Overview
The header bar across the top of the Shop Drawing Designer holds view and editing controls. The right side has grid, snap, ruler, zoom, undo, and settings tools for working on the canvas at real-world scale.
Where in the app: Shop Drawing Designer header (top of the canvas)
Open: Shop Drawing Designer
For drawing tools on the left toolbar, see Designer tools.
View toggles
These buttons sit together on the right side of the header. Active toggles highlight in the accent color.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Grid | Show or hide the drawing grid on the canvas |
| Snap to Grid | When on, points snap to grid intersections while you draw and move objects |
| Snap to Objects | When on, points snap to edges, corners, and midpoints on other objects |
| Rulers | Show or hide tape-measure rulers along the top and left edges of the canvas |
| Settings | Open the Settings dialog for grid spacing, snap distance, units, and dimension format |
Grid and snap toggles work together: turn Grid on to see spacing, then enable Snap to Grid for precise placement. Use Snap to Objects when aligning dimensions and symbols to existing geometry.
Rulers
When rulers are on, horizontal and vertical strips appear outside the canvas. Markings follow tape-measure conventions in the active unit system (inches or millimeters). Labels adjust as you zoom so major divisions stay readable.
Use rulers to check real-world size and alignment while drawing elevations and details.
Settings
Click the gear icon in the header to open Settings.
Object units
Switch between Imperial (in) and Metric (mm). This controls the units shown in the properties panel when sizing objects. Imperial and metric grid spacing values are stored separately.
Grid and snapping
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Snap distance | How close the cursor must be to a snap point (in pixels) |
| Grid spacing | Real-world distance between grid lines; choose a preset (for example 1 in, 6 in, 1 ft) or enter a custom value |
Grid line spacing uses these values. Snap to Grid uses the same step when that toggle is on.
Dimension format
Choose how dimension labels display on the drawing:
| Format | Example |
|---|---|
| Inches | 30" |
| Feet and Inches | 2' 6" |
| Meters | 0.762 m |
| Millimeters | 762 mm |
Dimension styles
When available, edit the default look of dimension lines: color, stroke width, font, extension lines, and arrow or tick ends. Changes apply to new dimensions placed after you update the style.
Zoom
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Zoom out | Reduce canvas magnification |
| Zoom percentage | Current zoom relative to fit scale |
| Zoom in | Increase canvas magnification |
| Fit content | Frame all drawing content in the viewport |
You can also zoom with the mouse wheel while panning with the Pan tool on the left toolbar.
Undo, redo, and export
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Undo | Step back one edit (Ctrl+Z) |
| Redo | Restore an undone edit (Ctrl+Y) |
| Export | Save the drawing as PDF or PNG from the designer |
Clear All removes every object from the canvas. Use with care; undo may not recover a cleared drawing depending on session state.