How to lodge electronic files for development and building applications

Digital requirements for electronic copies of plans and documents to accompany your application.

Published

Takeaways

  • To lodge a development or building certification application, electronic copies of all plans and documents are required.
  • Electronic documents lodged with your application must satisfy our digital requirements, including file format, size, resolution and naming conventions.

How to create a PDF

While not every computer user will have the same software as you to view your text or graphic files, the software to read PDFs is free and widely installed. PDF is often used as a print-friendly format on the web. PDFs are also:

  • a compressed file
  • viewed the same on any computer
  • able to include any text, tables or graphics in a single file.

Converting your files

There are numerous PDF conversion software products available. Most user needs can be met by using Adobe Acrobat, which is a separate product to Acrobat Reader. Acrobat provides 3 ways to create PDF files:

  • PDF Writer – the quickest and easiest method to create PDF files.
  • Acrobat Distiller – uses a more intensive process to optimise compression and functionality.
  • Acrobat Capture – converts scanned paper documents into PDF pages.

The exact method of creating a PDF file depends on the version of Acrobat you have installed.

Online services

Many companies on the web offer PDF conversion services such as:

While some are free, others charge a fee.