When to draw zones
Draw zones whenever a single drawing has to report more than one total — a floor plan with several rooms, a sheet that shows two levels, a phased job on one layout. Zones can be drawn before or after you count: they read the markers that are already on the drawing, so adding a zone to a finished takeoff breaks it down immediately without re-running anything.
Zones are saved with the drawing and shared with everyone on the project.
Where the zone controls are
All zone controls live in the sidebar's marker-list toolbar, in the dropdown opened by the AoIs, Legends & Zones button. It is available in Takeoff mode only. The dropdown has four stacked sections — AoIs, Legends, Zones and Services — and the Zones header carries:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| / Lock zones / Unlock zones | Locked zones cannot be selected, moved, reshaped or deleted. Disabled while zones are hidden. |
| / Hide zones / Show zones | Removes the polygons from the canvas. Hidden zones still count. |
| Zone templates | Import Template, Create Template and Update Template — see Zone templates. |
| New Create new zone | Arms the zone-drawing tool and closes the menu. |
Below the header, one row per zone: a colour swatch, a icon tinted in the zone colour, the editable zone name, and a delete button. An empty list reads No Zones.
Drawing a zone
- 1
Click the AoIs, Legends & Zones button in the sidebar toolbar.
- 2
In the Zones section, click New. The menu closes and the cursor becomes a crosshair.
- 3
CTRL+CLICK (CMD+CLICK on a Mac) on the drawing to place the first corner.
- 4
Keep holding Ctrl and click each further corner in turn. A plain click pans the canvas instead of placing a point.
- 5
Right-click anywhere to close the polygon.
The new zone appears on the canvas as a translucent filled polygon at 10% opacity, and in the Zones list with the lowest unused name in the Zone 1, Zone 2… sequence. If zones were hidden, they are shown again automatically.
While the tool is armed the New Takeoff button is replaced by a Current Tool: zone button. Click it, or press Esc, to stop drawing. Esc with two or more corners placed finishes the zone; with fewer, it discards it.
If you have switched on Legacy Controls in User Preferences, the modifiers swap: a plain click places each corner and Ctrl + drag pans. See User preferences.
Renaming a zone
The zone name is the section header in Zones view and the column header in the Excel export, so choose something an estimator will recognise — Kitchen, Level 3 Corridor, Phase 2.
- 1
Open the AoIs, Legends & Zones dropdown.
- 2
Click the zone's name in the Zones list.
- 3
Type the new name and press Enter. Press Esc to keep the old name.
You can also rename a zone from its section header in Zones view.
Colour and opacity
Each new zone steps through the preset palette, so consecutive zones get different colours without any input from you. To change one:
- 1
Click the colour swatch at the left of the zone's row.
- 2
Pick one of the preset swatches, or click the Custom color cell to open your system colour picker.
- 3
Drag the Opacity slider (5 to 100). The preview square updates as you go.
- 4
Click Apply. Closing the popover without applying discards the change.
Colour and opacity are purely visual. They never affect which markers a zone counts.
Reshaping or moving a zone
Zones must be unlocked to be edited. Clicking a zone on the canvas selects it and switches the sidebar to Zones view.
- Move a corner — drag its grip.
- Move the whole zone — drag the polygon body.
- Add a corner — double-click on or near an edge. ZeroCount accepts a double-click up to about 20 px from the line, so you do not have to hit it exactly.
- Remove a corner — double-click on or near its grip.
Position and shape changes are saved with the drawing.
Locking, hiding and deleting
- Lock zones once a layout is agreed. A locked zone cannot be nudged when you are dragging markers nearby, and the delete button on its row is greyed out with the tooltip Unlock Zones before deleting.
- Hide zones to see the drawing clearly. Hidden zones still break down counts and still appear in exports; the lock toggle is disabled while they are hidden.
- Delete a zone with the button on its row.
Deleting a zone happens immediately, with no confirmation. The markers inside it are not deleted — they move to the Uncategorized bucket in Zones view and in exports.
Common issues
Clicking places nothing and the drawing pans
The zone tool needs Ctrl (or Cmd) held for every corner under the default controls. Plain clicks pan.
The zone cannot be selected on the canvas
Zones are locked. Open the dropdown and click Unlock zones .
Two zones share a name
Renaming one zone to match another makes them display as one section in Zones view and one column in the export. Give every zone a unique name.
Next steps
- Zones view — see your groups broken down under each zone in the sidebar.
- The Uncategorized zone — what happens to markers outside every zone, and how to rename that bucket.
- Zone templates — save a set of zones and import it onto other drawings.
- AoIs vs zones — which polygon to draw when.