What is ZeroCount?
ZeroCount is Ensign's automated counting and quantity takeoff tool for construction and engineering drawings. You upload PDFs, images, or DWG files, the platform automatically detects repeated symbols, and you spend your time reviewing and pricing the result rather than clicking on every fitting by hand.
ZeroCount sits alongside the rest of Ensign.Software. It connects to the same component database, contractor's choice items, and assemblies you already use in the estimating software — so anything you count can flow straight through to a priced job.
The three stages
Every drawing you open in ZeroCount moves through the same three stages. The stage indicator at the top of the screen always shows where you are.
- 1
Stage 1 — AOIs and Legends. Mark the areas of the drawing where ZeroCount should look for symbols, and point it at the legend so it knows what symbols to find. Press Submit to run detection.
- 2
Stage 2 — Review and amend symbols. Look through the symbols ZeroCount found, add any it missed, move markers between groups, and clean up false matches.
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Stage 3 — Organise and export. Final tidy-up — name groups, link them to database items for pricing, set up zones for room-by-room breakdowns, then export to Excel.
Full detail on the stages: The three-step workflow.
What you can do with ZeroCount
- Automatic symbol detection — find every instance of a symbol across a drawing in seconds, not hours.
- Five marker types — Detection (auto-found symbols), Unit (manual counts), Linear (lengths), Area (polygons), and Annotation. More on marker types.
- Multi-file projects — keep all the drawings for one job together, with cross-file totals and import between drawings.
- Scale-aware measurements — calibrate from a known distance or pick a preset; linear and area markers respect the scale automatically.
- Database, Contractor's Choice, and Assembly linking — bind groups to priced items and let ZeroCount work out the costs.
- Zones for room or area breakdowns — split totals by zone in the Excel export.
- Excel export — a workbook with one sheet per drawing plus a Totals sheet across the whole project.
Where to start
If you've never opened ZeroCount before, go to Your first count — start to finish. It walks you from sign-in to a saved Excel file in about ten minutes, using a single PDF as the example.
Once you're past the basics, browse the categories in the sidebar — Projects, Files & Drawings, the Detection Workflow, Markers & Groups, Measurements & Scale, Pricing & Database Links, Export & Reports, and Tips & Shortcuts.
Getting help
Use the search bar at the top of the help centre to jump to a specific feature, or browse the Tips & Shortcuts category for keyboard shortcuts and troubleshooting.