Set a drawing's scale

Lengths and areas come from each drawing's scale. Set it by ratio, or by measuring something you know.

A drawing without a scale says No scale — counts only. You can still count on it, but lengths and areas wait for a scale. Click N without a scale — set it above the plan, Scale… on the drawing, or press K.

By ratio

1. Choose Ratio, then the scale (1:50, 1:100, 1/4" = 1'-0" and so on, or Other 1:n…).
2. Check the paper size. A PDF uses its own page size; an image needs you to choose one.
3. Choose This page or All N pages, then Apply scale.

By a known length

1. Choose Draw a line, then Draw the line on the plan.
2. Click both ends of something whose real length you know: a dimension line, a door, a grid spacing.
3. Type the real length and its units. The dialog shows what that works out to ("Works out to about 1:N"). Then Apply scale.

Detect from the drawing

Let the AI find the scale for you. Click Detect from the drawing in the Scale dialog. The AI reads a marked dimension, a room-size label or a written scale.

1. Check each reading the AI lists: the text it read, in quotes, and the length it measured ("between the ends of the dimension line", or "a room size: … between its walls"). Below it, "Works out to about 1:N", and "Agrees with N other measurements" when readings back each other up.
2. Click a reading to see a crop of the drawing with its line marked in red.
3. Pick the right one, then Apply scale. Back returns to the dialog.

• Nothing is set until you apply it.
• If nothing is found, the dialog says "No marked dimension or written scale was found on this drawing." Click Draw a line instead.
• This is an AI feature, so it needs AI set up on the server.

You can also set the scale while starting a project, in the Sheets and scale step: see Start a takeoff from plans.