Project Tree

Partly availableSome of what this page describes is in DimSum today and some is still coming. Parts marked Coming are designed but not built yet.

The left-hand panel that lists every level (lowest first), page, side and tool in the project; click to open, double-click to edit, drag to reorganize anything.

Overview

The Project Tree is the table of contents of a job. It shows the building the way an estimator works it: levels from the lowest up (Basement → Main → Second → Roof), the pages assigned to each level, and every tool drawn on each page with its key quantity. The Details section (custom name) and the building Sides follow the levels.

Level names are always yours: "Main Level", "First Floor", "Garage Level", whatever you call them. DimSum never assumes a name.

• Move anything anywhere. Levels, pages and tools can be dragged to wherever they logically fit.
• Double-click anything to open its settings.

▾ Basement  (Elev 0')
   ▸ Page 1 – Foundation Plan
   ▸ Page 2 – Basement Finish Plan
▾ Main Level  (Elev 10')
   ▾ Page 3 – A-101 Main Floor Plan · v2
       Ext Wall 2x6            142' 6"
       Custom Takeoff Tool 1   Area 1,245 sf
       ◉ Porch Post Base (detail callout)
       ▾ Markups (3)
           Dimension Line
           Highlight
           ● Beam size missing at stair…   (Open)
       ▸ Hidden tools (3)
▾ Second Level  (Elev 19')
   ▸ Page 4 – A-102 Second Floor Plan
▾ Details                ← custom name
   ▸ Page 5 – A-501 Details
   ▸ Page 7 🔒              ← protected page
▾ Sides (4)
   ▾ Side 1 – Front Elevation
       ▸ Page 6 – Front Elevation   ← elevation page linked to this face
   ▸ Side 2 – Right Side Elevation

Where to find it

• Left panel of the Takeoff tab (dockable, collapsible, can pop out). See Project Canvas layout.
• Filter/Sort bar (🔍) at the top of the panel. It uses the same engine as universal search (Ctrl+F), see Search, Media & Attachments.
• Right-click any node for its context menu.

How to use it

The toolbar

What it acts on: the row you last clicked in the tree — a group row (a storey, a section, or Details; clicking one picks it, highlighted) or a page. With nothing clicked, the page open on the canvas.

Button	What it does
Add plans…	Windows' Open box (PDF, any number). The pages go into the group picked — a picked page counts as its group — else Details, at the end of it, in each file's page order, unscaled; one Undo takes the whole add back. The tooltip names the group. See Add plans to a job that's open
Add blank page…	A plain sheet to draw on with no PDF — 24 × 36 by default, the common sizes or a custom width × height, landscape or portrait — into the group picked, else Details, opened on the canvas, unscaled; one Undo. See Blank pages
New group	Asks which kind: a storey (has an elevation) or a section (no elevation — Mechanical, Details…). It replaced the old + Group button, and does the same
Rename	Renames the picked page or group in place — the same box as a double-click or the right-click Rename
Delete page	Deletes the picked page and everything drawn on it, after DimSum's own question (Delete "A-101" and everything drawn on it (14 items)?). An item that also has runs on another sheet keeps those and moves there. One Ctrl+Z brings it all back. The same command as the page's right-click Delete page
Move up / Move down	A page moves one place within its group; a group moves one place among groups of its kind — storeys among storeys, sections among sections. Neither jumps an edge (drag a page to another group); Details always stays last. Greyed out, with the reason on its tooltip, when there is nowhere to go. The same commands a drag makes
Search (under the buttons)	Filters the tree by page name or sheet number as you type — the group stays around its pages, so you can still see where each one lives. It also matches group and item names, as the filter always has

Drop PDFs on the tree. Drag PDF files from Explorer onto a group row — or any page or item under it — and they go into that group; onto the tree's empty space, into the group picked (else Details). The group they will land in lights up. Anything that isn't a PDF, or can't be read, is named under the toolbar (site photo.jpg: not a PDF, so it was skipped) until you dismiss it — never dropped silently. A PDF dropped anywhere else in the window does nothing (it used to be able to replace the app with the PDF).

Set up pages the way does (first job after upload)

1. Drag pages into the right order (in the New Project Process Assign Pages grid, or here in the tree).
2. Rename each page: select it and press F2, or double-click → Page Settings.
3. Drag each page onto its level. A level can hold several pages.
4. Sheet-title auto-suggest may offer names and levels, but it's best effort and never applied without you.

Open a page

1. Click a page node. It opens in the focused canvas pane (the one with the accent border, when there are two).
2. To open it somewhere else:

• Middle-click it: it opens in the other pane, splitting the canvas first if there's one pane. On the canvas, middle-click alone does nothing.
• Drag it onto a pane: it opens there.
• Right-click it → Open, Open in other pane or Open in new window (the pop-out window, for a second monitor).
• With two panes or the pop-out on screen, each open page shows small marks after its name: 1, 2, or ⧉ for the pop-out. The focused pane's mark is highlighted.
• Later: dragging onto a pane's edge to make a new split, or outside the main window to pop it out.

3. Step through pages with PgDn / PgUp and through levels with Ctrl+PgDn / Ctrl+PgUp. These follow the current tree order, so PgDn walks bottom-up through the building.

Find and zoom to a tool

1. Expand a page to see every tool placed on it, each with its key quantity (e.g. Ext Wall 2x6 142' 6").
2. Click a tool. It is selected, its page opens if needed, and the canvas zooms to it. The Properties panel shows its details.
3. Double-click it to open the Tool Settings dialog (takeoff instances) or its settings (markups). Coming
4. Can't find it? Press Ctrl+F and type part of its name or a property value.

Markups in the tree

• In a Markups (n) group, after the page's takeoff, collapsible, so a busy page's takeoff list stays short.
• A note shows its first line, then its author, date and Open or Resolved. A locked one shows 🔒.
• Click one to select it and zoom to it; Ctrl+click or Shift+click adds it to the selection. Double-click opens its properties. Delete removes the selection, one Undo.
• Ctrl+H hides it. A hidden markup stays in the Markups group, greyed and marked hidden; right-click its row to show it again. Ctrl+L locks it.
• Markups have no quantity, so the group never adds to anything.
• Notes are listed here; the Notes panel, with its filter, comes later.
• Hiding a whole kind at once is the Show switches (Dimensions, Highlights, Text, Notes, Clouds, Stamps) at the foot of Markup ▾, which are view state, not a tree change.

Edit a level, page, side or tool (double-click anything)

Double-click on	Opens
Level	Level Settings in the Level Editor: name, elevation, label prefix, plate height, color tag — every aspect of a level is adjustable, and levels stay ordered lowest first
Page	Page Settings (Page Properties): name, number, level, scale(s), rotation, version, notes, protection, custom page properties
Tool / instance	Tool Settings dialog. * with Form / Input / Advanced, opened by double-click on the sheet or right-click → Settings…. Double-clicking the row here still renames the item — opening Tool Settings from the tree is designed, not built — and so are the General, Dimensions & 3D, Assembly, Parts and Label tabs* (Tool Designer)
Side	Side Settings: name, compass direction, bottom/top elevation, linked pages
Detail Callout	Its linked detail (single click with Select jumps; double-click opens its settings)
Dimension Line or markup	Its properties, in a panel of their own — a dimension's override, prefix, suffix and look; a note's text and status; a stamp's colour, turn and Freeze values

Right-click a level → Level Properties does the same as double-clicking it.

Pick several pages

• Click a page: open it. That page is where a pick starts.
• Shift+click another page: every page between the two is picked (tinted). The canvas stays on the first.
• Ctrl+click: add one page to the pick, or drop one out.
• Drag any picked page: all of them move together, in the order they were in, as one Ctrl+Z.

Pick several items Coming

• Click an item: it is picked on its own, and that row is where the next pick starts.
• Shift+click another item: every item between the two is picked.
• Ctrl+click: add one item to the pick, or drop one out.

What you get with several picked:

• One shared pick. The Project tree, the Takeoff list (the left panel's item list, see Parts) and the canvas all show the same selection, so items picked in the tree are highlighted on the sheet.
• Delete them together. Right-click → Delete 4 items — the menu names the count — and Delete does the same. Every item goes in one transaction, so one Ctrl+Z brings them all back.
• One-item commands are hidden. Rename, and anything else that only makes sense for a single item, is left off the menu while several are picked.
• A mixed pick (an item and a sheet) behaves as it does today: the menu offers only what fits everything picked.
• There is no marquee on the canvas. You do not drag a box around tools to pick them; the pick is made in the tree or the Takeoff list.

Reorganize by dragging

1. Reorder levels: drag a level above or below another.
2. Move a page to another level: drag the page onto the level (or onto Details, or onto a Side to link it as an elevation page). Picked pages move together (above).

• Same page on two levels: hold Ctrl while dragging (or right-click → Duplicate onto level…) to put the same sheet on a second level. It is duplicated, not shared: the Foundation Plan can live on both "Footing" and "Basement" with its own takeoff on each, so you can draw whatever each level needs from the pages you already have.

3. Move a tool to another page: drag the tool onto the target page.
4. Reorder tools within a page: drag up or down.
5. A manual order sticks until you right-click → Reset to default order.

While dragging, a line or highlight shows the drop position; invalid drops (e.g. a level into a page) are refused.

Hide and show tools

1. Select a tool and press Ctrl+H (or right-click → Hide). It disappears from the canvas and moves into the collapsible "Hidden tools (n)" group under its page, so the list stays short.
2. To bring it back, expand Hidden tools, right-click the tool → Show.
3. To shorten a long page further, use the page's collapse tools option.
4. Hiding in the tree also hides in 3D. A "3D only" hide is available for the 3D view.

Filter, sort and group

1. Type in the 🔍 Search box to filter by name — page names and sheet numbers first, and group and item names too.
2. Open the filter options to limit the tree to a tool type (Takeoff / Dimension / Annotation / Draw), the tool it was placed from, a color, visibility, created by, or a tag.
3. Choose a sort: name, type, creation order, quantity, tool.
4. Toggle Group by type or Group by tool to add grouping nodes under each page.
5. Clear the filter to see everything again.

Use the context menu

Right-click a tool: Rename, Hide/Show, Lock, Duplicate, Copy to page(s), Move to page, Save as tool, Attach file…, Delete. With several items picked, the menu shows only what fits all of them and names the count — Delete 4 items — while Rename and the other one-item commands are hidden Coming. Right-click a page: Open, Open in other pane, Open in new window, Rename, Show over ‹the page you're on› (or Overlay… on the page you're on; Overlay & Align) and Delete page. Coming Page Settings, Add new page version…, Duplicate onto level…, Protect page, Attach file…, Screenshot page.

• Copy to page(s): pick one or more target pages. For takeoff instances, each copy becomes a new instance on that page — a copy is for pricing something separately, which is the opposite of one item spanning a set — with its Base Elevation updated to the target page's level. This is also how a wall crossing a matchline is handled: copy the tool into a new instance on the second sheet.
• Duplicate: also the way to give some points different values (e.g. a different mounting height): duplicate the Point instance and change the copy.
• Save as tool: saves the item's settings, properties and parts as a new tool in a library.

Options & settings

Item	What it does	Default
Default order	Levels by level number / elevation, lowest first; then Details; then Sides	On for new projects
Manual order	Any drag overrides the default order for that branch	Kept until "Reset to default order"
Level node label	Your level name + elevation, e.g. Main Level (Elev 10')	Names always user-defined
Page node label	Page n – <name> plus a version badge when it has versions (e.g. A-101 · v2)	"Page n" until renamed; sheet-title suggestions are best effort
Tool node label	Tool name + key quantity	The key quantity is the tool's primary base quantity: Linear Total for Linear, Area for Area, Count for Point
Page badges	⚠ unscaled; ⚠ unaligned (for 3D); 🔒 protected; version badge
Markups group	Collects a page's Dimension Lines and markups, after its takeoff: Markups (n); hidden ones greyed in it	On, collapsible
Hidden tools group	Collects tools with visibility off, per page. Hidden markups were to join it; they stay greyed in the Markups group	On
Collapse tools (per page)	Collapses the tool list under a page	Off
Filter	Text; tool type; the tool it was placed from; color; visibility; created by; tag	None
Sort	Name, type, creation order, quantity, tool	Creation order
Group by type / Group by tool	Adds grouping nodes	Off

Examples

• A new project opens on the Basement's first page.
• "First Floor" instead of "Main Level": rename the level; nothing else changes. Formulas using {Level > Name} show "First Floor".
• Page assigned to the wrong level: "A-101 Main Floor Plan" landed in Details. Drag it onto Main Level. Its takeoffs' Base Elevation follows the new level (10') unless a shape was given a typed ("Custom…") value.
• Ceiling joists drawn on the floor-plan page: draw them on the Main Level page, then set the instance's Base Elevation dropdown to Second Level. They count and model at the right height without moving the page or the drawing.
• Busy page: 60 markups and takeoffs on the main floor. Filter by Takeoff type and sort by quantity to see the biggest items first; hide the dimension lines (Ctrl+H) to tuck them into "Hidden tools (22)".
• Revision 2 arrives: right-click A-101 → Add new page version. The node shows A-101 · v2; your takeoffs stay under it. See Page Versions.

Tips & shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Next / previous page	PgDn / PgUp
Next / previous level	Ctrl+PgDn / Ctrl+PgUp
Universal search	Ctrl+F
Hide selected	Ctrl+H
Lock selected	Ctrl+L
Zoom to selection	Z
Tool Settings / Level / Page / Side settings	Double-click the node

• Pin the tree filter to "Takeoff" while measuring so markups don't clutter the list.
• Use tags (common property on every tool) and the tag filter to track things like "verify" or "alt 1".

Rules, limits & edge cases

• An item is listed under every sheet it is drawn on, each row showing that sheet's share of the quantity, with a linked-item badge. Right-click a row → Delete from this sheet takes it off that sheet only; Delete the whole item is beside it. An item with nothing drawn is listed on its home page.
• A page belongs to exactly one group (a storey or a section), or to Details. Unassigned pages go to Details. Details never disappears — an empty Details stays so there is somewhere to drag a sheet back to — and it can be renamed from its right-click menu or by double-clicking it.
• Takeoff on Details pages is allowed, especially point counts. Those tools are 2D only unless the page is given a level.
• There is no Ignore. A sheet you do not want is deleted from its right-click menu, and Ctrl+Z brings it back.
• Protected pages stay in the tree with a 🔒 and their tools still count, but the page is hidden everywhere until the project password is entered — opening it, searching it, capturing it, 3D and printing.
• Deleting a level that still has pages moves them to Details, asking first; one Ctrl+Z brings back the level and puts its pages back on it.
• Multi-select of pages with Shift/Ctrl+click, to move them together, is built (above). The same pick for items, shared with the Takeoff list and the canvas, with Delete n items in one undo, is Coming (above). It picks within one sheet's item list, and there is no canvas marquee.
• Locked tools cannot be moved on the canvas; they can still be selected in the tree to read their properties.

Related features

• Project Canvas layout · Split views & Layouts · Page tools
• Page Versions · Search, Media & Attachments · Annotation tools (Detail Callouts)
• New Project Process (page assignment, first open)
• Instances & Shapes · Estimating tab
• Elevation Faces (Sides)
• 3D settings & vertex elevations