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Glossary of Spectora Terms

Words and definitions to help you understand what the Support team is referring to

Support Team avatar
Written by Support Team
Updated over a week ago

General Terms

Inspection
A scheduled order where a report is created and edited.

Report
The actual HTML or PDF report.

Template
The "Blueprint" which reports are created from.  Making edits to templates will only effect future reports. It will not change current or past reports.  

Modifier
The age of the house, the square footage, or the age of home which can add additional fees and time automatically into your inspection request/creation.  

Online Scheduler
The program which controls your schedule and allows clients and agents to request services.

Support Staff
Any unpaid member of team. Roles and permissions can be determined by admin authorized inspectors. 

Top-Rated Home Inspection Software - Powerful & Intuitive Spectora 2025-09-23 at 7.38.33 AM


Desktop Terms

Add-Ons
Additional services which can be added on, linked to main services. Can also be used for giving discounts with a negative number value. 

Services 2025-09-23 at 7.41.32 AM

Add Report Attachment
When adding an attachment to an inspection, you can hit this button to have the attachment show up in the Reports box instead of the Attachments box.  

1234 Denver St 2025-09-23 at 7.43.18 AM

Attachments
Additional attachments available in the Client Portal, not attached to email. 

Automation
The system of emails which will be triggered by specific events (booking, adding a fee or attachment, report ready, scheduling and reminders).  

Client/Agent View  
A way inspectors can see the Client Portal which the client can sign agreements, pay fees, and view the report.

Counts Summary  
The optional feature to have how many items you inspected at the top of the report with your finding.   

Inspection Details Page
The page of the website dedicated to that individual inspection.  This is the inspector's portal to all the agreement, reports, fees, scheduling associated with a single inspection. This can be accessed from the Inspections search or by clicking the inspection on the calendar.

Screen Recording 2025-09-23 at 07.56.26 AM

Placeholder
The curly brackets {{PLACE_HOLDER}} within automated emails and agreements which auto-populate with information for each inspection.  

Publish  
The action of releasing the report and triggering the automated emails which will allow the client/agent to view the report on the portal.  

1234 Denver St 2025-09-23 at 7.47.09 AM


Template Terms

Checkbox
Comment answer type with two opotiond: Checked and Unchecked.  

Classic Ratings
Fixed Ratings buttons, linked for less taps, such as tapping Not Inspected will untap Inspected automatically, Limitation and Defect comments will only be displayed if the Defect rating is marked.  

Custom Ratings
Rating are unlinked from each other, any combination is possible, all comments will always be displayed.

Comment
The smallest container of information containing the informational comments, limitations, and defects observations, "Column 3"  

Cost Estimator
​ 
The optional feature that when enabled adds a button to the report writer with a slider to set the price of defect recommendations.   

Default Text
The text which will automatically be included in a section, item, or comment box.  Not the same as the standards of practice.  

Informational Comment
A general comment type in the Comments Column.   Need to be completed to achieve the 'Green check" status. 

Items
The middle container of information. "Column 2." 

Limitation
An observational comment in the Comments Column, usually connected to Not Inspected or Not Present  

Section
The largest container of information - usually a room name or system type. "Column 1."

Minimize Whitespace Layout
Feature that will organize your smaller comments and larger comments together resulting in the reduction of white space on the report.    

Spectora Template Editor 2025-09-15 at 7.46.39 AM

Text Comment
Comment box type with "Enter Value" for typing things like serial numbers into the report;  a value must be typed in for the box to be activated. 


Report Terms

HTML Web Report  
The version of the report which is viewable online.  

Location Tags
Customizable or default tags to mark the location of a comment of any type. Customizable in Settings > Location Tags or can be made custom on site in the app.

PDF Report
The savable, printable version of the report accessible through the HTML report.

Item Rating
The grid of buttons containing Inspected, Not Inspected, Not Present, or Defect/Observation. Ratings for each item. Optional to use, two options of Classic or Custom Ratings.

Ambear (DM) - Spectora - 1 new item - Slack 2025-09-23 at 8.08.13 AM

Recommendations / Recommended Contractors
The qualified professional who would be recommended to fix a defect or observation. 

Summary Header Text
The text that will always show at the top of your report.  Not connected directly to the Summary of Defects.   

Full Sync

Troubleshooting option to run on the web to ensure all data is synced from the app to the web report.

1234 Denver St - Spectora Report Editor 2025-09-23 at 8.32.47 AM

Force Payload Rebuild

Troubleshooting option to run on the web, typically after a Full Sync, to ensure all media shows on the web report viewer. Use this if photos are missing on the web report.

1234 Denver St - Spectora Report Editor 2025-09-23 at 8.34.46 AM


App Terms

Annotator
The feature when you take a photo where you can mark up the picture. Auto-Annotate can be turned on and off in the settings section of your app.

Ambear (DM) - Spectora - 1 new item - Slack 2025-09-23 at 8.10.58 AM

Sync

Sync all data from app to the web report.

Ambear (DM) - Spectora - 1 new item - Slack 2025-09-23 at 8.14.56 AM

Send Debug
An important troubleshooting step when experiencing any app issues. Sending the debug information goes straight to our Developers.

Ambear (DM) - Spectora - 1 new item - Slack 2025-09-23 at 8.17.28 AM

Gallery
The pool of preexisting pictures on your device you can pull from to input in your report.  
​ 

Ambear (DM) - Spectora - 1 new item - Slack 2025-09-23 at 8.21.18 AM

Retry Media Upload
​Option to use to retry media upload from app to the web.

Ambear (DM) - Spectora - 1 new item - Slack 2025-09-23 at 8.19.26 AM

Download Template
Refreshes data from the template to the report (at the time the report was built, changes made to the template will not retroactively update on a report that's already built, even when using this option). Use when missing Sections, Items or Comments in the app.

Ambear (DM) - Spectora - 1 new item - Slack 2025-09-23 at 8.26.25 AM

 
​Single Shot Camera

The +Photo option in the app, takes one photo at a time.

Ambear (DM) - Spectora - 1 new item - Slack 2025-09-23 at 8.45.44 AM

Rapid Fire Camera

The +Photos option in the app. Takes multiple photos at a time.

Ambear (DM) - Spectora - 1 new item - Slack 2025-09-23 at 8.47.20 AM



✨ If you're looking for all the different app settings and what they mean, check out this article!


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