VDC: Summary
Large layout files used to slow down or crash Portal's file viewer, and uploading a new version of a file meant losing track of what came before. This release rebuilds the viewer for speed on large files and gives every uploaded file a version history, plus a punch-list export built for field teams.
- Faster Layout Viewing: Pan and zoom large files without lag or crashes.
- File Version History: See every upload and recover an older version anytime.
- Points CSV Export: A field punch list that shows what's still missing.
- Additional Improvements: View who else is editing a layout and set text as QR codes with a switch.
VDC: Updates to Dusty Portal
Faster Layout Viewing: Pan and Zoom Large Files Without Lag or Crashes
Portal rebuilds the layout viewer so large files load, pan, and zoom smoothly instead of stalling or crashing during file prep.
The new viewer handles large, multi-file layouts — the kind with tens of thousands of lines, points, and text objects — that used to trigger those slowdowns and crashes. The rebuilt viewer is live in both File Prep and the layout editor.
The new viewer is up to 66x faster than the previous viewer on large files — the larger the file, the greater the difference. This builds on the same rendering improvement introduced for the Production tab in July 2026, now extended to File Prep and the layout editor.
File Version History: See Every Upload, and Recover an Older Version Anytime
Portal now keeps a version history for every uploaded file, so teams can see what changed and when, and restore an earlier version without losing the current one.
Every time a .dusty file is uploaded to a layout, Portal keeps the previous version instead of overwriting it — whether the upload came in manually or was exported repeatedly from the AutoCAD Plugin. Each upload with the same filename becomes a new version (V1, V2, V3, and so on); filename matching is case-insensitive, so Level3.dusty, level3.dusty, and LEVEL3.DUSTY are treated as the same file and stack as versions rather than becoming three separate files.
A file with more than one version shows a version-count badge in the file list. Expanding the badge opens the upload history in reverse-chronological order, with the uploader, upload time, and file details for each version — any past version can be downloaded, and a specific past version can be deleted, as long as it isn't the version currently in use for a published file. Version numbers are never reused once assigned: deleting version 2, for example, doesn't free that number back up, so the next upload still becomes version 3, not a second version 2.
To view a file's version history:
- Open a layout's file list in Portal.
- Look for the version-count badge next to a file that has more than one version.
- Expand the badge to see the version history.
- Download any past version, or delete one that's no longer needed.
To restore a previous version: There's no one-click way to switch between versions yet, but you can still get back to an older one.
- Open the file's version history and download the version you want to restore.
- Upload that downloaded file again — the re-upload becomes the newest version and takes over as the current one.
Alternatively, if the version you want is the one immediately before the current version, delete the current version instead; the file falls back to showing the next most recent version as current.
Ready to Print and In Use status always reflect the latest (primary) version of each file.
Points CSV Export: A Field Punch List That Shows What's Still Missing
Portal's Production tab now offers a Points CSV export built for field teams: every point in the published layout, marked printed or not.
The old export only showed what got printed, so field teams had to compare it against the original file by hand to catch what didn't. The All Points export starts from the published layout — the single source of truth for every point — and marks each one as printed or not. The punch list is right the first time. No manual reconciliation required.
To download the All Points export: In the Production tab, open the Download CSV menu and choose All Points alongside the existing Print Data option.
The export is an all-time snapshot across every FieldPrinter 2 used on the project, not scoped to a date range, so a point printed last week still reads as printed, not missing.
Layout Editor Presence: Avoid Overwriting a Teammate's Changes
When more than one teammate has the same layout open, Portal now shows who else is in there: a banner naming the other teammate (plus a count, if more than one) appears at the top of the layout editor, so it's clear someone else could be making changes too.
This is a presence indicator only - Portal doesn't yet sync edits between teammates in real time or restrict editing to one person at a time. If two people edit the same layout at once, whoever saves last still overwrites the other's changes.
Text as QR Codes: No More Renaming Layers to Trigger QR Codes
Every layer's settings panel now includes a Text as QR Codes toggle. Turning it on converts every text object on that layer into QR codes at once.
Each QR code encodes the original text, so scanning it on site returns the same words a person would have read directly. This toggle is the new, simpler way to convert layer text into QR codes — it replaces the older workaround of renaming a layer with a special name to trigger the same conversion. Note: the renaming workaround still works today and will not be phased out yet. Turning the toggle back off reverts the layer to normal text.
Tip: Turning on the toggle converts every text object on that layer at once, so keep QR-code text on its own clearly named layer separate from text you don't want converted.
To convert a layer's text to QR codes:
- In the layout editor, open the Layers panel.
- Select the layer whose text you want to convert.
- In that layer's settings, turn on the Text as QR codes toggle, next to Visibility, Obstacle, and Reference.
Additional UI Improvements for Dusty Portal
- When a line style fails to import, Portal now names the style and the reason instead of just a failure count.
- The Add Layout dialog keeps dates in order — moving the start date past the end date shifts the end date and recalculates the estimated print days automatically.
Bug Fixes for Dusty Portal
- Fixed a Production tab issue where scrolling the buildings and levels list, or the page itself, could scroll past your content into an empty area.
- Fixed a way obstacle layers could end up invisible in Portal.
- Fixed a permissions issue where a project-level role could pick up organization-level Line Styles access from a role held in a different organization.
- Project search now shows a clean "No projects found" message instead of an error for teammates without organization-level access.
- Control point names created on iPad now display legibly in Portal reports.
- Calibration patterns no longer appear in the Print Progress report.
- Extended the control-point limit warning to catch files with too many points, and added a warning for duplicate control point IDs.
- Saving project details with no actual changes no longer shows a false "Project details updated" confirmation.