Overview
KonstructIQ uses AI to read the plans and photos you upload and turn them into a scope of work. Most files process quickly, but very large or very complex plan sets can be slow to process or fail — sometimes with a message about "too many tokens." This guide explains what that means and how to get your plans to process successfully.
What "too many tokens" means
"Tokens" are the units of information the AI reads when it analyzes your files. A very large or highly detailed plan set contains a lot of information, and if it exceeds what the AI can process in a single pass, you'll see a message that too many tokens are being used. This is not a problem with your account or a sign that anything is broken — it simply means the upload is too big or too complex to process all at once, and needs to be broken down.
File size and page-count guidance
There is no single hard limit, because it depends on how complex each page is (scanned image PDFs are much heavier than clean vector PDFs). As a general guide, files tend to start running into trouble when they get:
Larger than about 400 MB, and/or
More than about 500 pages.
These are rough thresholds, not strict cutoffs — a heavily scanned 300-page set can fail while a clean 600-page set succeeds. If you're anywhere near these ranges, the steps below will help.
How to get large plans to process
Upload only the sheets you need. You rarely need every page of a full plan set for a scope. Remove sheets that aren't relevant to the trades you're estimating.
Split the file into smaller sets. Break a large PDF into smaller pieces and upload them separately. (You can use KonstructIQ's PDF tools to split and merge files.)
Compress or flatten scanned PDFs. Scanned or photographed plans are far heavier than digital ones. Compressing them reduces the file size significantly.
Upload fewer files at once. If you're uploading multiple documents and photos together, try processing them in smaller batches.
Focus the scope extraction. Narrowing the scope to the specific trades you need helps the AI process a large set more efficiently.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
I split the file and it still fails. Try smaller pieces still, and check whether the PDF is a large scanned image — compressing it often makes the difference.
Is there a maximum file size? There's no fixed maximum, but the larger and more complex the file, the more likely it is to hit the limit. Around 400 MB and 500+ pages is where issues typically begin.
Did I lose my work? No. A failed upload doesn't affect your project or any existing estimates.
Quick Reference
If plans won't process or you see "too many tokens": the file is too big or complex to read in one pass.
Fix it by: uploading only the sheets you need → splitting the PDF into smaller sets → compressing scanned files → uploading fewer files at a time.
Rough thresholds: trouble tends to start above ~400 MB or ~500 pages, but it varies with file complexity.