells, and half-built towers don't have signal. Builddar's mobile app is built for that: download what you need before you go in, work normally, and sync when you come out.

Required role: any project member. What you can download and edit offline matches exactly what you're allowed to do online.

Before you go on site: download a zone​

  1. In the mobile app, open the project and find the zone you'll be working in — a building, a floor, whatever covers your walk.
  2. Choose to make it available offline.
  3. The app shows how much you're about to download — the drawing images and issue photos for that zone and everything below it, with the exact total size.
  4. Confirm and wait for the download to finish.

Result: the zone's drawings, their high-resolution previews, and its issue photos are stored on your device. You can now work in that zone with no connection.

tip

Download over Wi-Fi the night before, or in the site office in the morning. The size is shown up front precisely so you can decide whether it's a Wi-Fi job.

You can also make a document folder available offline the same way, for the specs and method statements you need to consult on site.

What works offline​

With a zone downloaded, you can:

  • Browse zones and drawings, including the high-resolution plan.
  • Create issues — title, description, zone, due date, priority, trade, phase, assigned company and person.
  • Pin issues on a drawing — pin placement works entirely offline, which is what the preview download is for.
  • Take and attach photos.
  • Edit existing issues and change their status.
  • Run checklists and respond to their items.
  • Consult downloaded documents, including PDFs.
note

Photos you capture offline are held in durable storage on the device, separately from the cached drawings and documents. Cached files can always be downloaded again; a photo of a defect taken in a basement cannot — so it's never swept by cleanup, and it survives until it has uploaded.

What needs a connection​

  • Downloading a zone you didn't prepare.
  • Generating or downloading reports.
  • Inviting members, editing project settings, and other administrative work.

Syncing​

When your device is back in range, the app syncs automatically: it sends everything you created and edited, and pulls down everything that changed on the server while you were away.

Result: your offline work appears for everyone else, and your device catches up on theirs.

note

Syncing is safe to repeat. If a sync is interrupted — you walk back out of range mid-upload — nothing is duplicated when it runs again. An issue created offline keeps the same identity whether it syncs once or five times.

When two people edit the same issue​

If you edit an issue offline and someone else edits the same issue online, the most recent change wins for ordinary fields like the title or the due date.

Status changes are different. A status change made offline is re-checked against the project's workflow when it syncs. If the transition isn't allowed any more — because someone already moved the issue somewhere else — your status change is rejected and the app puts the issue back to its real status. Your comments and photos are kept regardless.

caution

Check your issues after a big offline session. A rejected status change is reported by the app, and it usually means the issue moved on while you were offline — worth a look before you re-apply it.

Freeing up space​

Remove a zone's offline copy when you're done with it. Your issues, photos, and edits stay on the server — only the downloaded files are cleared from the device.

caution

Don't uninstall the app or clear its storage while anything is still pending. Queued issues and offline-captured photos live only on that device until they sync.

Keeping the app up to date​

Builddar checks whether your app version is still supported and prompts you when an update is available. Offline sync depends on the app and server agreeing on the protocol, so install updates before a long stretch of field work rather than after. See App updates.

Next steps​

Last updated on