Common questions
The things people ask in the first week.
4 min read
Working in Backsight
Do I need to install anything?
No. Backsight runs in a browser. Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari all work; a wide screen helps because it is a CAD workspace.
Can I work offline?
No. Your work is saved to the project as you go, which is also why you can pick it up on another machine without copying files around.
Does it work on a tablet?
It runs, and reviewing a drawing or a locate report on a tablet is fine. Drafting wants a mouse and a keyboard.
Where is my data kept?
The database and file storage are in Canada (ca-central-1). Drone photo reconstruction is the exception: it runs on a machine rented for that one job, currently in the United States. The photos are on it only while the job runs, the machine is destroyed when the job ends, and the products are stored in Canada with everything else.
Can two people work on the same drawing?
Everybody in a project sees the same data, and a save writes what you have. Two people editing the same entities at the same moment is not what it is built for, split the work by drawing or by area.
Coming from desktop CAD
Will my DWG open?
Not directly, export a DXF from your current CAD and bring that in. DXF is a published format; DWG is not, and a reader that mangles some files is worse than an honest import.
Do my SHX fonts come across?
No. They are a proprietary format. Backsight offers metric equivalents such as Arimo, which stands in for Arial, and condensed faces for title blocks.
Are the command aliases the same?
The common ones are: L, PL, O, CO, M, TR, EX, F, DI, AA, Z, U. See the command reference for the full list.
Where are point groups and description keys?
Point groups are in Points mode's explorer. Description keys are built in, a 345-key catalogue styles imported points automatically.
Getting help
If something here does not answer your question, get in touch. Tell us what you were doing, what you expected and what happened, and include the reproducibility id if a calculation is involved, it identifies exactly which computation produced the result.
Read next
- Command referenceEvery command, its alias, and what it does: the list to keep open while you learn.
- Importing and exporting drawingsDXF and LandXML in and out, and what a format can honestly carry.
- What a message means, and what to doBacksight refuses with a reason rather than guessing. Here is what the common reasons mean.
Something here wrong or missing? Tell us and we will fix it.