Home, the top bar and the menus
Where everything starts. Home is where you start or open a job; the top bar shows the job you're in and switches between Takeoff, Estimating, Tools and Reports; the menu bar holds New, Open, Import Plans, printing, tool folders, both settings pages, the pane layouts and the Help commands.
Overview
DimSum has three things you always see around your work:
- Home, a screen of its own, shown whenever no job is open.
- The top bar, across the top of the window, always there.
- The menu bar (File, Edit, View, Help), always visible above the top bar.
Every command on Home is also on the File menu, with the same shortcut.
Where to find it
- Home opens by itself when DimSum starts with no job, and again after File → Close Project. Go back to it any time with the Home tab on the top bar, View → Home, or
Ctrl+Shift+H. - The top bar and the menu bar are on every screen. While DimSum shows the License Agreement or the sign-in screen, the top bar shows only what you can use there (Account & License).
How to use it
Home
Home has four big buttons:
| Button | What it does | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| New Job | Opens the New Job dialog: Job / Quote #, Name, Description, Notes, Location and Units, then the plans (New Project Process) | Ctrl+N |
| Open Job | Your recent jobs with a search box, plus Browse… for a .dsum anywhere | Ctrl+O |
| Import plans into a new job | Pick the plan set first; DimSum fills in the New Job dialog from the file name and imports the plans as soon as the job is made. Greyed, with Plan rendering is not installed on this machine, if the PDF renderer is missing | Ctrl+I |
| Tool Designer | Opens the Tools tab to build and edit your tools. No job needed (Tool Designer) |
Under the buttons is Recent jobs:
- Type in Search jobs to filter the list.
- Click a column heading (Name, Description, Job #, Last opened, Location) to sort by it. Click again to reverse.
- Double-click a job to open it.
- A job whose file has moved is shown grey with its old path, and a Locate… button to find it. It is never dropped from the list without a word.
- Refresh the list (the circular arrows) reads the list again.
On a computer with no jobs yet, Home says No jobs on this computer yet. and points at New Job and Import plans into a new job instead of an empty table.
Drop plans on Home: drag PDFs, or PNG, JPG or TIF images, from File Explorer onto Home. It's the same as Import plans into a new job with the files already picked (New Project Process).
On the right, Home shows the version you're running, whether Plan rendering is Ready, and a short Quick guide.
The top bar
From left to right:
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| DimSum logo | |
| Job # and job name | The open job. Click the name to rename the job; its folder and its .dsum are renamed with it, and a name another job already has is refused while you type (File types). Shows No job open on Home |
| Home | Back to Home (Ctrl+Shift+H) |
| Takeoff | The plan, the Project Tree, the tools and the Properties panel. Needs a job open |
| Estimating | Every item and part in one grid (Estimating tab). Needs a job open |
| Tools | The Tool Designer. No job needed |
| Reports | Preview, print and export reports. The only place DimSum exports from. No job needed to manage report layouts (Report Designer) |
| 3D | Greyed: the full 3D view isn't built. has a read-only 3D preview instead (3D viewport) |
| Search the project | Ctrl+F puts the cursor here (inside the Properties panel, Ctrl+F goes to the panel's own search box instead). In typing in it doesn't filter anything yet; to find a page or item, use the search box under the Project Tree's toolbar (Project Tree) |
| Report a bug (red) and Feedback | Send us a bug report or an idea (Send feedback). Icon-only on narrow windows |
| License pill | Online, Offline, Trial, Read-only and so on. Click it for Account & License (Account & License) |
| Restart to update / Updated to … | Shows only when there's something to do (Updates) |
| Refresh | Opens the update screen for this job: tools and table rows that have changed since the job used them. A number on it says how many places are waiting (Dynamic Lists → a changed tool) |
| Undo / Redo | Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y. Hover to see what will be undone |
| Theme | Switches between the light and dark theme |
| Project Settings (gear) | Settings stored in this job (Project Settings). Needs a job open |
| System Settings (sliders) | Settings for this computer (Ctrl+,) (Settings page) |
| Account | An account icon. Clicking it does nothing yet; use the license pill |
The File menu
| Command | Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| New Project… | Ctrl+N | The New Job dialog |
| Open Project… | Ctrl+O | The Open Job dialog |
| Open Recent | Your recent jobs, each with its path. A missing one is greyed and marked (missing) | |
| Import Plans… | Ctrl+I | With a job open: add plans to it. With no job open: Import plans into a new job |
| Print / Export Marked-Up Plan… | Ctrl+P | The print dialog (Marked-Up Plan printing). Needs a job open |
| Tool Folders: New folder…, Show the tools folder, Add a .tsum to the tools folder…, Show the materials folder, Add a .tsum to the materials folder… | Manage your tool and material folders. No job needed (Tool folders and files) | |
| Project Settings… | Same as the gear on the top bar. Needs a job open | |
| Settings… | Ctrl+, | System Settings |
| Close Project | Ctrl+W | Closes the job and goes back to Home. Nothing to save: every change is already in the file |
| Quit | Closes DimSum |
The Edit menu
Cut, Copy, Paste and Select All, for text boxes. Undo and Redo are on the top bar and on Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y, not on this menu (Keyboard shortcuts).
The View menu
| Command | Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Ctrl+Shift+H | Back to Home |
| One pane | Alt+1 | One plan view |
| Two panes side by side | Alt+2 | Two plan views, left and right (Split views) |
| Two panes stacked | Two plan views, top and bottom | |
| Pop out pane | Moves the focused pane into its own window, for a second monitor | |
| Dock back | Brings a popped-out pane back | |
| 3D preview of selection | A read-only 3D preview of the selected items (3D viewport). Needs a job open | |
| Reload, Toggle Developer Tools | Developer commands. You don't need them for normal work | |
| Actual Size, Zoom In, Zoom Out | Make the whole window's text and buttons bigger or smaller. This is not the plan's zoom | |
| Toggle Full Screen | Full screen on or off |
The Help menu
| Command | Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| DimSum Takeoff {version} | The version you're running (not clickable) | |
| Plan rendering | Says PDFium is installed or PDFium is MISSING. If it's missing, plans can't be imported or printed | |
| Report a bug… | Ctrl+Shift+B | The bug report dialog (Send feedback) |
| Send feedback… | Ctrl+Shift+F | The feedback dialog |
| Send a crash report… | Ctrl+Shift+E | The crash report dialog |
| Show project folder | Opens File Explorer with the job's .dsum selected. Needs a job open |
Examples
- Start the Maple Ridge demo job from the plans. On Home, drag the Maple Ridge demo plan PDF onto the window. The New Job dialog opens with the name filled in from the file. Click Create job and the pages import into the new job.
- Find a job you renamed in Explorer. It shows grey in Recent jobs with Locate…. Click it and pick the
.dsumin its new place. - Compare two sheets. View → Two panes side by side (
Alt+2), then open the floor plan in one pane and the framing plan in the other. Pop out pane moves one to your second monitor.
Rules, limits & edge cases
- New Job and Import plans into a new job are greyed while DimSum is read-only (for example after a trial ends); hover them to see why (Account & License).
- Commands that need a job (Print, Project Settings…, Close Project, Show project folder, 3D preview) are greyed on Home.
- Tool Designer, Reports and the Tool Folders commands work with no job open.
