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Introducing the Drafting Library

Rowan Patents now includes a Drafting Library module letting you easily search and preview your existing Rowan work product.

Laura Berwick avatar
Written by Laura Berwick
Updated over a week ago

Our primary goal for Rowan Patents is to give you back your time, letting you focus on the interesting aspects of patent preparation while we take care of the busy work. As part of that goal, we are continually adding new ways for you to leverage work you've already done to jump-start your next project.

As you build up a body of work product in .rp format, either by drafting in Rowan Patents or using our numerous merge and import features, we know you'll want to quickly and effectively search, preview, and reuse that work. The Drafting Library takes advantage of the Rowan patent-specific file format, allowing for targeted searching within prior patent applications for terms, definitions, parts, figures, and claim or specification language.



Read on to learn how to access and utilize your own library of Rowan Patents files.

This article covers the following topics:

  • Access the Drafting Library Standalone Module

  • Access the Drafting Library within an .rp File

  • Add and Manage Library Sources

  • Search and Browse Your Library

  • Add Terms from the Drafting Library to Your .rp File

  • Add Figures from the Drafting Library to Your .rp File

Access the Drafting Library Standalone Module

  1. From the landing screen, click the Open Drafting Library option or the Open Existing Application > Open from Drafting Library option.



    OR

    Click the Open from Drafting Library option under the File menu in an open .rp file.


  2. If you do not have any source folders or files selected, you'll be prompted to add some (see more below).


    Sources you've already identified will be checked for updates each time you open the Drafting Library and new or modified files will be indexed for Library access.

  3. Files identified in your Sources will be displayed with a figure thumbnail and clickable preview links for Claims, Spec, Terms, Figures, and Parts.



    The FIG. 1 thumbnail provided for reference can be seen in an enlarged view on hover.


  4. Select from among the View options provided to quickly browse for the material you're looking for across all files, or search, filter, and sort as described below.


  5. When you find a file you want to open, click the file name or the Open File control that appears on hover.


Access the Drafting Library within an .rp File

  1. Open or create the .rp file you wish to work in.

  2. Click the Drafting Library option under the Tools menu

    OR

    In the Tools window, click the Drafting Library tab


  3. Add sources if needed and browse and preview the data in your source files as described above for the standalone Drafting Library.

Add and Manage Library Sources

Sources are individual .rp files or folders containing .rp files. Rowan Patents scans and indexes these folders and files when you open the Drafting Library or reload sources (described below). Initial indexing for new sources can take a few minutes if you have numerous, large, or complex files, but subsequent scans will be much faster.

  1. Click the Add Sources (shown above) or Manage Sources control to open the source management interface.


  2. Drag and drop folders and/or files from your local file explorer window onto the field provided



    OR

    Use the Select Files or Select Folders buttons to browse for sources through your operating system's file system interface.

  3. If you've just made changes to your sources, click the Reload control to detect and include updated data.



    Note that updates are automatically detected when you open the Drafting Library, but reloading will incorporate any changes made while the Drafting Library is open.

  4. Click the remove control to the right of a source to remove it from your source list.



    The removed file or folder will no longer be available for search in the library, and will no longer be checked for updates, but can always be added again if needed.

  5. Click the X to the upper-right to exit the Manage sources interface.


Search and Browse Your Library

These tasks are illustrated using the standalone Drafting Library module, but the same controls and actions are available in the Drafting Library tool in the Tools Window.

  1. Enter a word or phrase in the search field provided to locate .rp files that contain that word or phrase.

  2. Click the links provided for a file to preview usage of your search string (highlighted) in those portions of the file.



    To close a preview, click the X in the upper right corner.

  3. Select from among the View options provided to view your search string (highlighted) where it is used in Terms/Definitions or Figures across all of your search results.​


  4. Filter your search results by file name, docket number, title, or date modified, using the dropdown controls provided, if desired.



    Filters are also available when not performing a search.

  5. Sort your search results by file name, docket number, title, date modified, or relevance, using the dropdown options provided, if desired.



    Sorting is also available when not performing a search.

  6. Expand search result previews for all files by result location (Claims, Spec, Terms, Figures, Parts, View All, or None to collapse again), if desired.



    To close a preview display, click the X at the upper-right corner.
    ​​

  7. When you find a file you want to review in more detail or reuse content from, click the file name or the open file button that appears on hover



    Your file will open in the Rowan Patents preparation module, where you can copy, merge, and otherwise move the desired matter from one .rp file to another.

    OR If you're working in an .rp file, you can add specific elements from a Drafting Library source file to your working draft as described below.


Add Terms from the Drafting Library to Your .rp File

  1. Open or create the .rp file you wish to add terms to.

  2. Open the Drafting Library from your Rowan Patents Tools menu



    OR

    Open your Terms Manager from the Tools menu and click the +Drafting Library control.


  3. View Terms/Definitions across your library or by file.

    You can narrow your focus by searching for files containing terms you want in your current draft as described above.

  4. Use the Add to terms control available on hover to bring individual terms into your current .rp file

    OR

    Use the Add All control available in the Files view to bring in all of the terms from one .rp file into your current work.


Add Figures from the Drafting Library to Your .rp File

  1. Open or create the .rp file you wish to add terms to.

  2. Open the Drafting Library from your Rowan Patents Tools menu



    OR

    Open the Drawing Tool and click the controls to add figures from the Drafting Library that are available in the Drawing menu, the toolbar, the Sheets panel, or the figure navigation bar below the drawing canvas.


  3. View Figures across your library or by file.

    You can narrow your focus by searching for files containing figures you want in your current draft as described above.

  4. Use the Add after control available on hover to bring an individual sheet or a single set of subnumbered figures into your current .rp file after your selected existing figure

    OR

    Use the Add All control to bring in all of the figure sheets from one .rp file into your current work at the end of your figure list.


The Drafting Library is a new and extensive suite of features we hope will further accelerate your practice. We continue to investigate other ways to simplify your reuse of existing work product in new draft applications. We invite you to explore the Drafting Library interface and put it work. We look forward to any feedback you may have.


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