---
title: How to let your technician mark defects on a photo
description: Switch on defect marking for a photo field, and your technician rings and numbers what they found, names each one, and the report prints the photo with the numbers on it.
published: 2026-08-25
updated: 2026-08-25
---

# How to let your technician mark defects on a photo

A photograph of a weld shows the weld. It does not show which part of it your
technician was writing about. Stratum Track lets them ring and number what they
found, right on the photo, and each number carries a type and a description through
to the client's report.

This takes about a minute to switch on.

## What you need

- A manager login.
- A form with a photo field on the step where the defects are found.

## Step 1: Switch it on for that photo field

Go to **Manage Templates**, open your form with **Actions**, then **Review**. On
the **Structure** tab find the photo field and turn on **Let the technician mark
defects**, then press **Save Changes**.

![The defect marking switch on a photo field](/assets/screens/photo-defects-01-switch.webp)

## Step 2: Open the photo on the job

Your technician takes the photo as they always have. Pressing the eye button on
the photo now opens it with the marking tools underneath.

![The photo viewer, ready for the first defect](/assets/screens/photo-defects-02-viewer.webp)

## Step 3: Tap the photo

Every tap drops a numbered ring where they tapped, and opens a line underneath for
what it is. **Type** is the short name, such as Undercut or Porosity. **Description**
is the detail, such as how long it is and where on the weld it sits. **Ring size**
makes the circle bigger or smaller for a large defect or a pinhole.

![The first ring, and the line where its type and description go](/assets/screens/photo-defects-03-first-ring.webp)

## Step 4: Keep going

Each new tap gets the next number. The chips along the bottom are how they move
between the ones they have already marked, and **Remove** takes one off.

![Two defects marked and named](/assets/screens/photo-defects-04-two-rings.webp)

## Step 5: Close it and carry on

The marks are kept as soon as the viewer closes. They show on the photo on the
step, so anyone opening the job later sees them without opening the photo.

![The marks showing on the step](/assets/screens/photo-defects-05-on-the-step.webp)

## What the client sees

Stratum Track prints the photo with the numbers on it wherever that photo appears
in your report. Nothing else to set up.

The list of findings beside it is a loop you put in your Word document once:

```
{%tr for d in fields.weld_photo.defects %}
```

Each pass gives you `d.photo_no`, `d.number`, `d.type` and `d.description`, so your
client reads the photo and the list together instead of guessing which mark the
paragraph is about. Ask us if you would rather we put it in your document for you.

## Worth knowing

- **The numbers stay with the ring they were drawn on.** Removing number 2 does not renumber the rest.
- **It is off unless you turn it on.** A photo field with the switch off behaves exactly as it always has.
- **You set it per photo field.** Switch it on for the weld photo and leave the general site photos plain.
- **Sixty marks per photo.** More than that on one picture and it is two pictures.

## Common questions

#### Does my technician need a different app?

No. It is the same photo they already take on the step, opened the same way.

#### Can they move a ring after they have drawn it?

They can remove it and tap again. The next ring takes the next number.

#### What happens if they mark nothing?

Nothing. The photo prints as it always has.