Can I Add Notes Before Submitting a Document

Yes. The upload screen has three optional note fields, and they are part of the normal flow rather than something hidden behind an advanced option.

The three fields

• About this document — what it is for and anything relevant about the project. "Refurbishment of an occupied school, works during term time, asbestos survey identified ACMs in the ceiling voids."
• Sections to focus on — what you particularly want checked. "Concentrate on the emergency arrangements and the rescue plan."
• Concerns or known issues — what you already suspect. "The subcontractor reused a previous document and I think the muster point is wrong."

All three are optional and a scan runs perfectly well without them. They are stitched into a single note that accompanies the document through the review.

What they change

They change what the review pays attention to, not what it checks. The standard structural checks run either way; the notes shape emphasis, so a document submitted with a concern about emergency arrangements comes back with that section examined more closely and the finding written in those terms.

When they are worth the thirty seconds

• The project has an unusual constraint — occupied premises, a live railway, restricted hours, an asbestos register.
• You are reviewing somebody else's document and already have a suspicion.
• The document covers an activity your template does not normally handle.
• You are resubmitting and want the revision checked against a specific earlier finding.

What not to put in them

Personal data you do not need to share — names, phone numbers, anything about individuals. The notes travel with the document and are covered by the same retention and deletion rules, but the shortest route to protecting personal data is not sending it. See GDPR and your data.

Notes are also a good place to record what a briefing or a toolbox talk turned up about a method, so the context is attached to the document rather than living in somebody's inbox — what a toolbox talk is covers why that feedback is worth capturing at all.