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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

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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.

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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.]

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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.

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Extraction phases

Behind the scenes, the AI runs in several phases visible as progress indicators: Total time: typically 30–90 seconds depending on PDF complexity. A long PDF (50+ pages) can take 2–3 minutes.

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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.

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What gets extracted

The pipeline produces a draft schema with:
  • Sections with names and short codes
  • Subsections under each section
  • Fields of various types, classified automatically:
Each field is also tagged with a field category — standard or informational. This drives whether the field appears in the mobile inspector’s main flow or in the tech-spec grid.

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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.]

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Page sections

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Template Information

Choose the standard that best matches the PDF you uploaded. This affects how the AI tunes narrative language later when inspectors use the template.

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Extraction Summary

A card showing what the AI found: The numbers help you spot extraction issues at a glance. If a 30-page report extracts as 2 sections, something went wrong — likely the AI didn’t recognize the section breaks. Re-upload with a cleaner version, or hand-edit the extracted schema.

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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.

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Common AI mistakes to look for

Based on patterns the extraction pipeline has known issues with:

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Saving the reviewed schema

A Save button at the bottom (or top-right) commits the schema: After save, you typically continue to Template Designer to set up the canvas and rating scale.

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Re-extracting

If you want to start the AI extraction over (e.g. after editing the source PDF):
  1. Return to the Upload page
  2. Drop the new PDF
  3. 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.

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Errors and recovery

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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.