Moving around a drawing
A takeoff sheet is far bigger than the screen, and you will spend the day moving between a symbol you are capturing and the sheet as a whole. Getting comfortable with the canvas controls is the single biggest saving in the app.
Two things are worth knowing before anything else. Left-drag pans the drawing, so the mouse does the obvious thing when nothing is armed. And the wheel zooms towards the cursor, so you point at what you want and roll, rather than zooming to the middle and panning back.
The default controls
| Gesture | What happens |
|---|---|
| Left-drag on empty canvas | Pans the drawing. |
| Mouse wheel | Zooms in or out towards the cursor. |
| Middle-button drag | Pans the drawing, whether or not a tool is armed. |
| Middle-click three times in quick succession | Resets the zoom to fit the whole drawing on screen. |
| Alt held | Forces panning mode for as long as you hold it. |
| CTRL+DRAG on empty canvas | Draws a rubber-band rectangle and selects every marker inside it. |
| Left-click a marker | Selects it and opens the small floating action menu beside it. |
| Left-drag a selected marker or one of its grips | Moves or resizes it. |
| CTRL+CLICK with a Linear, Area or Zone tool armed | Places the next point of the line or polygon. |
| Right-click | Finishes a Linear, Area or Zone polygon. With any other tool armed it cancels the tool; with nothing armed it deselects everything. |
| ESC | Cancels what you are drawing, or deselects everything. |
On a Mac, use Cmd wherever Ctrl is listed.
Where two or more markers overlap, a plain left-click opens a picker headed Select Marker listing each one with its group name and colour, rather than guessing which you meant. Hovering a row thickens that marker on the drawing so you can see which is which.
The floating zoom card
A small card sits in the bottom-right corner of the canvas, above the drawing.
| Control | Looks like | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Reset view | Fits the whole drawing on screen and recentres it. Tooltip Reset view (fit to screen). | |
| Zoom out | Steps out from the centre of the view. Greyed at 10%. | |
| Slider | — | Drag anywhere between 10% and 1000%. |
| Zoom in | Steps in. Greyed at 1000%. | |
| Readout | 100% | The current zoom. |
The buttons and the wheel use proportional steps, so a step at 400% covers more ground than a step at 40% and the zoom feels the same at any level. Resizing the browser window keeps the drawing centred.
Zoom matters for accuracy as well as comfort. A linear sample only registers when the stroke lands on the line, and a tightly drawn Auto Count box gives a cleaner match than a loose one. When either misses, zoom in and try again before changing anything else.
What the cursor is telling you
| Cursor | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open hand | Nothing armed. Left-drag pans. |
| Closed hand | You are panning. |
| Crosshair | A tool is armed, or you are holding Ctrl / Cmd. The next click draws or places. |
| Arrow | You are over a marker. Panning is suspended so a drag moves the marker instead of the sheet. |
| Copy or no-entry | You are dragging a pipe size badge or the split chip in mask view, over a valid or invalid target. |
Legacy Controls
Some estimators prefer the older scheme, where a plain click draws and a modifier pans. It is a single preference.
- 1
Open the user menu at the foot of the sidebar and click User Preferences.
- 2
Go to the Canvas tab and turn on Legacy Controls in the Controls card.
The preference describes itself as: "Switches to an alternative control scheme. Left-click to place markers and interact, Ctrl/Cmd + left-click drag or middle-mouse to pan."
With it on, the modifiers swap over:
| Gesture | Default controls | Legacy Controls |
|---|---|---|
| Plain left-drag on empty canvas | Pans | Draws, or rubber-band selects |
| Plain left-click with a polygon tool armed | Pans | Places a point |
| CTRL+DRAG | Rubber-band select | Pans |
| Middle-drag | Pans | Pans |
| Base cursor | Open hand | Crosshair |
Everything else, including the wheel, Alt to pan and the zoom card, behaves the same in both schemes.
Older guides and the in-app Help dialog still describe the legacy scheme, telling you to hold Ctrl to place a marker. That is now the alternative rather than the default. If a step in an article does not match what your mouse does, check this preference first.
Common issues
Dragging moves a marker instead of panning
The pointer is over a marker, which suspends panning so that markers can be dragged. Start the drag from empty canvas, hold Alt, or use the middle button.
The drawing has disappeared off screen
Click on the zoom card, or middle-click three times, to fit the drawing back into view.
Clicking does nothing but pan while a tool is armed
Linear, Area and Zone tools place their points with CTRL+CLICK under the default controls. A plain click pans instead. The toolbar shows a Current Tool button while anything is armed, so you can always confirm what is live.
A click will not land on top of an existing marker
Hold Ctrl or Cmd as you click. That allows a new marker to be placed over one that is already there, which is otherwise blocked to stop accidental stacking.
Next steps
- The New Takeoff menu — every counting and measuring tool and its shortcut.
- The Actions menu — rotation, visibility, export and the rest.
- Selecting and moving markers — working with markers once they are placed.
- Keyboard shortcuts — the full list in one table.