Getting a sketch into Xactimate: what an ESX file is
Re-drawing a room in Xactimate that you already walked with a phone is the single most avoidable hour in restoration estimating.
What an ESX is
ESX is the file format Xactimate uses to move an estimate between machines and between people. Underneath, it is a container holding the estimate’s structured data — including the sketch: rooms, their dimensions, and how they connect.
That is what makes it interesting to anybody who has already measured the building with something else. If the geometry can go in as data, nobody has to re-draw it.
What carries across, and what does not
| Thing | Travels in an ESX? |
|---|---|
| Room dimensions and shape | Yes — this is the point |
| Room names | Yes |
| Ceiling height | Yes |
| Door and window openings | Yes, as part of the sketch |
| Your line items and pricing | Yes, if the estimate has them |
| Photographs | Depends on how the estimate was assembled — do not assume |
| Your own moisture log | No — that is your documentation, not Xactimate’s |
Import is not a substitute for reviewing. Whatever comes in should be checked against the room before it is priced, exactly as a sketch drawn by hand would be.
The workflow that saves the hour
Measure once, on site
Walk the room, mark the damage while standing in front of it, put a tape on one wall running each way.
Export the geometry
An ESX carrying the rooms and their dimensions.
Import and price in Xactimate
The sketch is already there. You are pricing, not drawing.
Keep your own documentation separate
Photographs, moisture readings and the loss narrative live in your file. The estimate is one document in a claim, not the whole claim.
Why the measurements have to be honest first
An ESX will carry whatever geometry you give it, including geometry a phone guessed at. Once it is inside an estimating package it looks exactly like geometry somebody measured, because the format has nowhere to record the difference.
That is the argument for settling it before export. Trueline keeps each wall’s provenance visible right up to the moment you export — and the app will tell you which walls have never had a tape on them, so the decision to export anyway is a decision rather than an oversight.
Check these five things after any import
Room names
They travel, and they are frequently whatever the capturing app called them — "Room 3" is not a room name an adjuster can work with.
Ceiling heights
The single value most likely to be a default rather than a measurement. Check every room, not the first one.
Openings
Doors and windows carry across as part of the sketch. Confirm the count against the room, because a missed opening is a deduction that never happens.
Anything the capture guessed at
Bay windows, curved walls, deep bulkheads. These are where an automated capture produces a clean, confident, wrong shape.
Whether the geometry was ever measured
An ESX has nowhere to record this, so it has to come from you. Whatever you imported now looks exactly like something somebody taped.
What the format cannot tell you
This is the part worth sitting with. An ESX is a container for structured estimate data, and there is no field in it that says "this wall was scanned and never checked". Once geometry is inside an estimating package it is indistinguishable from geometry somebody measured, and every number derived from it inherits that.
Which means the discipline has to happen before export, not after. Settle which walls have had a tape on them, fix the ones that matter, and then export — because after that, the information is gone.
Trueline is deliberately noisy about this on the way out: it will tell you which walls have never been measured at the point you ask for an export, so exporting anyway is a decision somebody made rather than something that happened.
Questions people ask
- What is an ESX file?
- It is the file Xactimate uses to move an estimate between machines and people. It holds the estimate’s structured data including the sketch — rooms, dimensions and how they connect — which is why it is the useful format for getting a room you measured elsewhere into Xactimate without re-drawing it.
- Can I import a phone room scan into Xactimate?
- If the app can produce an ESX carrying the sketch geometry, yes. Check what came in against the room before pricing it, the same as you would a sketch drawn by hand.
- Do photographs travel in an ESX?
- It depends on how the estimate was assembled, so do not assume they will. Keep your photographic documentation in your own file regardless — the estimate is one document in a claim rather than the whole claim.
- What should I check after importing a sketch into Xactimate?
- Room names, ceiling heights on every room rather than the first, the opening count against the actual room, anything unusual the capture had to guess at, and — most importantly — whether the geometry was ever physically measured.
- Does an ESX record whether measurements were taken with a tape?
- No. There is no field for it, so once geometry is inside an estimating package it is indistinguishable from geometry somebody measured. That is why the decision has to be made before export.
Where this fits with Trueline
Trueline is an iPhone app that measures a room, takes it off, prices it from your own rate book and turns it into a proposal — with every length carrying whether it was scanned, drawn or measured, right onto the document a client reads. See how it works, or take the free templates and use them with whatever you already have.