Attaching reports to borehole annotations

Video chapters: 0:00 How GeoDin organizes borehole report folders | 0:37 Finding document annotations | 1:14 Preparing the AttachKey field | 1:53 Selecting boreholes with linked documents | 2:25 Calculating the AttachKey values | 3:33 Enabling & generating attachment matches | 4:35 Adding the attachments | 5:34 Verifying the attached reports

When a Civil 3D drawing with GeoDin® Ground boreholes is brought into ArcGIS Pro (previous tutorial), the exported PDF reports can be attached to each borehole's document annotation - so the right geotechnical report opens from the right feature. This tutorial builds a matching key and runs the two geoprocessing tools that wire the PDFs to the annotations.

For the same workflow starting from GeoDin®-exported point layers (one record per borehole), see Attach reports in the GeoDin® documentation. The version below handles the Civil 3D annotation layer, where each borehole has multiple annotation records.

Step 1: Locate the reports and confirm the annotations

• On import, GeoDin® Ground creates a documents folder next to the drawing, structured by project with one subfolder per borehole, each holding that borehole's geotechnical report.
• Copy the report PDFs into one working folder to simplify matching.

The exported documents folder and a borehole's Geotech Soil Log PDF

• In the annotation layer's attribute table, confirm the borehole's document record: its RefName reads "1 document(s)".

The document annotation record in the attribute table

Step 2: Add a key field

• Open the feature class fields view and add a new field named AttachKey with Data Type = Text. Save the changes.

The AttachKey field added as Text

Step 3: Select only the document annotations

• Use Select By Attributes with the clause: RefName contains the text document.
• Apply and verify the selection count before continuing - the key must only be calculated for these records.

Selecting the document annotation records

Step 4: Calculate the key

• With the selection active, right-click AttachKey > Calculate Field, set Expression Type = Python, expression extract_bh(!Layer!), and this code block:

def extract_bh(layer):
    layer = layer.upper()

    # Define known prefix and suffix
    prefix = "LOC_BASE-"
    suffix = "-BASIC"

    if layer.startswith(prefix) and layer.endswith(suffix):
        return layer[len(prefix):-len(suffix)] + " -"

    return None

Calculate Field applied to the selected records only

• The trailing " -" is intentional: it makes the key specific enough to prefix-match exactly one report filename, so similarly named boreholes (BH1 vs. BH1A) cannot cross-match.

The populated key - borehole name plus trailing dash

Step 5: Enable attachments

• Open the feature class Properties > Manage and enable Attachments (attachments are a geodatabase feature - the annotation layer must be a geodatabase feature class, not a shapefile). Save.

Attachments enabled on the feature class

Step 6: Generate the match table

• Run the Generate Attachment Match Table geoprocessing tool:

  • Input Dataset: the annotation layer (selected records).
  • Input Folder: the working folder with the PDFs.
  • Key Field: AttachKey - Input Data Filter: *.pdf - Match Pattern: Prefix.

Generate Attachment Match Table with Match Pattern set to Prefix

Step 7: Add the attachments

• Run Add Attachments with the same input dataset, Input Join Field OBJECTID, the match table from step 6, and Match Join Field MatchID.

Add Attachments joining OBJECTID to MatchID

Step 8: Verify

• Click a document annotation in the scene and scroll its pop-up: the geotechnical report appears as an attachment.
• Spot-check one or two more boreholes to confirm the matching worked consistently.

The report attached to the annotation, verified in the pop-up

Optional settings

• Selection scope - calculate the key only for the selected document records; calculating across all rows creates incorrect matches.
• Key specificity - if several reports have similar names, make the key format more specific before matching (the trailing " -" exists for exactly this).

---

Working with attachment matching

Confirm attachments are enabled before running the match and add tools, and spot-check one borehole after each stage (key calculated, match table generated, attachments added) so a mismatch is caught one step from its cause rather than at the end.

---

Next step: Publish and review the model as a web scene - the attached reports stay available in the published scene's pop-ups.