Electronic plan submittal requirements, and how much they differ

PDF is the one thing everybody agrees on

Every source here requires PDF, and most go further: the file has to have been exported from the drawing software rather than scanned or printed to image.

“PDF exported from the native file (not a scan saved as a pdf) is required.”

Clark County, Washington puts the same rule the other way round and says it will not accept scanned or raster PDFs from design professionals. Phoenix asks for a first generation vector file and for TrueType fonts, so the text in the drawing can be searched.

After that, the rules contradict each other

These are not different words for the same requirement. A file that satisfies one of these jurisdictions is refused by another, which is why the question is always what your own publishes.

“We are not able to accept applications for review if the naming conventions and file requirements are not followed.”

File names, and what happens on the second submittal

Naming is where the most rules live and where the least warning is given. Napa County bans special characters, dates and project numbers, caps the name at 50 characters, and asks for a version suffix on each resubmittal. Phoenix caps it at 30 and asks for the project name followed by the version. Iowa DOT derives the whole name from the contract identifier.

Numbering has to survive the next round

“The Digital Plan Room cannot version sheets if duplicate numbers are used when the plans are combined electronically.”

Jefferson County, Alabama also asks that replacement sheets keep the number they had, so a set that renumbers itself between submittals breaks the portal's ability to track versions. Napa says the same thing about order: a resubmittal must not insert, omit or reorder pages, and its bookmarks must match the original exactly.

The index, the scale and the blank space for the stamp

Three drawing conventions show up again and again, and each one is something a reviewer can see at a glance.

• An index on the cover sheet, with bookmarks that follow the same order (New York State, Napa).
• A graphic scale on every sheet, a separate one for any detail at another scale, and no printing to fit the page (New York State, Phoenix, Clark County, WA).
• A blank rectangle for the approval stamp, in a stated size and corner (Napa 2 in. by 2 in. lower right, Phoenix 2.75 in. by 2 in., Jefferson County 3 in. by 4 in. top left, New York State a 3 in. square inside the top margin).

“Bookmark/hyperlinks within documents are strongly encouraged and should match the index sequence.”

Seals and signatures

Where a licensed professional is required, the seal is part of the file requirement, and the accepted form of it is exactly where these sources split.

“Scanned copies of signed and sealed documents are not an accepted electronic submittal method.”

Miami-Dade requires a digital signature from a third-party certification authority and says that locking or encrypting a file is not a signature. Phoenix asks for the opposite and warns that a certificate-type signature locks the file and delays approval. Jefferson County requires a digital seal that prints identically on paper. Read your own before choosing how to sign.

What to confirm before you upload

• The file rule: PDF exported from the drawing, and whether layers are required, forbidden or unmentioned.
• One file or one per sheet, and the size limit per file.
• The naming pattern, its character limit, and what changes on a resubmittal.
• Sheet size, the stated scale on each sheet, and the blank space the stamp needs.
• Whether the seal must be a certificate, and whether anything scanned is refused.

Most of that list is about the set agreeing with itself and with what the jurisdiction asked for, which is what a last pass over the file is for. Set-Check reads the whole set before it is submitted, with AI in every run, and every item it hands back points at the page it came from. It does not predict approval. Open the sample report.