Figures

The Figures page manages the figures of your matter; the Reference signs page in the sidebar manages the numbered elements that appear on them. Both belong to the matter, not to a single application: every application in the matter shares the same figures and the same element numbering, so a part keeps its number across your EP, US, and divisional filings.

The figure list

Opening Figures lists every figure in the matter, one row each, in figure number order: FIG. 1, 2, 2A, 2B, 3, and so on. The list is always in that order, the order the figures are filed in. Each row shows a thumbnail of the drawing, its number and caption, and how many reference signs are marked on it. The caption is the figure's line in the Brief Description of the Drawings (see What a figure shows below). Sub-figures are rows like any other, right after their parent: their number (2A, 2B) already says which group they belong to. A parent figure that only exists to hold sub-figures under a shared number (no drawing of its own) has no entry: its children still carry its number. Add figure is the last row of the list and stays in view however far you scroll; below the list a status line reports how many figures the matter has, and what you have selected.

This full list is where you arrange your figures:

Create a figure with the Add figure row, or drop image files anywhere on the list to create one per file. PNG, JPEG, and single-page PDF are supported (PDFs are converted to PNG on upload). The assistant can also draw a figure for you from a description, a sketch or photo you have uploaded, or an existing figure: click Generate figure above the assistant input to start one. It arrives as a row marked Suggested figure at the end of the list; right-click it to accept it (it becomes the next figure) or reject it. Click it to look at the drawing full size first; you can accept or reject it there too, by right-clicking the drawing. The assistant's list of pending changes shows the same drawing.
Order figures by dragging a row into the gap above or below another. Dropping gives the dragged figure that slot's number and pushes everything after it down: while you drag, the drop indicator shows the resulting label (for example "→ FIG. 3") so you can see exactly where it will land.
Sub-figures: drag a figure onto the middle of a top-level figure to add it to that figure's group as the last sub-figure, or onto the middle of a sub-figure to make it the next sibling in that group. Drag a sub-figure above or below a top-level figure to take it out of its group. Sub-figures are lettered (FIG. 1A, 1B, and so on); one level of nesting is supported, so a figure that already has sub-figures can't itself be nested. A parent without its own image still owns its number slot, so its children keep stable labels.
Select multiple figures with ctrl/cmd-click (toggle one) or shift-click (select a range). Press Escape to clear the selection.
Right-click a figure for its actions. On a selection, it offers Group as sub-figures, which creates a new shared parent and letters the selected figures under it (figures that already have sub-figures of their own are skipped). On a single figure it offers Open, Convert to sub-figure group (turns a standalone figure into 2A under a new shared parent), Promote to top level (on a sub-figure, moves it out of its group), Make sub-figure of… (nests it into another figure's group by name, the same result as dragging it there), Ask assistant and Delete. A sub-figure group holds at most 26 members (A through Z); an action that would exceed that shows an error instead of applying.
A figure without an image shows a warning and an empty thumbnail. It is skipped when the application is rendered, but keeps its number so labels don't shift while you work.

An open figure

Click a figure to open it. The drawing slides in beside the list, and the list narrows to each figure's thumbnail and number. Click another row, or press ↑ or ↓, to switch figures; the breadcrumb (Figures, then the figure) also jumps straight to any figure. The × at the top right of the figure, Escape, or your browser's Back button returns to the full list. With a figure open, Add figure shrinks to a + at the foot of the narrowed list. On a narrow window the list hides to give the drawing room; the Show figures button beside the × brings the list back, and choosing a figure in it returns to the drawing.

The drawing fills its area edge to edge. It zooms with the scroll wheel and pans when you drag empty paper; dragging with the middle mouse button, or with Space held down, pans whatever tool is on. Double-click empty paper to fit the figure again. The tools (Select and Add, see Marks on the drawing below), zoom out, zoom in and fit to window float in the drawing's top-right corner, beside the Reference signs panel. When the figure opens, or you fit it again, the drawing is placed in the space the panels leave free, so nothing is hidden behind them; only panning or zooming yourself moves it underneath.
The row above the drawing holds Transparent background, Export as PNG (the drawing with its label and reference numerals, as it will be filed) and Delete, with the × that closes the figure at the right.
Transparent background removes the white paper background from a line drawing, so the figure displays and exports as a transparent PNG. It applies everywhere the figure appears (the list, preview, exports) and never modifies your uploaded file. New figures start with it on; switch it off to restore the original.
A figure created without an image shows an upload slot.
Click Edit figure above the assistant input, or ask the assistant in your own words, to change the open figure. If only the reference numerals are wrong or missing, it moves or adds the marks, which is free and leaves your drawing as it is. When the drawing itself needs to change ("remove the numbering baked into this drawing") it proposes a replacement image as a pending change; the current drawing stays until you approve it. The figure's row in the list is marked Suggested edit; right-click it to accept or reject. Open the figure to check the edit against your marks: it shows the proposed drawing under the figure's marks, and Current / Proposed in the row above it switches between the two drawings, so you can see whether each mark still lands on its part. Right-click the drawing to accept or reject the edit. Your marks stay where they are either way; move any that no longer fit.
Check figures above the assistant input asks the assistant to check your figures: whether the reference numerals match the description, whether every claimed feature is shown, and whether the figures agree with each other. It lists the problems first and proposes the fixes as pending changes. It never redraws a figure as part of a check; it offers that as a next step.
The line at the bottom of the page reports whether your edits are saved, and how many reference signs are on the figure. It also counts section lines and detail callouts whose figure was deleted (see below).

Marks on the drawing

Everything the text refers to on a drawing is a mark the app draws, never part of your uploaded image, so renumbering a sign or reordering figures updates every drawing. There are three kinds of point mark, placed with a click, and six kinds of span mark, placed with a drag:

Leader line: the numeral with a line ending on the part (this element).
Arrow: a free-standing arrow at the spot (the whole assembly or region).
Underlined: the numeral sitting on the spot, underlined (this surface).
Brace: one numeral covering a group or stretch of parts, at the brace's tip.
Dimension: a distance between two points, with extension lines and arrowheads, labelled by a numeral or symbol.
Angle: an angle between two arms, labelled by a symbol such as α.
Centre line: an axis, labelled with its letter at both ends (A–A).
Section line: where another figure cuts through this one. Both ends carry that figure's number (5–5 for FIG. 5), the arrows show the direction of sight.
Detail callout: a circle around a region another figure shows enlarged, labelled with that figure's FIG. number.

Braces, dimensions, angles and centre lines name a reference sign, like a pin: α and the centre line's A are signs of their own, so they are counted and checked like 380. Section lines and detail callouts name the figure they produce instead, so their label follows that figure when you reorder. When the assistant cites a section line in your text ("along line 5–5 of FIG. 1"), the line's number is a link too, and follows reordering the same way.

Adding marks

Pick Add in the drawing's corner (or press A); it stays on until you press Escape, since a sheet usually needs many marks.

Click a part to place a point mark, or drag across a span to place a span mark; hold Shift while dragging to keep the line horizontal, vertical or at 45°.
A popover opens beside the new mark. Its buttons pick the kind: a leader line after a click and a brace after a drag are already chosen. The number field below is ready to type in: type 80 and press Enter. A number the matter already has reuses that sign (the popover shows it); a new number creates the sign, which you can then name in the panel. Escape cancels the mark.
For a section line or detail callout the field picks the figure the mark produces instead: type its number (11A) or part of its caption.
For an angle, drag the first arm from the corner outwards and pick Angle: click once more to set the second arm, then type its symbol.

Selecting, moving and removing marks

With Select on (press V), hovering highlights the mark nearest the pointer, its pin, leader, numeral or lines, and a click selects it. A click on empty paper clears the selection. Drag a mark to move it, in either tool: drag a pin or leader to move the pin, a numeral to move just the numeral. A selected span mark shows square handles at its ends, which move one end, and a round handle that sets the side it is drawn on (which way a brace bulges, how far a dimension stands off, the radius of an angle's arc).

A small bar above the selected mark holds everything else about it; right-click the mark for the same commands as a menu:

the mark's sign (390 ▾) or figure (FIG. 11A ▾): click it to pick another;
the kinds it can switch to in place (leader, arrow and underlined among themselves; brace, dimension and centre line; section line and detail callout);
Own numeral and Join numeral for leader lines of the same part that share a numeral (several leaders of one element close together share one numeral; these split one off or join it to another);
Flip the side a brace, dimension or section line is drawn on, and Reset position to hand its side, or a dragged numeral, back to the automatic layout;
Open FIG. n on a section line or detail callout;
Remove, also Delete or Backspace.

Removing a mark takes it off this figure only; the sign stays in the matter. There is no confirmation: Undo appears at the foot of the drawing for a few seconds.

A section line or detail callout whose figure was deleted is drawn in the warning colour with a ? where its number was, and the status line counts it. Select it to pick another figure, or remove it.

The reference signs panel

The panel in the drawing's top-right corner lists the Reference signs marked on the open figure, one row per sign. A sign with several marks here (two leaders, or a leader and a dimension) shows how many (×2). The matter's full numbered list is the Reference signs page (below), in the navigation. Click the panel's header to collapse it to a small chip in the corner, giving the drawing more room, and click the chip to open it again; the app remembers your choice.

Place a sign again: the pin button on a row turns on Add with that sign's number already filled in, so placing it is a click and Enter.
Rename or renumber: click a number or label in the panel to edit it in place.
Remove: right-click a row and pick Remove from figure to clear every mark that sign has on this figure, with the same Undo.
Signs the text still needs: when removing marks leaves a sign that your claims or description cite on no drawing at all, the panel warns. Rule 46(2)(i) EPC wants every reference sign in the description to appear on the drawings, and the other way round. The warning lists the sign with a pin button to place it again.

Once its numeral is drawn, a pin stays hidden so the drawing reads as it will be filed. It appears, as a ring around a dot, when its mark or its sign's row in the panel is hovered or selected: the dot is the exact spot the leader ends on. The pointer hides while you drag a pin so it never covers the dot. Hovering a mark highlights its sign's row in the panel, and hovering a row draws that sign's numerals and lines heavier on the drawing. The assistant can also place, move and remove marks; its edits arrive as pending changes for you to review and approve.

Reference numerals on the drawing

A filed drawing needs each part's reference numeral next to it, joined to the part by a leader line. You don't draw these: you place marks, and the app draws the numerals, leaders and lines from them, on the canvas, in the figure list, in the document preview, and on the drawing sheets of the Word export. All of them show the same layout, so what you check here is what is filed. Because the numerals come from the element numbers, renumbering an element updates every drawing it appears on.

Placement is automatic. Each numeral goes on clear paper near its pin, outside the drawing where it can, with a curved leader that crosses no other leader or numeral. Around the drawing is a margin, marked with a dashed outline on the canvas, where numerals may also sit. The drawing is scaled to leave room for it on the sheet.
Span marks place their own labels: a brace's numeral at its tip, a dimension's at the middle of its line, a section line's number at both ends, toward clear paper. The numerals keep clear of them.
Drag a numeral to put it somewhere else; it stays there. Reset position on the mark's bar hands it back to the layout. A numeral the layout could not fit cleanly (on a line, or crowding another numeral) has a dashed warning outline: drag it into place.
Elements without a number get no numeral: a drawing that may be filed never shows a "?". Their pins show a dashed warning mark until you number the element.

Numeral size and line weight follow the drawing rules of the EPO and the USPTO (numerals at least 3.2 mm high on the printed sheet), taking the stricter of the two where they differ, since a figure is shared by every application in the matter.

The figure label

Each drawing carries its own label (FIG. 3, FIG. 2A) on the sheet, the way filed drawings do. The app draws it for you: it always matches the figure's place in the list, so reordering or nesting figures relabels every sheet. It is set larger than the reference numerals, as the USPTO requires. A matter with a single drawing gets no label at all: the USPTO forbids numbering a lone view, and the EPO does not expect one numbered either.

Placement is automatic: centred under the drawing, in the margin around it, with numerals kept clear of it.
Drag the label to put it somewhere else on the sheet; it stays there. Right-click it and pick Reset to automatic to put it back. A label dragged onto the drawing's lines gets a dashed warning outline.
The label is never drawn into your uploaded image. If the image already has a label of its own, for example a drawing taken from a granted patent, both show until you remove the old one: ask the assistant to erase it from the drawing.

Reference signs

The Reference signs page in the sidebar is the coverage overview for every element in the matter: a table of what each sign is and how much uses it, with one sign's whole picture beside it.

The table holds the number, the label, and three counts: how many Figures the sign is marked on, and how many Claims and Sections of the drafting text mention it. Sorting works on every column, so "which signs are on a drawing but in no claim" is one click on a header. A sign counted at zero everywhere is declared but used nowhere, which is the signal to place it on a figure, reference it, or delete it. Search filters on number and label.

Click a row and the sign opens in a pane beside the table, which is where you read and edit it:

The pane opens with the number and the label. Edit either in place: the change saves when you leave the field and follows every reference to that sign.
Figures shows a thumbnail of every figure it is pinned to. Click one to open that figure.
Claims and Sections spell out every occurrence, one row each: the claim number, or the section and its paragraph, followed by the sentence the sign sits in. Click a row to land on that exact spot in the editor, not just the claim or section that holds it.

Figures are matter-wide, while claims and sections belong to one application, so the two counts cover the application you have open. A sign used in another application of the matter shows that application's count after its own ("0 +3"), and the pane lists those occurrences under the application's name.

New sign adds one: the pane opens empty, and the sign is saved as soon as it has a number or a label. Right-click a row for Rename, Renumber and Delete; the first two open the pane with that field ready to type in. Delete tells you what it will break (where the sign is pinned, which references it orphans) before you confirm.

A warning mark before a sign's number flags a problem worth a look, and the pane says what it is under the number and label. It covers three checks: the element is pinned to a figure but the description never mentions it, the classic drawings/spec mismatch an examiner objects to; two elements share the same number, so a sign no longer points at one part; and two elements share the same label under different signs, a softer signal since legitimate duplicate labels can exist across unrelated figure families, so it warns without blocking. Prose that names an element without its sign is an editing concern, not a problem with the reference itself, so it is surfaced where you write instead: the References panel in the section editor.

Figures and your applications

Figures reach an application through the text: referencing a figure in a section or claim (e.g. "as shown in figure 1") links it. Unlike claims and sections, figures and reference-sign elements are matter-wide and always live: the working draft of every application shows the current drawings and element numbering, and editing a figure or element updates them all immediately. Saving a version records the drawings, the element numbers and each drawing's reference numerals as they stand at that moment, so a saved version keeps showing and exporting exactly those.

What a figure shows

Every drawing has to be described in the Brief Description of the Drawings, one of the application's sections: patent offices require it (EPC Rule 42(1)(d), 37 CFR 1.74). That section is the one place you say what a figure shows. Figures keep no separate description: the caption you see on a figure's row, in the figure picker of a section line, and when you hover a figure chip is the figure's line from that section. A line shared by several figures (FIGS. 13 to 16 show…) gets the figure's view and reference signs after it, so the figures stay apart. A figure no line describes yet shows its view and the signs marked on it, such as Exploded view · housing 12, blade 20.

Figures belong to the whole matter while each application has its own Brief Description, so the caption comes from the oldest application whose Brief Description describes the figure; a later one, such as a US filing next to the EP original, fills in a figure the older one leaves out. When a figure is missing from an application's Brief Description, that section's Issues panel says so. A linked range such as FIGS. 13–16 keeps the figures it named when you wrote it, so a figure you later insert between them is not covered by that line and is reported as not described.