Documentation Index
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Schema Upload & Review
When you want to build a template from an existing PDF report (e.g. a competitor’s template, a state-mandated form, or your own legacy report) instead of building from scratch, the Schema Upload & Review flow is the fast path. The AI reads the PDF, extracts sections / subsections / fields / checkboxes, and presents them for your review before saving.
This article documents both halves of the flow:
- Schema Upload (
/templates/builder/:templateId/schema) — submit a PDF, watch the AI extract
- Schema Review (
/template-review or /template-editor/:id) — review the extraction and save into a template
When to use this flow
- Building a template from a competitor’s PDF — drop in a copy of their report, get most of the structure for free
- Cloning a TREC-variant report another inspector uses
- Migrating from a legacy report format to 1nspecT-rendered reports
- Starting from a state-mandated form (e.g. some commercial standards)
Use the Template Editor or the deeper schema editor for hand-building from scratch. Use this flow when an existing PDF is your starting point.
Phase 1 — Schema Upload
[SCREENSHOT: schema-upload-screen.png — desktop, the Schema Upload page showing a large drag-and-drop zone for PDF upload, with progress indicators for extraction phases below.]
Uploading a PDF
The upload zone accepts:
- PDF files (any size up to your tenant’s configured limit, typically 25 MB)
- DOCX files (extracted via the same pipeline)
Drag a file onto the zone or click to browse. The file uploads, and the extraction pipeline runs.
Behind the scenes, the AI runs in several phases visible as progress indicators:
| Phase | What happens |
|---|
| OCR | If the PDF has image-only pages, OCR converts them to searchable text |
| Structural extraction | The AI identifies sections, subsections, headings, and hierarchy |
| Field extraction | Text inputs, checkboxes, rating columns, and informational fields are identified by type |
| Validation | The extracted structure is checked for invariants (unique IDs, valid field types) |
Cost
Schema extraction uses the extract-structured-ocr AI operation: 3 IT per extraction (see AI Features → Complete Operation Reference). This is per-attempt — re-running on the same PDF costs additional IT.
The pipeline produces a draft schema with:
- Sections with names and short codes
- Subsections under each section
- Fields of various types, classified automatically:
| Field type | Recognized from |
|---|
| text | Free-form text input lines |
| checkbox | Single-state checkboxes |
| informational | Labeled data-capture fields (e.g. “Year Built”, “Sqft”) |
| rating | I/NI/NP/D-style rating columns or pass/fail boxes |
| comment | Free-form comment/narrative regions |
| photo_placeholder | Image-placeholder boxes |
standard or informational. This drives whether the field appears in the mobile inspector’s main flow or in the tech-spec grid.
Phase 2 — Schema Review
After extraction completes, you are auto-routed to the Review Template Schema page. URL: /template-review or /template-editor/:id.
[SCREENSHOT: schema-review-screen.png — desktop, the Schema Review page showing Template Information at the top, an Extraction Summary card with counts, and the extracted Template Structure tree below.]
Page sections
| Field | Notes |
|---|
| Template Name | Pre-filled from the PDF title; editable |
| Standard | Drop-down: TREC (Texas) · ASHI · InterNACHI · CCPIA ComSOP · Custom |
| Description | Optional internal notes |
| Stat | Description |
|---|
| Sections | Top-level sections detected |
| Checkboxes | Individual checkbox elements |
| Text Boxes | Text-input fields |
| Paragraphs | Narrative/comment regions |
Template Structure
A hierarchical tree showing the extracted schema. Each node:
- Section (collapsible) — name + count of subsections
- Subsection (collapsible) — name + count of fields
- Field — type + category
Click any node to:
- Edit — change name, type, category
- Delete — remove this node from the schema
- Add child — insert a new section, subsection, or field
The Review page is fully editable — fix anything the AI got wrong before saving.
Common AI mistakes to look for
Based on patterns the extraction pipeline has known issues with:
| Mistake | How to fix |
|---|
| Missing sections | Bigger headings sometimes get classified as subsections. Drag-to-promote in the tree, or manually add a parent section. |
| Misclassified field types | A rating column sometimes extracts as text. Edit and change the type. |
| Duplicate fields | Multi-column layouts can extract the same field twice. Delete duplicates. |
| Missing fields | Sparse PDFs (lots of whitespace, image-only layouts) may miss fields entirely. Manually add. |
| Wrong section order | The hierarchy preserves source order; if the PDF was unusually arranged, drag to reorder. |
Saving the reviewed schema
A Save button at the bottom (or top-right) commits the schema:
| What happens on Save |
|---|
| The schema replaces the current template’s schema (if editing an existing template) |
| If this was a fresh extraction with no template selected, a new template is created using this schema |
| The template appears in Template Builder |
If you want to start the AI extraction over (e.g. after editing the source PDF):
- Return to the Upload page
- Drop the new PDF
- The pipeline re-runs and replaces the current extraction
Re-extraction discards any hand-edits you made to the previous Review session. Save before re-extracting if you want to preserve those edits in the template.
Errors and recovery
| Alert | Cause | Fix |
|---|
| PDF upload failed | Network or file-size issue | Check the file size; try a smaller version |
| Extraction failed | AI service error, malformed PDF, or scan quality too low | Re-upload a higher-quality PDF, or build manually in Template Editor |
| No sections detected | PDF lacks clear section structure (e.g. one giant text block) | Hand-add sections in the Review page, or split the PDF into per-section files and extract each |
| Validation error: duplicate IDs | The AI generated overlapping field IDs (rare) | Save will be blocked until duplicates are resolved — the Review page surfaces specific items to fix |
| Save failed | Network or auth error | Retry; if persistent, your Review edits are preserved in browser storage and recovered on refresh |
What this flow does NOT do
- It does not design the report PDF’s appearance. Schema is structure only; rendering is Template Designer.
- It does not assign default narratives or AI prompts. Those are configured separately via Narrative Library.
- It does not validate that the extracted schema matches an official standard’s spec. The AI extracts whatever’s in the PDF; if the PDF is non-compliant, the extraction reflects that.
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