3. The floor plan editor

An overview of the drawings the program can produce is given on the Circuit diagram maker page. An introduction to the floor plan editor can also be read on the Electrical floor plan maker page. The floor plan editor opens full screen (without the menu) so that the canvas has room. The ← button takes you back to the project.

Layout

• Top bar: floor selector, Wall elevations, Color by circuit, Designations, What to show, symbol set selector, DXF, CAD import, IFC import, undo/redo, Print, Save. If there are unsaved changes, the “Not saved” badge is shown.
• Left side: the toolbar (drawing tools and symbols). At its top is the Simple / Full switch: Simple shows only walls, doors and windows, rooms, the common devices (switch, socket, light, distribution board) and the power run; stairs, furnishings, custom elements and the other symbols are in the Full set. Search always looks in the full set. The browser remembers your choice.
• Center: the canvas; at the bottom, the status bar shows the cursor position (cm) and a tip on using the current tool.
• Right side: the Properties panel. When nothing is selected, it shows the floor data, and the Checks, Circuits and Background image panels.

Saving: the drawing saves itself after every edit; its status is shown in the header (Saving…, Saved). If saving fails (e.g. no network), the program retries and Not saved appears – click it to retry immediately. You can also save at once with Ctrl+S. When you leave, it only asks if a save is still in progress or has failed. If a save never went through (e.g. you closed the tab without a network), the unsaved changes stay in the browser, and the next time the level opens the program offers them: Restore (merged with the changes saved in the meantime, as an undoable step) or Discard. If the drawing has been changed elsewhere in the meantime, a warning appears: Keep the other version (your own changes are lost) or Keep my version. In the viewer role, the editor is in “Read-only” mode.

On an empty drawing, the How do you want to start? card in the middle of the canvas helps: Draw walls (the Wall tool), Load background image (an image or PDF of an existing floor plan) or Ready-made room template (draw a room, select it and apply a template in the Properties panel).

IFC import: from the top bar, one IFC2x3 or IFC4 floor can be brought into the current drawing; from the project's floor list, selected IFC floors can be created as new editable floors. The STEP file is opened in a separate browser worker; the server stores only the resulting drawings and their shared IFC coordinate reference. Check walls, openings and room names after import.

Drawing tools

With any tool, the right mouse button switches back to selection (while drawing it shows a menu: Finish, Delete last point, Cancel).

Walls, openings, rooms

• The properties of a wall: length (the end point moves), thickness, height (empty means the ceiling height of the floor). Those of a node: x, y.
• A door/window can be switched to the other type; width, height, sill height (for windows) and the distance from the start of the wall can be given.
• The name and number of a room can be given; the program calculates the area. The Detect all rooms button of the Properties panel automatically adds the enclosed wall areas as rooms. The room's Wall elevations button opens the wall elevation (see the Layers, underlay, dimensions and wall elevation chapter). If the drawing has areas enclosed by walls that are not yet marked as rooms, a bar at the bottom of the drawing offers the Add rooms button after a short idle time with the Select tool; the Detect all rooms button is then highlighted and shows the number of missing rooms. Hide the suggestion with Later or Don't show again.
• Thickness of new walls: quick buttons (Exterior / Interior) on the floor panel set it.
• Wall drawing, joining, selection: while drawing, the angle is shown next to the length (e.g. "3.40 m · 90°"; 0° = right, counter-clockwise is positive); Shift = 0°/90°, Alt + Shift = 15° steps. In the panel of a selected wall, the Angle field rotates the end point around the start (the length stays). A new wall dragged onto the axis of an existing wall creates a T-junction: the existing wall is split into two walls at that point with a shared node, its openings go to the appropriate half (a point falling in an opening is shifted next to the opening's edge), and when the host wall moves, the interior wall moves with it; the fill of T- and X-junctions follows the wall faces even at different thicknesses. Walls can also be selected with the selection rectangle (both ends inside the rectangle) or with Shift + click, and Del deletes them in one step together with their openings. If a wall is in the selection, moving, rotating, mirroring and aligning are not available; walls of a locked layer are not included in the selection.
• Wall lock, moving end, rooms following walls: lock a wall with the Locked switch in the wall panel, the Lock walls / Unlock walls button in the room panel, or from the context menu: the nodes of a locked wall do not move (not by dragging, nor by length or angle editing), the wall cannot be deleted, and a faint padlock marks it; unlock it first. When you edit a length, the end that is free (not locked, joined to fewer walls) moves; the Moving end field (A / B / Automatic) overrides this. A room follows its walls: the polygon and the area (m²) update live, and if an interior wall cuts it in two, two rooms result (the second is named e.g. "Living room 2", the other properties are copied).
• Room divider line (H): with the Room divider tool (key H) or the Divide room button in the room panel you can draw a boundary without a wall (e.g. between a living room and a kitchen): two points snapped to the walls, and the room splits. It is shown as a dashed line, toggled by the Room boundaries layer, and is a separate layer in DXF. It is not a wall, so the IFC, the wall elevation, the cable routes and the bill of materials do not see it; after it is deleted, the rooms remain.
• Garage door and opener: place the garage door with the Garage door tool (key: G); IFC and CAD import also read an element named "garage" or "gate" as a garage door. In the door panel the Place garage door opener button places the built-in Garage door opener block fitted to the door: the motor connection, the push button, the photocell pair, the warning lamp and the junction box, together with the cables (motor 3 × 1.5 mm², photocell 4 cores, push button and lamp 2 cores, 0.75 mm²). The same block is also in the My items group, before your own blocks. The values are informative: check them against the manufacturer's instructions.
• Roller shutter preparation: in the window panel the Roller shutter preparation switch puts a shutter motor above the window and a shutter switch next to it on the inner wall face. The two move with the opening (shifting, widening, moving the wall) and are deleted with it; if you move either by hand, it detaches from the opening. If the inner side is the other one, the Flip the shutter side button moves them over.

Multiple selection, copying, blocks and room templates

• Multiple selection (devices and cable routes): Shift + click adds an element to the selection or removes it; with the Select tool, a rectangle dragged from an empty area or from inside a room selects the elements that lie entirely within it (a device by its center, a cable route by all of its points). Shift + drag adds to the existing selection. Selection also works in the viewer role. Esc clears it.

• Group operations (also in the right-hand panel): grabbing any member of the selection, the whole selection can be dragged together (snapped to the grid); the arrow keys move it by one grid step (Shift + arrow: ten times the step); Q rotates the selection by 90° about its center; Del deletes it; in the panel, a common circuit can be set for all elements (not for the distribution board device). A cable route end connected to a device outside the selection stays in place (the cable route “stretches”); a cable route outside the selection moves together with its end connected to a moving device. After moving, a wall-mounted device does not snap to the wall again (the relative arrangement is kept). One operation is one undo step. Mirroring: X mirrors the selection about the vertical axis through its center (↔), Shift + X about the horizontal one (↕); the device's symbol is mirrored too, its label is not. For a single device, X or the panel's Mirror button flips the symbol; while placing (Device or Block tool), X mirrors the element about to be placed. Align and distribute (for devices, from 2 and from 3 devices respectively): the panel's Align buttons align the devices' points left, right, top, bottom, or by the horizontal/vertical center; Distribute horizontally / Distribute vertically spaces them evenly between the two outermost. In the panel, mounting height and symbol can also be set for all devices at once (with mixed mounting types the symbol cannot be changed jointly). Context menu: a right-click on the selection or on an element opens a menu (rotate, mirror, align, distribute, copy, duplicate, delete); on an empty area it offers Paste here (if the clipboard has content) and mirroring the floor. Mirror floor: from the Floor actions menu in the editor header, the whole floor plan can be mirrored horizontally or vertically (one undo step).

• Copy and paste: Ctrl+C puts the selection on the clipboard (it is kept in the browser, across floors and after reloading), Ctrl+V pastes it at the cursor (snapped to the grid) with new identifiers, with the cable routes connected to the new devices. Ctrl+D duplicates the selection with a 500 mm offset. Within the same project, circuit references are kept; when pasted into another project, they are lost. After pasting, the new elements remain selected, so they can be moved immediately; one paste is one undo step.

• Saved block: in the multiple selection panel, Save as block puts the selection, with a name, among your own blocks (without circuit references). It can be placed in any project from the Own elements group of the left-hand bar. A block can be deleted with its small trash-can icon (after confirmation; items already placed on drawings are kept). In a shared project, the blocks of the project owner are shown, and only the owner can delete them. Walls, openings and rooms are not included in a block (a whole floor is transferred by copying the floor and by import from another project).

• Room template (for apartments: Apartment electrical design): when a room is selected, the panel's Apply template… button places the devices according to the rule in the room in one step: socket-outlets along the walls (skipping openings and corners, in proportion to the usable wall length), a switch next to the first door on the latch side (at a height of 120 cm), a luminaire at the centroid. The built-in templates: Room, Living room, Kitchen, Bathroom (protected socket-outlet), Hall; the program suggests one from the name (e.g. “Bedroom”). The values (socket-outlets / wall length, count limits, height, number of luminaires, switch) can be changed in the dialog; the devices to be placed appear faintly on the canvas. The Create circuits checkbox adds two new circuits for the room (socket-outlets: B16, NYM-J 3×2.5; lighting: B10, NYM-J 3×1.5); the low-current extras (TV, data) get one low-current circuit per signal type (with the G mark, without a distribution board). Save as template puts the modified template among your own templates. The template values are practical suggestions: the designer should review them; the layout does not replace sizing and checking.

• Room lighting: Selecting a room, the panel's Lighting… button opens a window. The program uses the lumen method (average illuminance: room index, utilisation factor, maintenance factor MF) to show how many luminaires are needed for the target lux, and the preview proposes a grid layout. The luminaire comes from the market catalogue, or lumen (lm) and power (W) can be entered by hand. Accept places the lights in one undo step. The target lux is a suggestion based on the room type, can be changed and is not a standard requirement. The program does not calculate point-by-point illuminance and does not read LDT/IES photometric files: use a DIALux-type tool for an exact lighting design. The window and the check can be switched with the lighting service switch.

• Shared library: on the Block library page (menu) you can search blocks and room templates submitted by others (filtered by kind, category and market) and copy them among your own blocks with Copy to my library; the copy is yours. On the My submissions tab you can submit your own block or room template: you accept the licence (Terms, section 4), showing your name is optional (anonymous by default), and the content goes in only after moderation; the tab shows the status (pending, accepted, rejected with a reason) and a submission can be withdrawn. A block containing a custom symbol cannot be submitted. Report inappropriate or unlawful content with Report on the card.

Groups, measuring, search and the command palette

• Grouping: Ctrl+G joins a multiple selection into a group (also the Group button in the panel and the context menu); clicking one member selects the whole group, and it moves, rotates and is copied together. Alt + click selects a single element of the group. Ctrl+Shift+G ungroups.
• Group properties: with a multiple selection the panel sets shared properties at once (for example the catalog code, and the common settings of cable routes), and labels can be numbered (K1, K2, K3…).
• Measuring (U): the Measure tool shows the distance between the marked points; it does not change the drawing, works in the read-only role too, and is not available in the wall view.
• Command palette (Ctrl+K): also opened by the Commands button in the header; type (accents optional) to search the commands for tools, editing actions, view and layers. When the global command palette is switched on, pages, settings, help chapters, your projects and the calculators follow the editing commands, so you can jump elsewhere straight from the drawing (the drawing is saved first).
• Search the drawing: the palette's search command looks through labels, designations, identifiers, circuits, catalog codes and symbol names (the kod: prefix means an exact catalog code); results can be selected. The Show on drawing link in the takeoff detail rows leads here.
• Undo history: at the bottom of the right-hand panel (or via the palette's History command) the steps are listed by name, and you can jump back to any of them.

Stairs and floor links

Stairs can be straight or L-shaped; their direction (up/down), width, number of steps and tread depth can be set, and for the L shape the turn direction and the landing. The program shows the riser height calculated from the floor height and warns if it is not regular.

Stairs and risers can be connected with a floor link to their counterpart on the other floor (Create counterpart on this floor). The link is also used by the take-off: the rise between floors is added to the cable length. The adjacent floor shows through faintly on the Adjacent floor layer.

Furnishings (sanitary fittings, appliances, furniture)

To help position the electrical elements, furnishings can be placed on the drawing. In the Sanitary fittings group: WC, washbasin, shower tray, bath, water heater (tank), washing machine and dryer; in the Furniture and appliances group: sink, fridge, radiator, bed, sofa, table and wardrobe. These are real-size line drawings, not electrical elements: they are not included in the take-off, the quotation, the circuits or the legend.

• Placing: choose the object in the left-hand bar (the groups are collapsed by default, expand them), or press B (it gives the last chosen object; the first time, the WC), and click. Near a wall, the object sits with its back against the wall and faces into the room; near a corner, it also aligns to the corner. Away from walls, it snaps to the grid; Q rotates it by 90°.
• Selecting and dragging: an object is selected by clicking its area (above the wall and the room, below the devices and cables) and can be dragged by the grabbed point; while dragging, it snaps to the wall.
• Properties: the kind can be changed, the width and depth can be edited in cm (the Default size button restores the usual size of the kind, e.g. 90 × 90 cm for a shower tray), and the rotation can be set with buttons.
• Layer: the Furnishings layer can be hidden separately (e.g. for printing) and locked (so that it does not catch clicks while drawing).
• The water heater is two separate things: the Water heater (tank) is the space it occupies, while the Water heater symbol in the Fixed connections group is the electrical connection point (2 kW), which is what goes into the take-off.

Moving around the canvas

• Wheel: zoom around the cursor. Middle button or space + drag: pan the drawing.
• Ctrl+Z undo, Ctrl+Y (or Ctrl+Shift+Z) redo, Del or Backspace delete, Esc end of chain / clear selection / back to the floor plan.
• Keyboard shortcuts are not active in input fields.

For repeating similar floors, use copying the floor and import from another project; for repeated parts (e.g. a bathroom), use a block; for a mirrored layout, use the X command and Floor actions → Mirror floor.

On a tablet

The drawing editor works with touch and a pen too (when the Tablet drawing feature is on). On a tablet, or in a window narrower than 1180 pixels, the interface switches to the tablet layout.

• Placing and precise drawing: with the symbol, door, window and similar placing tools, and with wall, route, room and measure, a live preview shows under your finger; the point is placed when you lift it, and you can adjust it before that.
• Touch bar: it appears on the canvas after the first touch or pen use. Its buttons: Done, Undo point, Cancel, Length…, Undo, Redo, Delete, Rotate; the Straight, Add to selection, Marquee and Single item toggles replace the Shift and Alt keys, so every drawing action is available without a keyboard.
• Layout: the properties panel slides over the canvas and can be closed; the less common header buttons move into the More menu.
• Pen: you draw with the pen; a palm or finger resting next to it does not draw or zoom.
• The wall view works the same way: pan and zoom with two fingers, tap and drag with one finger.

Live collaboration

The header shows the other people editing this floor. Their cursors and selections are visible; selecting an item creates an advisory lock. Where possible, the program merges parallel changes to different items automatically. Changes by others appear within seconds, even while you are drawing, and are merged automatically; if they touch the same object, the merge happens at your next save.