SOTION, drawing and CAD

SOTION — the knowledge base

SOTION is the Notion-like knowledge base inside the system: nested pages, rich text, cover pictures and emoji icons.

Two features set it apart from a plain wiki:

• Variables — values placed on a page with the {{name}} notation and changed in one place. You define a threshold or a name repeated in procedures once.
• Select properties — labels added with the [[Status]] notation that carry one of a set of coloured options. The way to show a page's state (draft / to be reviewed / approved) inside the text.

Pages are sorted into the workspace, private or favourites; the sidebar navigates this hierarchy.

SODRAW — diagrams

The /sodraw command in a text field opens the draw.io editor. Flowcharts, architecture drawings, installation plans; all of them live inside the document and can be edited again.

The drawing is stored as SVG and carries its own source data inside — so it is not just a picture to look at; when opened it is a diagram that can be edited again. Printed to PDF it keeps its vector quality.

exTable — tables

Tables inside rich text are edited much like Excel: multi-cell selection, adding rows and columns, merging cells. For a small price table or a comparison matrix there is no need to open a separate file.

File pointers

You can add another file to a document not by copying it but by pointing to it. When the source file is updated, the pointer is updated too. This is what stops five separate copies of the same technical drawing circulating in five documents.

The CAD viewer

Technical files open in the browser; nothing is downloaded and no CAD program is needed.

The viewer can measure, show sections and read the texts in the drawing. On mobile it works with touch gestures and layers are reached from a side drawer.

A drawing that looks empty is not a broken file: in some DXF files all the geometry sits inside block definitions; the viewer resolves those too.

Which tool when