9 guide sections

Takeoffs Help

Measure drawings, organize quantities, and export takeoffs.

Use this guide to organize an estimate, measure or count from project drawings, review totals and costs, and export the result.

Start here

Set up and measure

Create a Takeoff Set

  1. Open Preconstruction → Takeoffs.
  2. Select New Takeoff Set and enter a specific name.
  3. Open the set in the drawing viewer.
  4. Add categories for major groups of work.
  5. Add items under each category.
  6. For each item, choose Linear Feet, Area, or Quantity.
  7. Set its color and, when needed, a multiplier and unit cost.

Area items use square feet or square yards. Quantity items use circle, square, or cross markers. A multiplier converts a linear or area total into a multiplied unit.

An item's unit cannot be changed after creation. Duplicate the item when you need a similar setup with another unit, and choose whether to copy its existing measurements.

Place Takeoff marks

  1. Open the Takeoff Set and select the intended item.
  2. Navigate to the correct published sheet and revision.
  3. For Quantity, place a marker at every counted location.
  4. For Linear Feet or Area, verify or calibrate the scale, then trace the work.
  5. Finish each multi-point measurement before changing tools or sheets.
  6. Review the current, sheet, and drawing totals as you work.

Every mark belongs to the item and drawing revision active when it was placed. Marks are not carried automatically to a new revision. Counts do not use scale; linear and area measurements do.

For calibration, viewer controls, and revision behavior, see Measuring and calibrating drawings.

Review and export

Review and export

Review the selected categories, items, sheets, revisions, units, multipliers, unit costs, and totals before sharing.

  • Export a category or full set to CSV for category, item, total, unit, multiplier, multiplied total, unit cost, and total cost.
  • Export to PDF when the recipient needs marked locations on the selected sheets.
  • Include the Takeoff legend when the PDF must explain item colors and symbols.

See Creating and exporting drawing takeoffs for detailed PDF selection behavior.

Rename a set when only its label is wrong. Deleting a Takeoff Set permanently removes its categories, items, and drawing markup.

Access and platforms

  • View takeoffs allows review.
  • Add new takeoffs, make changes to existing takeoffs, share takeoffs controls creation, editing, and sharing.
  • Takeoffs are available when the organization's Project Management package is enabled.
  • A set can be created before drawings exist, but useful drawing work requires published drawing pages and drawing access.
  • Web and native layouts are available. Desktop web is best for detailed plan work and broad exports.

Troubleshoot Takeoffs

Takeoffs is missing

Confirm the intended project, the Project Management package, and the Takeoffs read or write permission.

A Takeoff Set will not open

Confirm the project has a published drawing page, that you can view the drawings, and that you have Takeoffs write access.

A total looks wrong

Check the active item, unit, multiplier, sheet revision, and scale. Counts ignore scale; linear and area totals depend on it.

Marks disappeared after a drawing revision

Switch back to the revision where the marks were created. Measure affected work again on the new revision.

I chose the wrong unit

Duplicate the item with the correct unit and decide whether its measurements should also be copied.

An export contains the wrong work

Review the selected sheets and items before exporting. Takeoff exports can include incomplete or private estimating work.