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Cella PDF

PDF markup, takeoff, sketching and set review for construction drawings

Redline and measure sets to scale, sketch options on trace paper with your pen, and compare every new issue with the last. Mark up live with your team, ask your AI assistant about the set, and keep it all in ordinary PDFs on your own computer.

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Mac, Windows and Linux · Free 14-day trial · $149 once, no subscription

Cella PDF on a Mac showing sheet A-101, the first floor plan of a clinic, covered in review markups: red revision clouds with a revision tag, blue callouts, area measurements of 680.06 SF and 453.37 SF, counts of 14 EA and 7 EA, and Reviewed and For Coordination stamps. The Properties panel shows the selected cloud's revision, description and status, the Markups List lists the set's 32 markups, and the filmstrip shows the twelve sheets of the set.
$149 onceNo subscription. Updates included.
14-day free trialNo sign-up, no card.
Mac, Windows, LinuxThe same app everywhere.
Your files stay yoursNo account, no cloud.

Review, measure and price drawing sets

A 45-second silent demo of Cella PDF on a Mac, on sheet A-101, the first floor plan of a clinic. The firm's Bluebeam tool set is imported. A revision cloud with a revision tag and a callout, "Move desk 2 feet east", is drawn round the reception desk. A REVIEWED stamp and a signature are placed. A teammate, Dan L., joins live and boxes the stair with the note "Verify clearances". The waiting room is measured at 680.06 square feet and seven exam tables are counted, and the totals go out to a spreadsheet. The sheet is compared with the last issue and eight changes are clouded. Claude asks to add a cloud, accept a markup and reply to a note, and the change is allowed. It ends on the Cella PDF name and Mac, Windows, Linux and iPad.

Redlines that look the part

Clouds, callouts, text, arrows, stamps and highlights, plus numbered revision clouds and a revision schedule. Reply to markups and track their status.

A clinic floor plan in Cella PDF with review markups: Reviewed and For Coordination stamps, red revision clouds with a revision triangle, blue callouts, a selected cloud in the corridor, a 180'-0" length, counts of 14 EA and 7 EA and areas of 680.06 SF and 453.37 SF.
Clouds, callouts, stamps and revision tags on a floor plan

Measure to scale

Calibrate once, then measure lengths, areas, perimeters, angles and counts. Click inside a room and Cella PDF measures its area for you.

A selected area measurement of 680.06 SF over a room on a clinic floor plan in Cella PDF, with a length of 11'-6", a count of 7 EA and an area of 453.37 SF beside it.
Areas and counts measured to scale

Quantity takeoff with automatic totals

Every measurement lands in the Markups List, grouped by type with subtotals. Add your unit costs and export to Excel or CSV.

Every measurement, totalled

Compare revisions

Compare two issues of a sheet and Cella PDF clouds every change. Do a whole set at once, sheet by sheet.

A clinic floor plan in Cella PDF after comparing two issues: magenta revision clouds mark each change, including items taken out, new boxes and a new room name, OFFICE 114.
Every change between two issues, clouded

A folder is a set

Open a folder of PDFs as one drawing set. Search every sheet, jump between them and name the files from their sheet numbers.

Cella PDF with a folder of drawings open as a set: the Set list at the left shows twelve PDFs, from A-000 Cover Sheet to A-602 Door and Window Schedules, and the open cover sheet shows the Riverside Clinic title, a colour rendering of the building and the drawing index.
A folder of drawings open as one set

Work with your AI assistant

Ask the assistant you already use, such as Claude Desktop or Claude Code, which markups are still open, what the takeoff adds up to or what changed since the last issue. It reads the drawings you have open in Cella PDF.

Any change it suggests waits for you to click Allow, and one Undo takes it back. It's off until you turn it on, and every request is listed. Included with Cella PDF. How to connect →

Claude Desktop answering a question about sheet A-101 of the Riverside Clinic set from the sheet's own text: 23 numbered rooms averaging about 344 SF, a table of room sizes from the room tags, and a note that the sheet's area tabulation for the exam rooms doesn't match their tags.
An assistant answers from the drawings you have open

Works with Bluebeam

Open PDFs marked up in Bluebeam Revu with markups and custom columns intact. Import your Revu tool sets. Markups you make in Cella PDF show up exactly right in Revu and Acrobat.

Bluebeam and Revu are trademarks of Bluebeam, Inc. Acrobat is a trademark of Adobe. Cella PDF isn't affiliated with or endorsed by either.

More tools, built in

Everything is included in the one price. Click a tool to see it at work.

Offset

Copy lines, shapes and areas a set distance away.

Place PDF

Lay a consultant's drawing over your sheet, then move, scale and tint it.

Picture stamps

Turn a PNG or JPEG of your firm's stamp or logo into a stamp.

Sequences

Tags that number themselves: 1, 2, 3, A, B, C or D-01.

Snapshot

Copy part of a sheet as a picture you can move.

Borderless text

Text with no box around it, on screen and in the PDF.

Callout leaders

Move the box and the arrow keeps its point; add as many leaders as you need.

Autosize Text Box

Fit a text box or callout to its words with one key.

A better pen

Smooth strokes that follow pen pressure, with Steadying, and favourites on keys 1 to 9.

Ortho at any angle

Keep lines straight, even on a skewed plan.

Legends

A live legend table that keeps up as you draw.

Edit Text

Fix a wrong label right in the drawing.

Volumes and cut-outs

Volumes, openings cut out of areas, and scale regions for details.

Slope and 3D length

True lengths for pipe runs, ramps and roofs.

Spaces from rooms

Find every room, name it from its label and total by room.

Take-off summary

Quantities per room, sheet or layer, in Excel.

Formula columns

Columns such as area × unit cost, totalled for you.

Saved list views

Keep your sort, groups and columns; Review and Take-off built in.

Markups Table

Every markup in a wide table to sort, filter and save as a view.

Trace Paper

See-through sheets to sketch on, each its own PDF layer.

Compare what's open

Compare an issue with any PDF you already have open.

Zoom to extents

Double-click the middle mouse button to see the whole sheet, as in CAD.

Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive

Open drawings where your firm keeps them, and save back as a new version.

Cloud sets

Open a cloud folder as a set; only the files that changed are downloaded again.

Saves that go back up

Save keeps the file here first, then uploads a new version, and asks if someone else got there first.

Resubmittal Report

The plan reviewer's response, written for you: every change since the last submission with before-and-after pictures, and each review comment answered.

Send to Client

One copy with only what the client should see; internal notes, statuses and authors are taken out, not hidden.

Presentation mode

Full screen for the meeting: a laser pointer, arrow keys between sheets, type a sheet number to jump.

Check the set before issue

One report of callouts to missing sheets, duplicate or skipped numbers, index gaps, stray revision triangles and open markups, each a click from its sheet.

Seal Set

Your seal, signature and statement on every sheet of an issued set, each file signed digitally, with a verification page.

Visual Search

Find and count every instance of a symbol.

Exports

Excel, CSV, DXF, PDF/A and flattened copies to issue.

Whole drawing sets

Open a folder as one set and search every sheet.

Slip-sheeting

Drop in a new issue and every markup stays in place.

Sheet Index

Read the cover sheet's index to name and order the set.

Transmittals

Print a set as one job with a transmittal cover.

Detect Revisions

Fill the revision schedule from each title block.

Changes Since

Outline everything changed after a date or a revision.

Overlay Pages

Two to four sheets over each other, each in its own colour.

Sheet links

Every sheet number on the drawings becomes a link.

OCR for scans

Make scanned sheets searchable.

Reduce File Size

Shrink scanned sets small enough to email.

Pictures as sheets

Open a PNG or JPEG as a drawing, or add photos as sheets.

Page tools

Split, combine, crop, resize, stamp, headers and footers, Bates numbers.

PDF forms

Fill RFIs, transmittals and checklists.

Redaction

Remove sensitive content for good.

Digital signatures

Sign and certify PDFs with your certificate.

Safe saving

Every save checked, with autosave and crash recovery.

Split View

Two sheets side by side, in sync.

Command palette

One shortcut finds any command, sheet, tool or markup; documents open in tabs.

Your shortcuts

Change any key, and share them in your firm's profile.

Invert Drawing

White lines on black for late nights.

Print

Tile big sheets, print in grey or as an image.

AI assistants

Your assistant reads the set; you approve each change.

Office standards

Share tool sets and lock your firm's styles.

Project Tools

Share tools with everyone on a synced project; on the Mac, see who's on the sheet.

Screenshots

Straight from Cella PDF. Click to see it full size.

Cella PDF showing sheet A-201 Exterior Elevations of the twelve-sheet Riverside Clinic set, with a filmstrip of sheet thumbnails labelled with their sheet numbers along the bottom.
Every sheet in a filmstrip, labelled with its number
Cella PDF in Split View: the floor plan A-101 on the left and the reflected ceiling plan A-121 on the right, at the same zoom.
Split View: two sheets side by side
Cella PDF in dark mode with a text box selected on a clinic floor plan and the Markups List grouped by author.
Light or dark, your choice
The Rectangle tool in Cella PDF showing a dashed cyan alignment guide where its edge lines up with a revision cloud.
Snapping guides line markups up
Cella PDF with a revision cloud selected on sheet A-101 of the Riverside Clinic set: the People section of Properties shows its author, created and modified dates, a reply, and a history of who created it, modified it, set its status to Accepted and replied.
See who changed each markup, and when
Cella PDF Profiles window showing the Acme Standard profile with locked tool styles, status values and default scale, beside the Tool Style and Status values editors.
Firm standards, locked on every seat

One price. No subscription.

Cella PDF
$149
one time
  • For Mac, Windows and Linux
  • Every 1.x update included
  • Every feature, nothing held back
  • 14-day free trial first, no sign-up
Download

Try it free

  1. Download Cella PDF and open it.
  2. Use every feature free for 14 days.

Buy in the app

  1. In Cella PDF, choose Buy Cella PDF… and check out. Your license key arrives by email.
  2. Choose Enter License Key… and paste it.

Download Cella PDF

Try every feature free for 14 days. No payment details.

The Cella PDF Welcome window: the app icon, Version 1.0, Open PDF and Open Folder as Set buttons and a drop zone at the left, and six recent drawings and sets of the Riverside Clinic project as cards with a picture of each first sheet at the right.
Cella PDF opens on your recent drawings and sets

Mac

Download for Mac 103.7 MB

Requirements

macOS 12 Monterey or later, Apple silicon or Intel.

Install

Open the .dmg and drag Cella PDF into Applications.

Windows

Download for Windows 160.4 MB Or the .zip, no installer (158.8 MB)

Requirements

Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.

Install

Use the .msi for mass or automated deployments.

Linux

Ubuntu .deb (x86_64) 115.7 MB Ubuntu .deb (arm64) 114.3 MB Arch package (x86_64) 116.4 MB

Requirements

Ubuntu 24.04 or later, or Arch Linux (including Omarchy).

Install

sudo apt install ./cella_1.3.4-1_amd64.deb
sudo pacman -U cella-bin-1.3.4-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

Ready to buy? Choose Buy Cella PDF… in the app, or Enter License Key… if you have one. · User Guide

Built for architects and builders

Architects

Redline progress sets, cloud revisions and issue clean PDFs.

Construction administration

Track RFIs and submittal comments with status and replies.

Estimators

Measure, count and price takeoffs, then export to Excel.

The whole project team

Consultants and clients can view every markup free.

Work together in real time

With Atrium, Cella PDF's sync server, everyone's markups reach the whole project team as they're made. Work offline and changes sync when you're back.

Run it yourself

Free

One Docker container on your own server, with everything it needs included.

Hosted by Sorted Solution

We run and look after it for your firm. Ask about hosting →

What's new in Cella PDF

Cella PDF 1.3.4

  • Resubmittal Report. File ▸ Set ▸ Resubmittal Report… writes the plan reviewer's response for you: a cover, what changed on each sheet since the last submission with a before-and-after picture of every change, and the reviewer's numbered comments answered, typed in or read from the reviewer's marked-up PDF; the responses as an Excel workbook too.
  • Open and save where your firm keeps its sets. Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive, from File ▸ Open from Cloud…, Open Set from Cloud… and Save to Cloud…; Save uploads a new version after saving on your computer. Sign in through the service's own page in your browser.
  • Seal Set. A seal preset (your seal and signature pictures, licensee and licence number, the jurisdiction's statement, where it goes in the title block, the certificate to sign with) applied to the chosen sheets of a document or a whole folder set (all, a range, a sheet-number pattern such as A-*), in place or as copies; each file signed digitally once, and a verification page listing the sealed sheets. Document ▸ Seal Set… and Seal Presets…
  • Send to Client. One copy of the drawing with only what the client should see: tick what goes (comments and replies, statuses, authors, dates), leave out Rejected markups or whole layers, and flatten the rest into the sheets or keep it editable. What you leave out is taken out of the file, not hidden; the original is untouched.
  • Presentation mode. Full screen for the meeting: the sheet fitted, a laser pointer under the mouse that never becomes a markup, arrow keys between sheets, type a sheet number to jump, Esc to leave.
  • Check the set before issue. Document ▸ Check Set… reads every sheet of the document or the folder set and lists callouts that point at sheets not in the set, duplicate and skipped sheet numbers, sheets missing from the drawing index, revision triangles with no schedule entry and the unresolved markups on each sheet, each an Error or a Check a double-click from its place. Ignore what's fine, run it again after fixing, and export the report as a PDF, Excel or CSV.

Cella PDF 1.3.2

  • Right-click menus everywhere. Right-click a sheet in the Sheets strip to rotate, move, insert, extract or delete it, and a row in the Markups Table for the markup's commands.

Cella PDF 1.3

  • Callouts that keep their point. Drag a callout's box and its arrow stays on the same spot; right-click to add more leaders.
  • Autosize Text Box. Fit a text box or callout to its words with one key.
  • A better pen. Smooth strokes that follow pen pressure, Steadying for a shaky hand, a pause to straighten a stroke into a line, and your favourite pens on keys 1 to 9.
  • Ortho at any angle. F8 keeps lines straight, and a sheet can have its own angle for a skewed plan.
  • The Markups Table. Every markup in a wide table along the bottom of the window: sort, filter and arrange the columns, and save it as a view.
  • Trace Paper. See-through sheets over a drawing to sketch on, each its own PDF layer you can name, stack, show or hide.
  • Compare what's open. Compare Documents and Compare With offer the PDFs you already have open.
  • Zoom to extents. Double-click the middle mouse button to see the whole sheet, as in CAD.

Cella PDF 1.2.2

  • Your own approval stamp. Turn a PNG or JPEG of your firm's stamp or logo into a stamp, in its own colours.
  • Place PDF. Lay a consultant's drawing over your sheet, then move, scale, tint and fade it.
  • Offset. Copy lines, shapes and areas a set distance away.
  • Borderless text. Turn off a text box's outline, on screen and in the saved PDF.
  • Open pictures. A PNG or JPEG opens as a one-sheet drawing, ready to mark up.

Cella PDF 1.2.1

  • Snapshot on the Mac. Drag round part of a sheet to copy it as a picture you can move.

Cella PDF 1.2

  • AI assistants. Let an assistant such as Claude Desktop or Claude Code read your open drawings and suggest changes you approve one at a time. More.

Cella PDF 1.0

  • Markup and measurement. Clouds, callouts, stamps, and calibrated lengths, areas and counts.
  • Quantity takeoff. Automatic totals, unit costs and Excel export.
  • Compare revisions. Cloud every change between two issues, or a whole set.
  • Scans and signatures. OCR, Edit Text, Visual Search and digital signatures.
  • Real-time collaboration. Share markups live with Atrium.

FAQ

How much does Cella PDF cost?
$149, once. No subscription, and every 1.x update is included. See pricing.
How does the free trial work?
The 14-day trial starts the first time you open Cella PDF. Everything works. No sign-up, no card.
What happens when the trial ends?
Cella PDF becomes a free viewer: open, search and print drawings and read every markup. Marking up and measuring need a license key.
Who needs a license?
Anyone who marks up or measures. Everyone else on the project can open, search and print drawings and read every markup free.
Does Cella PDF run on Windows and Linux?
Yes. Cella PDF runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. Download it.
Does Cella PDF work with AI assistants?
Yes. Turn it on in Settings ▸ AI Assistants… and an assistant app such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, VS Code or Cursor can read your open drawings, markups, quantities and sheet text through MCP (Model Context Protocol). It's off until you turn it on, and it's included with Cella PDF. How to connect.
Can an AI assistant change my drawings?
Only if you choose Read and propose changes, and only by asking. Each change shows up with Allow and Deny, nothing happens until you click Allow, and an allowed change is one step of Undo.
Does anything leave my computer when I use an assistant?
Cella PDF itself sends nothing. The assistant is a separate app you choose, and what it reads from your drawings it may send to its own service under that service's terms. If you'd rather nothing goes anywhere, leave it off or use an assistant that runs on your own computer. Window ▸ AI Assistant Activity lists every request.
How do I move my license to a new computer?
On the old computer, open Cella PDF License… and choose Deactivate This Device…. Then enter your key on the new one.
Does it need an internet connection?
Only to activate your key and re-check it now and then. Cella PDF keeps working offline for up to 30 days.
Are my drawings uploaded anywhere?
No. There's no account and no cloud. Your drawings stay on your computer and your network. See our Privacy policy.
Do I need Atrium?
No. Atrium is optional, for teams who want markups shared live. More about Atrium.
What are the system requirements?
Mac: macOS 12 Monterey or later, Apple silicon or Intel. Windows: Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. Linux: Ubuntu 24.04 or later, or Arch Linux (including Omarchy).
Where is the user guide?
In the app under Help, and online: Cella PDF User Guide.

Try Cella PDF free for 14 days

No sign-up, no card. $149 once when you're ready.

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