TL;DR.....Just want to answer a quick question on Multisheet? Our FAQ may have the snippet of detail you need! Find it HERE
What is in this article:
Searching and Viewing Multi Sheet Drawings
My Collection - Bulk Actions and Multi Sheet Drawings
Mobile Applications Compatibility (iOS and Android)
Introducing Multisheet - a new way of working with multipage files
RedEye has released a new Upload v3 compatible optional feature called Multisheet, that changes the way drawing sheet sets are managed and viewed in RedEyeDMS (DMS). So that we can utilise client feedback and produce the best outcomes in design, this feature will be enhanced and updated incrementally to apply more and more capability to the use of multisheet files within DMS.
Prior to this development, DMS did not fully support CAD files or PDF files with multiple sheets when they were uploaded into DMS as Drawing type artefacts. Existing DMS functionality does not optimize the management and viewing of complicated drawing files that are made up of multiple sheets. Currently (without Multisheet enabled), depending on the file type, DMS will manage the multiple sheet drawing either as a single artefact for DWG files or split a PDF drawing file into multiple files to create multiple unrelated artefacts (upload V1/2).
ONLY files that are uploaded to DMS that match the Redeye definitions of Multisheet, when Multisheet option is configured on the bucket, are treated specifically as described in the article below. All other Drawing type artefacts with format and structure outside of the Multisheet definition, and all Document and Media type artefacts, are handled exactly as they are currently.
The Multisheet feature will streamline the process of managing these sometimes complex drawing files. It will ensure that the drawing master source file (eg. DWG or PDF) and their individual sheets will be accessible within DMS to review and manage as a single file but also provide the flexibility and detail for users to search and view the individual sheets as separate artefacts
What is this guide designed to do?
This article outlines the expected behaviours, caveats and limitation that affects DMS, when Multisheet option is enabled on the Bucket and multisheet CAD files and multisheet PDF files are uploaded as Drawing type artefacts in DMS. All other DMS functions remain unchanged for other artefacts.
DMS still only interprets the file structures provided so inconsistent drafting quality can still be the cause of preview and upload failures in all modes.
Supported Functions
As part of this release, if Multisheet has been enabled, only the following functionality will be available for DWG and PDF files that have multiple sheets/pages as Drawing Type artefacts:
· Upload (via V3 Upload only)
· Search
· Artefact Preview (enhanced, with Sheets tab)
· My Collection (excluding Set/Assign Workflow, Create Child)
· Export search results to CSV
· Delete
All remaining DMS functionality around Workflow such as Review step, Approve step, Mark Up, Check In, Fold In etc for Drawing Type artefacts created from Multisheet DWG and PDF files are not available at this time for Multisheet artefacts.
Please note there are no limits to existing functionality for any file types uploaded into DMS as Document or Media type artefacts (including PDFs).
Likewise when Multisheet is enabled, if a DWG or PDF file with only a single sheet is uploaded as a Drawing Type artefact in DMS, the system will treat it as non Multisheet and workflow and associated functions such as mark up will be available.
Minimum Mandatory Requirements to enable Multisheet support:
- Multisheet bucket site flag is ENABLED
- Responsible - RedEye Customer Success Manager
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Upload V3 is ENABLED
- Responsible - Bucket Administrator via Manage Bucket->Configurations
- Supported file formats to trigger Multisheet response
- CAD (DWG only in Phase 1)
- Multipage PDF
Definitions
Site Flag
Site Flags are a tool within DMS that enable nominated DMS functionality to work. Site Flags are unique to each client and can only be maintained by RedEye
Upload
DMS functionality that transmits selected files from the user’s computer system into RedEye DMS utilising specifically the Upload Tool located in the Search Page sidebar. As part of this transmission the upload process undertakes various tasks including validation and data extraction. Once the upload has been successfully completed, artefacts representing the contents on the file are created and available for search and display in DMS as well as the selected file being available in DMS.
V3 Upload
Upload Tool version set in the Manage Bucket->Configurations page. Only V3 Upload functionality will support Multisheet. If V1/V2 Upload is set, Multisheet cannot be enabled
Multisheet
A term that is applied when a CAD file has multiple named layouts, or PDF file has more than one sheet or page.
Multisheet Entity
New term for group of artifacts held within DMS that are all linked to the one source/native multisheet file. Each artefact has been generated for a separate sheet or page of the file. Only DWG and PDF drawing files can be managed in DMS as Multisheet entities at this stage.
Sheets
When Multisheet is enabled and a DWG or PDF file with multiple layouts/sheets/pages is uploaded, separate artefacts are generated for each layout/sheet/page. These artefacts are referred to as Sheet Artefacts (Sheets) in this document as they were all created from the same source file.
Layout (CAD)
A layout is defined on the DWG file by the drafter when the drawing is created. A DWG file may have multiple layouts. In DMS with Multisheet enabled, a valid Layout will create an Artefact, so multiple Layouts on a CAD file will create multiple Sheet Artefacts with Multisheet enabled.
Invalid Layout
An Invalid Layout is a DWG file layout that has a rectangular area of 0 X 0. An Invalid Layout in the file will not generate an artefact in DMS, and will cause the upload of the source file and other sheets, valid or not, to fail upload.
Blank Layout
A Blank Layout is a DWG file layout that is empty but has a rectangular area defined greater than 0 X 0. A Blank Layout will generate an artefact in DMS and the preview will be also blank.
Uploading Multisheet Drawings
The standard V3 upload controls and validation will apply to Multisheet files. This means pre-upload validation (if enabled), defaulting/assignment of Group/s (if enabled) and binary duplicate check will be carried out as per usual for all files selected for processing via V3 Upload.
All of the above upload validation is applied to the entire file and so if one sheet of a Multisheet file fails any of the upload validations that prevent a file from being uploaded into DMS, then the entire file is rejected and no artefacts are generated. DMS will not allow a sub set of the Multisheet file’s layouts to be uploaded and create artefacts even if only one of the sheets fails upload validation.
Selecting Multisheet files for Upload
Assuming you have the Multisheet site flag enabled, it does not matter if you upload a mix of drawing files that have multiple sheets or single sheets. DMS V3 Upload will recognise the difference and process each file accordingly. V3 Upload will determine if a file is Multisheet via the following criteria
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Multisheet site flag has been enabled for the Bucket
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Files are being uploaded as Drawing Type artefacts
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For PDF files more than one page a separate artefact will be created for each page
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For DWG files that have more than 1 valid layout, a separate artefact will be created for each valid layout. Please note a blank layout can still be considered a valid layout.
Even though in this initial release of Multisheet functionality workflows will not be assigned to artefacts created from Multisheet files, the V3 Upload screen will still require a Workflow to be nominated as a request parameter, even if ONLY Multisheet files are in the upload job. Enter a valid workflow for the other non Multisheet files that may be included in the selection. However, for artefacts created from Multisheet files (DWG/PDF uploaded as Drawing Type artefacts), the upload logic will ignore and not assign the requested workflow.
Multisheet Enhanced Upload Notification Email
The formatting of the V3 Upload Notification email has been amended slightly to cater for Multisheet files.
If a Multisheet file is included in the Upload job then the file will be listed and where applicable all artefacts created from the upload will be listed as links under the file details. Any warnings (eg. missing font) associated with uploading of the file will be detailed against the Source File name entry.
If one sheet within a Multisheet file has an anomaly that means that it fails the upload validation and not have an artefact created, the entire file is rejected in error and no artefacts are generated.
Where a warning is generated by the upload process rather than an error, all of the artefacts relating to the Multisheet file will still be created.
Here is example of the V3 Upload Notification Email catering for uploaded Multisheet files. Note how the notification reports the warnings encountered for the file at the top, shows the total number of artefacts created by the upload and then lists each artefact created with a link to it in DMS.
What Upload methods are supported?
- Upload V3 Upload tool
- Public API tools requiring API keys config
What Upload methods are NOT supported in this version?
- Upload V1/2 Upload tool
- Upload New Revision
- Update Current Revision
- Bulk CSV tool upload only (metadata updates OK)
- Draft Check In
- Re-Arrange Tool (Add Artefact)
- Emailed redpens (markup not supported in any way on Multisheet artefacts)
Additional Restricted Functions with Multisheet Artefacts in Phase 1 are listed in the
Artefact Preview and Multisheet Artefacts section further down in this guide.
CAD Tag Extraction Logic for Multisheet Artefacts
CAD Tag extraction is an important functionality offered by DMS upload. It allows Artefact Name/Artefact Number and Artefact Metadata elements to be automatically populated from tag attribute values drafted in the DWG file. This extraction assumes extract mapping rules have been defined in DMS and the DWG drafting standards comply.
With the introduction of Multisheet functionality there has been some additional processing logic introduced to the Upload process when CAD tags are being extracted. This can be summarised as follows:
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If Multisheet flag is not enabled OR if the DWG file being uploaded is detected as not being a Multisheet DWG file (ie only 1 valid layout is detected by upload process logic) then all CAD Tag data held at the file’s Model level can be matched, extracted and populate the Artefact Number/Artefact Name/Metadata for the single artefact generated.
- If Multisheet flag is enabled and the DWG file being uploaded is detected as being a Multisheet DWG file (>1 valid layouts where blank layouts may be valid detected by the upload process) then CAD Tag data held at the file’s Model level will be interrogated and matched to the appropriate layout. Only CAD Tag data matched to a layout will be extracted and populate the individual artefact generated for the layout. If CAD Tag data at the Model level within the DWG file is not linked to a layout or if it is matched to an invalid layout, the extraction process will ignore it.
Multisheet Artefact Numbering Generated on Upload
As part of the upload process, DMS will assign an Artefact Number and Artefact Title to each artefact generated. The standard V3 Upload Artefact Numbering and Artefact Naming conventions will continue to apply:
If Multisheet is enabled and the files being uploaded are detected as being Multisheet files, DMS will generate the Artefact Number and Artefact Names as follows:
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Where applicable extract any CAD tags and populate the artefact Number, Titles and any mapped metadata elements for each sheet and its individual artefact being created.
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Where multiple drawing artefacts are being created for one file, DMS will suffix the following onto the artefact Number generated for each artefact:
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For DWG Files – the ‘layoutName’ – each sheet on a DWG has a name in the source file (Tip: Drafters labelling Layouts clearly as Sheet numbers eg. Sheet01, will aid users in identifying sheets in search)
In the Multisheet artefact displayed below the Artefact Number has been suffixed with a ‘-‘ followed by the Layout Name ‘A01’ as extracted from the DWG file. -
For PDF files – the page number that the sheet occupied in the multipage PDF. In the Multisheet artefact displayed below the Artefact Number has been suffixed with a ‘-‘ followed by the Page Number ‘46’ from the PDF file.
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The purpose of the number suffix is to differentiate individual artefacts that have been created from the one Multisheet file.
Group Assignment for Multisheet Artefacts
The Group/s nominated during the V3 Upload activity will be assigned to every artefact created by the upload including all Multisheet artefacts.
Once the Multisheet Artefact has been created, Group/s can be maintained independently for each Multisheet artefact. For bulk maintenance, the individual multisheet artefacts would need to be added to My Collection and the Group action selected.
Metadata Management and Client Defined CAD Tag Metadata Extraction
As highlighted in the earlier ‘CAD Tag Extraction Logic for Multisheet Artefacts’ section, each artefact generated from a Multisheet file will have its own metadata that will be extracted and/or maintained at the individual artefact level. This means each artefact created from a Multisheet file will have its own metadata values that will be able to be used for search purposes no differently than an artefact created from a non Multisheet file.
Metadata values in all artefacts generated from a Multisheet file can be managed and updated on each artefact page individually as required, or in bulk via Bulk CSV or My Collection Update Metadata tools
Searching and Viewing Multisheet Drawings
The standard DMS search logic and commands will apply to Multisheet artefacts as it does to any artefact. Each artefact created from a Multisheet file has its own metadata that is held at the individual artefact level so the search variables entered can be as specific as required to return a single individual artefact.
What has changed is that when the search results are displayed, additional information appears on the artefact thumbnails to indicate if the artefact is part of a Multisheet file.
The Search Results displays the Multisheet Icon beside the RedEye number
and the artefact sequence out of the total number of artefacts generated for the Multisheet file is listed as Sheet x of y. Here is an example using List View search results.
Non Multisheet artefacts will not display this extra information.
All other Search Results thumbnails have been updated to display this additional information for any Multisheet artefact retrieved.
If GIS is enabled, the artefact thumbnails in the search results listing will display the additional Multisheet information. However, the tiles displayed within the map for Multisheet artefacts do not.
Artefact Preview and Multisheet Artefacts
Workflows cannot be assigned to Multisheet artefacts in Phase 1. Given this restriction, there have been some changes made to the Artefact Preview screen for Multisheet artefacts namely to prevent workflow based actions from being attempted by end users.
In addition a new tab titled ‘Sheets’ has been introduced for Multisheet artefacts to allow users to easily navigate and view sibling artefacts created from the same file when it was uploaded.
Changes made to the artefact preview screen for Multisheet artefacts include:
- Sheet X of Total Sheets indicator added on each sheet artefact page
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Workflow status bar clearly indicates that workflow cannot be assigned to the artefact. This also means actions such as Mark Up, Assign Workflow etc are also disabled.
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The Linked, Related and Child tabs are not valid for this initial release of Multisheet functionality and so are unable to be selected by end users.
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Metadata tab can be selected and metadata maintained for the individual artefact as per standard functionality.
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History tab can be selected and history of artefact can be viewed as per standard functionality
Sheets Tab
Sheets is a new tab that is only available for Multisheet artefacts. This tab provides a listing of all the selected artefact sibling artefacts that were created from the same Multisheet file. Users can navigate between sheets by scrolling up/down to click/view the other artefacts in detail.
On the Sheets tab the total number of artefacts generated from the Multisheet file is displayed eg using example below 11 artefacts were generated. Each artefact is listed with a thumbnail in the Sheets tab. Please note the artefact being viewed in detail is highlighted in blue on the Sheets tab. To go to a different sibling artefact simply select and click on the Artefact Number and the preview will be refreshed.
Tools Tab Available Functions
For Multisheet Artefacts only, the Tools tab has been amended for this first release of Multisheet functionality. Since Workflow is not supported for Multisheet artefacts many of the actions within the Tools Tab, including refresh Artefact Preview, are not valid and so are unable to be selected by end users.
Tip: To refresh a preview if a Multisheet artefact is reported with missing Plot Styles/Fonts, users will have to -
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Upload the Plot/Font Style
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Delete out the reported Multisheet artefact (all of its siblings will be automatically deleted)
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Re-upload the Multisheet source file.
For this initial release the only actions supported for Multisheet Artefacts in the Tools tab are -
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Toolkit>>Delete Artefact – please note when you select to Delete Artefact for a Multisheet artefact, the delete action will delete all sheet artefacts associated with the Multisheet source file ie artefact being viewed and all of its sibling artefacts in Sheets tab.
You cannot delete just a single artefact created from a Multisheet file. A specific warning message will display when an Admin selects the Delete Artefact command on a Multisheet artefact -
Toolkit>>OCR Extract – DMS will support the OCR extract of data from the individual artefact being viewed regardless of whether is has been created from a Multisheet file.
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Upload/Download>>Download Latest Native File - DMS will export the entire source Multisheet DWG or entire source Multisheet PDF file of which the selected artefact belongs to. Since it is a Multisheet artefact that belongs to the same source file as its sibling artefacts, you cannot just download a file for the single artefact.
Other functions available to the user on the Artefact Preview screen for Multisheet artefacts are -
- Print - Select Print command at the bottom of the Preview Screen and the selected sheet artefact image will be printed as per standard functionality
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More>>Download Version Status File – (Bucket Administrator only) Since the initial release of Multisheet does not include workflow being assigned for artefacts created from Multisheet Files there are no different versions of the file for the selected artefact. The Download Version Status File will simply download the entire source Multisheet DWG or entire source Multisheet PDF file of which the selected artefact belongs to. Since it is a Multisheet artefact that belongs to the same source file as its sibling artefacts, you cannot just download a file for the single sheet artefact.
Deleting Multisheet Artefacts
As stated in the previous section the main control over deleting Multisheet artefacts is if you select one artefact for deletion, the rule is all of its sibling artefacts will be deleted as well as the original source DWG/PDF file. A single Multisheet artefact cannot be deleted on its own.
Complications can arise if sibling Multisheet artefacts have been assigned to different groups and the user requesting the deletion has Group access only to one group. Here are the rules that govern deleting Multisheet Artefacts in DMS
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If the User has Bucket level delete permission, then the Multisheet artefact they have selected the delete action on and all of its sibling artefacts will be deleted alongside the source DWG/PDF file.
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If the User has Group level delete permission, they can only delete artefacts that belong to the Group/s they have access to. If a Multisheet artefact that a Group level user selects for delete has sibling artefacts assigned to Group/s that the user does not have Group level delete permission, then the artefact cannot be deleted.
DMS will display an error message advising that the user does not have delete access to all Multisheet artefacts that belong to the same source file. Contact a Bucket Administrator for assistance in deleting the artefacts. -
Group Bulk Artefact Delete request via Groups>>Select Group>>Details>>Delete Artefacts will detect if Multisheet Site flag is enabled. If enabled, the user requesting the Group Delete will need to have ‘Group Archivist’ role for every Group that the Multisheet artefacts in the Group selected for deletion have been assigned to. If the user does not have Group Archivist permission for any of the groups that the Multisheet artefact’s siblings have been assigned to then the artefact will not be deleted as part of the bulk deletion.
When the Group Delete function is selected and Multisheet has been enabled for the bucket, and the Group Delete function is selected, the warning message ‘Artefacts in this Group will not be deleted if they have sibling artefacts that are not linked to Group/s that you have Group Archivist Permission’ will be displayed. If Group Delete is confirmed, the delete process identifies artefacts that have sibling artefacts linked to Group/s the requesting User does not have Group Archivist permission. These identified artefacts (and their sibling artefacts) will skipped and not be deleted.
The user has to be assigned Group Archivist permission for all Groups that the Multisheet artefacts have been assigned to. Alternatively, these artefacts and their sibling artefacts will need to be assigned to the same Group before being able to be deleted individually or via Group Bulk Artefact Delete action.
My Collection - Bulk Actions and Multi Sheet Drawings
Multisheet artefacts can be added individually to/removed from My Collection for additional processing no differently than standard artefacts. However, due to this initial Multisheet functionality excluding assignment of Workflow and its associated functions to artefacts created from Multisheet files, there have been some actions from the My Collection functions that have been disabled for Multisheet artefacts. These will be detailed further in this section.
If a combination of Multisheet and standard artefacts are in My Collection then these limitations will affect the entire data set, resulting in warning messages when you try to action some tools in the menus.
Functions Available for Multisheet Artefacts
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Actions>>Update Metadata – Each Multisheet artefact is treated independently with regards to maintenance of Metadata elements
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Actions>>Set Locations – Dropping the pin for the selected artefacts will update each individual artefact in the My Collection regardless of whether the artefact is a Multisheet artefact or not.
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Actions>>Favourites – Add/remove selected individual artefacts from being flagged as Favourites
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Actions>>Groups – Add/remove Group/s for the selected individual artefacts. Individual artefacts that have been created from a Multisheet File can have different Group/s assigned to each. It is only on initial upload that the Group/s nominated as part of the Upload Request default to each artefact as it is created.
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Export>>Open Bulk CSV – Individual Multisheet artefacts from My Collection can have metadata updated via Bulk CSV
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Export>>Collection to CSV – All individual artefacts from My Collection can be exported to CSV file format
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Download Latest Approved – Any Multisheet artefacts in My Collection when Download Latest Approved action is selected will have their entire Multisheet source file (which was also the source for all sibling artefacts downloaded. Since Multisheet artefacts belong to the same source file as its sibling artefacts, you cannot just download a file with an extract for the single artefact.
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Print – all individual artefacts selected will have their preview image printed.
Functions Not Available for Multisheet Artefacts
The following actions available in My Collections will not be supported for Multisheet artefacts in this initial release. This is because they involve Workflow and related processes which is not supported at this stage.
My Collections functions not available to be requested for Multisheet artefacts are -
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Actions>>Create Child – child artefacts cannot be created or maintained for Multisheet artefacts in this initial release.
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Actions>>Discipline – Multisheet artefacts cannot have Disciplines added or removed in this initial release
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Actions>>Workflow – for this initial release DMS will not assign or support Workflows or related processes to Multisheet artefacts. Workflows cannot be Assigned, Changed or Fast Draft applied to Multisheet artefacts.
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Actions>>Transmittals – for this initial release DMS does not support Multisheet artefacts being added to Transmittals.
On Screen Warning Message
The above My Collection functions that do not support Multisheet Artefacts in this initial release will display an error message if you attempt to apply them to a My Collection that contains Multisheet artefacts. The following error message will be displayed -
The user requesting the action will then need to remove any Multisheet artefact from the Collection before re-attempting the action. Multisheet Artefacts are clearly indicated in the My Collection thumbnails by the Multisheet Icon
Mobile Applications Compatibility (iOS and Android)
Given that Multisheet artefacts treated the same as standard artefacts, search and view functions in the Mobile Applications will be available for Multisheet artefacts.
Since Workflow is not supported for Multisheet artefacts in this initial release, users will not be able to mark up, upload new versions or attach photographs to Multisheet artefacts via the mobile applications.
Please note: in this first release of Multisheet functionality, the search results displayed on the DMS Mobile applications will not include the Multisheet Icon nor will the Sheet x of y indicator on details page be displayed either.
However, the Artefact Number will always include the Sheet Layout suffix whether displayed on DMS Web or DMS Mobile applications.
Bucket Administration Notes
The initial release of Multisheet functionality is excluding Workflow and related processes from being able to be applied to Multisheet artefacts. This impacts certain Bucket Administration Functions being applied to Multisheet Artefacts.
For more information on the Multisheet Feature Bucket Administration restrictions check out the Bucket Administration Functions - Multisheet Restrictions for Manage Bucket Tools guide.
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