Start your first job

A job holds your plans, your takeoff and everything you build on it. Here you'll make one, import the plans, and set the pages up so the Project Tree reads like the building.

Steps

1. Start from Home. Click Import plans into a new job (Ctrl+I) if you have the plan set in hand. It asks for the plans first, then makes the job around them. Or click New Job (Ctrl+N) and add plans later.
2. Fill in the New Job box. Only Name is required, for example "Sample Residence". Job / Quote #, Description and Notes are optional. The Description fills in with the plan file name once you choose plans, and never overwrites what you typed.
3. Check where it saves. Location shows the full folder, and the exact file the job will become is printed under it. Pick Imperial or Metric, then click Create job (or press Enter).
4. Watch the import. A progress bar runs while each page is converted. The pages appear in the Project Tree on the left, named after the file and page number, like "Sample Plans.pdf – p3".
5. Make your levels. On the tree's toolbar click New group. Pick Storey for a floor with an elevation ("Basement", "Main Level", "Second Level") or Section for pages with no elevation ("Structural", "Mechanical"). Type elevations the way you say them: -9', 0, 9' 1 1/8". Storeys always list lowest first.
6. Rename the pages. Pick a page and press F2, click Rename, or double-click it. Give it a name you'll recognize, like "A-101 Main Floor Plan".
7. Put pages on their levels. Drag each page onto its storey or section. A level can hold several pages, like a foundation plan and a basement plan. Move up and Move down tidy the order.
8. Leave the rest in Details. Pages you don't assign stay in Details, at the bottom of the tree. Rename Details if you like.
9. Add more plans any time. Pick a group, then click Add plans… on the toolbar, or drag PDF files from Explorer onto the group you want. Need a sheet with no PDF? Add blank page… makes one, 24 × 36 by default.

TIP

Rename and order the pages before anything else. Scaling, assigning and taking off all go faster when the tree reads like the plan set.

Good to know

• Details never disappears, even when it's empty, so there's always somewhere to drag a page back to.
• Deleting a storey moves its pages to Details; it never deletes them. Delete page asks first, and one Ctrl+Z brings everything back.
• PgDn / PgUp step through pages, and Ctrl+PgDn / Ctrl+PgUp through levels.
• Search under the tree's toolbar filters by page name or sheet number as you type.
• Still to come: Building Templates that fill in levels for you, Customer, Address and Bid date fields on the New Job box, and sheet names suggested from title blocks are Coming.

Next

Next: Set the scale

Read more

• New Project Process
• Plan import
• Project Tree
• Plan Levels