What SpecCapture is used for

• Extract a bill of materials from PDF drawings into Excel

  Upload the PDFs to SpecCapture and it reads every row of each sheet's parts list: item number, quantity, part number, description and material. You check the rows against the drawing, where every value has a box around the ink it came from, then download them as an Excel workbook or a CSV file.

• Turn a drawing archive's title blocks into a spreadsheet

  Upload the archive's drawings to SpecCapture and it reads each sheet's title block (drawing number, part number, revision, title, material, finish, dates and more) into one spreadsheet row per sheet. You check anything it is unsure of against the drawing, where every value has a box around the ink it came from, then download the rows as Excel or CSV.

• An API for engineering drawing data

  SpecCapture's REST API takes a drawing file and returns each sheet's title block, revision history, parts list and notes as JSON, with a confidence score, a review state and a bounding box on the page for every value. You send the file, then check the job or receive a signed webhook when it is done, and download the results as JSON, CSV or Excel.

• Read data from scanned and old engineering drawings

  SpecCapture reads scans, microfilm and hand-lettered sheets as well as PDFs exported from CAD, but less reliably: on our tests it read the critical fields (part number, revision, material and finish) right 82.1% of the time on 1960s microfilm and 58.6% on drawings scanned from old printed reports, against 97.4% on CAD PDFs in styles it has been tuned on. Every value still comes with a box on the drawing, and handwritten or doubtful values go to a person, so plan to check scans closely.

• Get drawing data into your ERP without retyping it

  Instead of retyping each drawing, upload it to SpecCapture: it reads the title block (part number, revision, material, finish and more) and every row of the parts list, and a person checks each value against a box on the drawing showing where it was read. Then load the values into your ERP or MRP system with its own import, from an Excel or CSV export, or send them in through the REST API, with a webhook when each file is finished.

• Read customer drawings for a quote without retyping them

  From a customer's drawing, SpecCapture reads what a quote starts from: the part number and revision, material, stock size, finish and plating, heat treatment, surface roughness and the general tolerances from the title block, and every row of the hole table and the bill of materials, each value with a box on the drawing showing where it was read. The pricing stays in your own quoting tool or spreadsheet: SpecCapture does not price the job, and it does not read every dimension on the sheet.

• What to look for in software that reads engineering drawings

  To choose software that reads engineering drawings, test it on your own drawings and check that every value is boxed where it was read, carries a confidence level, is checked by rules and waits for a person when in doubt, and that its accuracy is published with its weak spots. Below is that checklist, with SpecCapture's own answer to each item from its published facts.

Every fact in one place: SpecCapture at a glance.