Finishing drawings

Some tools finish by themselves, others wait for you: a polyline, an area or a cloud keeps adding points until you tell it you are done, and a count keeps adding to the same group. This page explains exactly how to finish each kind of tool, with the mouse, the keyboard or on a tablet.

The drawing guide

As soon as you pick a drawing tool, a bar appears over the top of the drawing:

• Left: the tool's name. If you armed a tool from the tool chest, its name is shown instead (for example "CAM - Camera").
• Middle: what to do next. It changes as you draw, e.g. "Click to place the first point", then "Click to add points · Double-click or Enter = finish · Backspace = undo last point · Esc = cancel".
• Buttons while a line or shape is in progress: Finish, Undo point, Cancel. While counting: Finish group and Undo last. They do the same as the keys, which matters on tablets without a keyboard.
• Exit tool (Esc): back to the Select tool.
• ?: opens this page.
• ×: hides the guide. View → Drawing guide turns it back on.

When a shape needs more points, the bar says "2 more point(s) needed" and Finish stays grey.

Lines and shapes with many points

Tools: Polyline, Polygon, Cloud, Area, Perimeter, Polylength and Space.

1. Click to place the first point.
2. Click for every next point (corner).
3. Finish in any of these ways:
   • double-click the last point, or
   • press Enter, or
   • click Finish on the guide.

While drawing:

• Backspace (or Undo point) removes the last point. Press it again to keep stepping back.
• Esc (or Cancel) throws away the shape in progress. The tool stays active, so you can start again right away.
• Hold Shift while clicking to keep the next segment at 45° steps.
• Hold Alt while clicking to place the point exactly where you click, without snapping to the drawing.

Good to know:

• Minimum points: Polyline and Polylength need 2; Polygon, Cloud, Area, Perimeter, Space and Angle need 3. Pressing Enter or double-clicking before then does nothing: keep clicking (or Esc to cancel).
• Double-click = the last point. Double-click on the last corner; the second click of the double-click does not add an extra point.
• Rectangles in one go: press on the first corner and drag, then release. Cloud, Polygon, Area, Perimeter and Space draw a rectangle and finish by themselves. With Polylength, press-and-drag draws one straight length.
• Angle: click one end, then the corner (vertex), then the other end. The angle finishes by itself on the third click. It always needs all three points: Enter, Finish and double-click do not finish it earlier, and a double-click on a point does not count as the next point.

Two-point tools

Tools: Line, Arrow, Length and Calibrate.

• Click the start, then click the end. Or press at the start, drag and release at the end.
• After the first click you can type the length instead of clicking the end (next section).
• Esc (or Cancel) throws the line away.
• Calibrate: after the second click, the Set scale dialog asks for the real length. See Measure.

Typing a length (sketch to scale)

While drawing a line, a length, a polyline, an area or any other shape, after the first point just type the length. What you type appears next to the pointer. Press Enter and the next point is placed exactly that far away, in the direction of the pointer.

• Angles after < are in degrees, counted counter-clockwise from pointing right: 0 = right, 90 = up, 180 = left, 270 = down.
• Backspace corrects what you typed. Esc clears it (a second Esc cancels the shape).
• The page needs a scale first. Without one you get "Set the page scale first (Calibrate)."
• The first character must be a digit, and you need to have placed the first point.
• Typing a length is not available for the Calibrate tool itself.

Counts

Count (Shift+C) and every count tool from the tool chest:

• Each click counts one item. All clicks in a row belong to one count group: one markup that shows the total.
• To end the group, press Enter or click Finish group. The next click starts a new group.
• Undo last takes back the last click of the group (Ctrl+Z works too).
• The guide shows how many are in the group, e.g. "12 in this group".
• Esc, or choosing another tool, ends the group and leaves the Count tool.

Why groups matter: each group is one line in the Markups list and the takeoff ledger. Start a new group per room, floor or device type if you want them listed separately.

Drag tools and one-click tools

• Rectangle, Ellipse, Highlight: press, drag and release. The markup is done when you release.
• Stamp, Link, Table: drag a box, or click once for the default size.
• Text box: click (or drag a box) and type. Click outside the box to finish, or press Esc or Ctrl+Enter.
• Pen: press and drag. Each release ends one stroke; keep drawing more strokes, then pick another tool.
• Note, Field photo, Sign: click to place.

Text box, Note, Stamp, Link, Table and Field photo go back to the Select tool by themselves after you place them.

Leaving a tool

• Esc: the first Esc cancels what is in progress (a typed length, then a half-drawn shape). With nothing in progress, Esc returns to the Select tool and clears the selection.
• Press V, or click Exit tool (Esc) on the guide.
• An armed tool chest tool also stops when you choose another drawing tool, click the tool again, or click the × next to its name at the top of the tool chest (estimating profiles also show it in the status bar).

Snapping

In Pro profiles, points snap to the drawing's line ends, intersections, midpoints and lines (on vector PDFs), within a few pixels of the pointer. A small marker shows the snap point.

• Hold Alt while clicking to place a point without snapping.
• Turn snapping off or on: Takeoff → Snap to drawing (the menu is called Measure in profiles without estimating).
• Count clicks never snap: they stay in the middle of the device you clicked.

On a tablet

• One finger draws with a drawing tool. Two fingers pinch and pan; a second finger cancels whatever the first one started.
• After you use a pen, fingers only pan and zoom, so your palm can rest on the screen.
• There is no Enter key and double-taps are unreliable: use Finish, Finish group, Undo point and Cancel on the guide.

If something doesn't work

• Finish is grey: the shape doesn't have enough points yet.
• Enter does nothing: the keyboard is in a text box (Properties, search…). Click on the drawing first.
• Typed numbers don't appear: place the first point first, and start with a digit.
• The shape went somewhere unexpected: snapping pulled the point to a nearby line. Hold Alt while clicking, or turn off Snap to drawing.
• The guide is gone: View → Drawing guide.

Related

• Markup
• Measure
• Tool chest and symbols
• Keyboard shortcuts