If your team stores drawing sets in Dropbox, Deta Studio connects directly to it so you can import, mark up, and track every revision without ever leaving your browser.
How the Integration Works
Connect Dropbox once. Authorize Deta to access your Dropbox account and your full folder structure appears inside Deta, exactly as it exists in Dropbox, no reorganizing required.
Ask Deta's AI agent to find what you need. Instead of hunting through folders, just tell the AI agent what you're looking for. Say "find the latest plan for the Napa Valley residence project" or "get me the most recent structural drawings," and the agent searches your Dropbox structure and surfaces the exact file you need. No more folder diving.
Browse and import. Navigate to the file or use the AI agent's result and hit Import. Deta pulls the file in and opens it for review. From there you can annotate, comment, and mark up the drawing the same way you would in a desktop app, but entirely in the browser, on any device.
Your markups live on a branch. When you mark up a drawing in Deta, your annotations are stored on a markup branch tied to that file. The original PDF is untouched. Your markup is tracked separately, so there is always a clean record of what you added and when.
Dropbox updates, Deta tracks it. When the engineer or draftsperson updates the PDF in Dropbox (a revision comes in, dimensions change, a detail gets revised), Deta detects the update and pulls in the new version automatically. The updated drawing becomes the current version. The previous version and all its markups move into history. You can flip back to any prior version and see exactly what was marked up at that stage.
Save a marked-up copy to Dropbox. If you want to share a snapshot of your annotations as a standalone PDF, whether for a client, a contractor, or a record, use Save As in Deta to write that copy directly back to your Dropbox folder. It lands exactly where you want it, named how you choose.
Why This Changes Drawing Review
Find files by description, not by memory
Most teams waste time searching for the right drawing. Is it under "Client / Napa" or "Projects / 2024 / Napa Valley Residence"? Did someone rename the folder last month? With Deta's AI agent, you describe what you need and it finds it. No more hunting.
One import, not ten downloads
Once the file is imported, Deta handles updates automatically. You do not download a new PDF every time the engineer sends a revision. You do not upload an annotated copy back to Dropbox. The file is always current inside Deta, and your markups are always tied to the right version.
Full version history, no manual tracking
Every time the source PDF changes in Dropbox, Deta creates a new version. Each version carries its own markup branch. If a question comes up three weeks into a project, such as "what did we flag on revision 4?", you open that version in Deta and the answer is right there. No hunting through email attachments or Dropbox version history.
Your markup is always separate from the source
Because annotations live on a markup branch and not baked into the original file, the source drawing stays clean. You can review, comment, and mark up aggressively without worrying about overwriting anything. If you need a consolidated PDF with annotations embedded, Save As produces it on demand.
Works on any device, no install required
Deta runs entirely in the browser. Review drawings on your Mac in the office, your Windows machine on site, or your iPad in the field. It is the same file, the same markup branch, and the same version history, with no software to install or update.
A Typical Revision Cycle
Your structural engineer posts revised drawings to a shared Dropbox folder after each design meeting. Here is what the review cycle looks like with Deta connected:
- The first set lands in Dropbox. You tell Deta's AI agent "find the structural drawings for Napa Valley residence" and it surfaces the file. You import it and begin marking up, flagging clash points and leaving comments for the engineer.
- The engineer posts a revised set to the same Dropbox folder. Deta detects the update and creates a new version.
- You open the new version in Deta. Your previous markups are preserved in history. You review the current set, check whether your earlier flags were addressed, and add new annotations.
- This repeats for every revision. By the time the set is issued for construction, you have a complete, version-by-version record of every markup and every change.
- At any point, you can hit Save As to write a marked-up PDF copy back to Dropbox for the contractor or the record set.
No email chains. No "which version is current?" confusion. No manually naming files with revision suffixes. No folder hunting. Just a clean review record tied directly to your Dropbox storage.
Get Started
Connect your Dropbox account in Deta Studio. Ask the AI agent to find the file you need. Import it. Your full revision history and markup workflow is set up from that first import forward.