Plan markup

Mark up plans right where you take off: dimensions, highlights, text, notes, clouds and stamps. Then turn, straighten and tone the sheet, lay one floor over another, and open two pages side by side.

Steps

1. Find the markup tools. Click Markup ▾ in the canvas tool strip, or right-click an empty spot on the plan.
2. Draw a Dimension Line. Press D. Click the first point, then the second. Move the mouse out to set the offset and click to place it, or press Enter to keep it on the line. Hold Shift for a straight one.
3. Add the rest. Highlight (Y): drag a box or click a shape. Text (T): click and type. Note (Shift+N): drop a pin and type in its card. Cloud: drag a box or click a shape. Stamp (Shift+S): pick a stamp and click to place it.
4. Edit a markup. Double-click it for its properties. Right-click for Resolve note, Restyle to defaults, Hide, Lock or Delete. Ctrl+H hides and Ctrl+L locks.
5. Set your defaults. In System Settings (Ctrl+,), the Markups page sets each markup's default look, and Stamps holds your own stamps. Turn on Takeoff lengths there to keep each span's length on the plan after you draw it.
6. Clean up the sheet. Page ▾ has Rotate, Straighten…, Color Off (Ctrl+Shift+C), Text Off (Ctrl+Shift+T) and Fade / Contrast…. None of them change the plan file or any quantity.
7. Lay one floor over another. In the Project Tree, right-click the upper floor's page and choose Show over the page you have open. It shows tinted blue, and your clicks still land on the page underneath.
8. Line it up with 4 clicks. Page ▾ → Align overlay (4 clicks). Click a corner on the overlay, the same corner on your page, then a second corner far away on the overlay, and the same one on your page. Overlay On / Off shows and hides it.
9. Open two pages at once. Press Alt+2 for two panes. Middle-click a page in the tree to open it in the other pane. Pop out pane puts a page in its own window for a second monitor.
10. Print it. Ctrl+P prints your markups with the plan. Each kind has its own Include tick.

TIP

Turn Color Off before you print a marked-up plan, so your takeoff colours stand out against a grey plan.

Good to know

• Markups never make a quantity. They stay off the Estimating tab and the legend.
• Each markup keeps the look it was drawn with. Change a default and only the next one changes; Restyle to defaults catches the old ones up.
• Text and stamps can hold fields like {Job > Name}, {Page > Scale} and {Today}, filled in live.
• Overlays are only for looking. Aligning changes no scale and no quantity, and an overlay doesn't print.
• Still to come: typing a dimension's length, other dimension types (chain, angle, radius), a freehand highlighter, callouts and detail callouts are Coming.

Next

Next: Back to the docs home

Read more

• Annotation tools
• Dimension tools
• Page tools
• Overlay and Align
• Split views