Keyboard reference and troubleshooting
Available onEstimatorBuilder
Press ? anywhere in Take-Off for the shortcut list on screen.
Keyboard and mouse reference
Section titled “Keyboard and mouse reference”| Key | Tool |
|---|---|
| V | Select |
| C | Count |
| L | Line |
| P | Polyline |
| A | Area |
While drawing
Section titled “While drawing”| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| A | Start an arc for the next segment |
| Shift | Constrain to 0° / 45° / 90° |
| S | Snapping on/off |
| Alt | Hold to flip snapping for one point |
| R | Rectangle tool — an area in two clicks |
| D | Deduct on/off — the shape subtracts instead of adding |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo the last point (an arc undoes whole) |
| Enter or double-click | Finish the shape |
| Esc | Cancel the arc, then the shape, then back to Select |
Editing (Select tool)
Section titled “Editing (Select tool)”| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Click a row in the field list | Show that measurement on the drawing (goes to its page) |
| Click a shape on the drawing | Highlight its row in the field list |
| Double-click a row, or its pencil | Name the measurement |
| M | Move on/off — the three drags below only work while it is on |
| Drag a point | Move that corner |
| Drag an edge | Move the whole shape |
| Double-click an edge | Add a corner |
| Del | Delete the selected corner, or the measurement |
Navigation
Section titled “Navigation”| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Mouse wheel | Zoom about the cursor |
| Middle-drag, or Space-drag | Pan |
| + / − | Zoom in / out |
| 0 | Fit the page |
| PgUp / PgDn | Previous / next page |
| Double-click a field | Go to the first page it is measured on |
| H | Hide / show this page’s measurements (your view only) |
| ? | Help |
Working alongside colleagues
Section titled “Working alongside colleagues”- Anyone with access to the costing can measure, and can change anyone’s measurements. There is no locking and no ownership. Take-off is collaborative work, and someone waiting for a colleague to release a drawing helps nobody.
- Every measurement records who created it and who last changed it, so the history is there when a number is queried.
- Two costings can measure the same drawing without seeing each other. A shared standard detail can be taken off separately by two jobs, with separate scales and separate quantities.
- Hiding a field, and dismissing a carry-over offer, are personal to you. Everything else is shared.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”The Line, Polyline or Area tool is greyed out. Hover it — the tooltip says why. Usually the page has no scale yet, or no field is selected, or the selected field’s unit cannot be produced by that tool.
I cannot measure into a field. Either it gets its quantity from a formula, which takes priority, or it is already measured on a different drawing. Take-Off names the drawing when it refuses.
My quantities look wrong by a consistent factor. The page scale is wrong. Check it against a figured dimension on the drawing; if the drawing has been re-sized or scanned, calibrate rather than using the printed ratio. Re-scaling the page fixes every measurement on it at once. See Setting the scale.
Areas are right but lengths are wrong, or the reverse. Almost always a stretched scan. Re-calibrate with Custom… — Take-Off measures the horizontal and vertical independently and will correct it.
The drawing will not open. Check it is a real PDF and not a renamed image or an office document. Very large drawings can take a few seconds on a slow connection.
A measurement has vanished. Check whether its field is hidden — look for the “n fields hidden” link at the top of the fields panel. Also check you are on the right page; the thumbnail badges show which pages carry measurements.
A quantity in the BOQ did not change when I measured. Confirm the item is actually set to take its quantity from that field: BOQ → Calculate Quantity → Fields.
My measurements are dashed with an orange outline. They were carried over from an earlier revision and are waiting for you to check them against the new drawing. See Drawings, revisions and export.
Frequently asked questions
Section titled “Frequently asked questions”Does Take-Off change my drawing? No. The PDF in Documents is never modified. Measurements are stored separately and drawn over the top.
Can I measure the same drawing in two different costings? Yes, and they stay completely separate — separate scales, separate quantities. Neither can see the other.
What happens if I delete a drawing from Documents? Its measurements go with it. Export a marked-up copy first if you need a record.
Can I measure in imperial? Measurements are metric. The scale ratios are unitless, so an imperial drawing can be calibrated with Custom… by entering the known distance in metres.
Is there a limit to how much I can measure? No practical limit. Take-Off handles large drawing sets and long lists of measurements without slowing down.
Can I copy a take-off to another costing? Not directly. Take-off is tied to the costing’s fields and drawings. Duplicating the costing carries the BOQ structure but not the measurements.
Why is a finished arc made of lots of small points? Arcs are stored as a fine series of points, accurate to well under a millimetre on the sheet. It means an arc can be reshaped point by point like any other measurement — but it also means you cannot grab a finished arc and re-bend it as a single curve. Delete and redraw it if you need it different.
Can I get rid of the notes pages? Hover the thumbnail and click the eye icon. It is hidden from Take-Off only — the PDF in Documents is untouched, and you can bring it back at any time.
Can I undo? While you are drawing a shape, yes — Ctrl+Z takes back the last point, as many times as you need. Once a measurement is saved, there is no undo: select it and adjust or delete it instead.
Who can see my take-off? Anyone with access to the costing. Take-off is shared work.