How to show, edit and add dimensions

Show wall lengths and pick the face

1. 1

   Open Settings

   Click Settings (the sliders icon) in the top bar and find the Dimensions section.

   

2. 2

   Turn on Show dimensions

   Show dimensions writes the length of every wall on the plan.

3. 3

   Choose Measured from

   Inner face: the inside length of each room, what you measure with a tape at home. Centre: the middle of the wall. Outer face: the outside of the building. Both: inner figures inside the rooms and outer figures outside.

4. 4

   Read the chain dimensions

   Where another wall meets a wall in a T or crosses it, the wall length is split into a chain: one figure per room. The figures add up to the whole wall.

   

5. 5

   Read the exterior dimensions

   With Outer face or Both, a plain rectangular building also gets architect style dimensions outside each side: a chain row for each wall part and an overall row for the whole side.

6. 6

   Tell wall and opening dimensions apart

   Wall dimensions and their numbers are black (light on the dark theme). Door and window dimensions are blue: the distances of a selected door or window, its width on the outside chain and the width over height label. Exports print walls in true black and openings in blue. Black & white prints everything black.

7. 7

   Edit a door or window size on the plan

   Double-click the width or height in the blue label of a door or window, or the sill height when Sill Heights is on, type the new value and press Enter. Once the door or window is selected, a single click (or a tap on a phone) opens it too. The width grows or shrinks around the centre and never gets wider than the wall or runs into a neighbouring opening; the height and sill stop at the top of the wall. Esc cancels and Ctrl+Z undoes it.

8. 8

   Turn the north arrow

   Click the N badge at the top right of the plan. Drag the arrow on the dial or type the North angle in degrees, for example 32. Plan up sets it back to 0. The north arrow on exports and in DXF turns with it.

Change a wall by typing its length

1. 9

   Double-click the figure

   With Select (V), double-click a wall length on the plan. The figure turns into a box in the same spot. On a touch screen, tap it.

   

2. 10

   Type the new length

   Type the length and press Enter. Esc cancels. The wall changes so that this very figure reads what you typed. The far end of the wall moves; the wall keeps its direction.

3. 11

   Use any unit

   A bare number is in your plan units. You can also type 3.5m, 150cm or 10' 6". In Feet & Inches a bare number is feet, and 5 6 means 5 feet 6 inches.

4. 12

   Move a figure out of the way

   Press on a figure and drag it sideways to move its dimension line further from the wall. A plain click on it selects the wall instead.

Edit a gap between openings

1. 13

   Double-click one gap

   Where doors and windows split a wall length into a chain, each figure is its own gap: wall to window, window to window, window to door, door to wall. With Select (V), double-click the gap you want. Only that span lights up, and the box says This gap only.

2. 14

   Type the new distance

   Type the distance and press Enter. The door or window slides along its wall; the wall itself never changes, and the neighbouring figures update. Between a wall end and an opening, the opening moves. Between two openings, the one nearer the start of the wall stays and the other moves. Press Alt+Enter to move the first one instead.

3. 15

   When it does not fit

   A distance that would push the opening off the wall, onto another door or window, or across a wall meeting this one is refused and nothing changes. One Ctrl+Z undoes a gap edit. To change the whole wall, double-click the wall itself.

Add your own dimension lines

1. 16

   Turn on the Dimension tool

   Press I, or click Dimension in the left toolbar under Measure & label.

2. 17

   Click two points

   Click the start and the end. It snaps to corners, midpoints and crossings. The line, ticks and length are added to the plan.

3. 18

   Dimension a whole wall

   Right-click a wall and choose Add full-length dimension. It measures the wall from end to end.

   

4. 19

   Remove a dimension

   Right-click the dimension and choose Remove dimension, or click it and press Delete.

Measure a distance

1. 20

   Turn on Measure

   Press M, or click Measure in the left toolbar.

2. 21

   Click two points

   Click a start and an end. It snaps to the nearest inner, outer or centre corner. Hold Shift to lock the angle, Alt to place freely.

3. 22

   Keep or remove it

   The measurement stays on the plan. Select it and press Delete to remove it. Esc clears the one you are drawing.

Tips

• Measured your rooms from the inside? Use Measured from: Inner face and type the numbers you measured. Each wall fits them exactly.
• In the Layers panel, Dimensions hides every wall figure. Wall Measure Lines hides only the lines and ticks and keeps the numbers.
• On exports, the Dimensions option has its own Measure type: Inner face (room), Outer face (overall), Centerline, or Both (inside + outside).
• Dimension figures never overlap: when two would land on each other, one moves.

Common problems

The numbers do not match what I measured

Check Measured from. A tape measure inside a room gives the inner face; the centre line is longer by half a wall at each end. Switch to Inner face, then double-click the figure and type your measurement.

I typed 5.6 and got 5.6 feet, not 5 feet 6 inches

Decimal feet are not inches. Type 5 6 (a space) or 5' 6" for 5 feet 6 inches.

Clicking near a wall grabs the dimension instead

Only a press right on the figure text grabs it, and it only moves after a short drag. Click on the wall body itself to select the wall.

I cannot see any dimensions

Turn on Show dimensions in Settings, and check that Dimensions is visible in the Layers panel.