How do I…

Set the scale

Mark two points a known distance apart so aims and spans draw at real size.

Where to find it: Properties (nothing selected) › Sheet › Set scale

1. Click an empty spot so nothing is selected, then open Properties › Sheet. Blueprint controls offer the same Set scale button.
2. Choose Set scale.
3. The pointer becomes a crosshair. Click two points on the blueprint whose real distance you know, such as a doorway or a dimension line.
4. Type that distance into Real distance exactly as the drawing writes it, then press Enter or Save scale. Pick points again starts over, and the × leaves without a change.

In the Prepare screen

The Scale step of preparing a blueprint does the same on a full screen. Click the start and the end of a known length; a magnifying lens beside the pointer shows exactly where you will click, and on a touch screen you slide and lift. Zoom in and drag either end to fine-tune. Then type the distance in Real distance, choose Save scale, or Pick points again to start over. If you skip it, Next reads Skip; the Rooms step shows Set scale wherever it needs one.

Typing the distance

Type what you read. 15' 6" and 4,72 m both work, and so do 15'-6", 15' 6 1/2", 15ft 6in, 186", 472 cm, 4720 mm and 4m72. Under the field the app shows what it understood, so a misreading is visible before it becomes the whole sheet's scale.

Units decides what a plain number means — type 15 with Feet selected and it is fifteen feet. A metric workspace starts on Centimeters, because that is how European floor plans are dimensioned; see set the unit system. When the text names its own unit, Units greys out and is not used.

Two numbers with no marks, such as 15 6, are refused rather than guessed at. Write 15' 6".

Moving, resizing or turning the blueprint afterwards keeps the scale; only a resize with Move blueprint alone on clears it. Settle the size first anyway: the blueprint's Size row says how sharp it will print. See move or resize a blueprint.

The line above the sheet and its title block now show the scale. When blueprints on one sheet have different scales, the title block says As indicated. To correct it later, choose Set scale again; in the blueprint's own controls it then reads Edit scale.

A scale belongs to the blueprint it was measured on. When a sheet carries more than one, Set scale under Sheet says so and asks you to open the blueprint you are measuring from Blueprints below it; its own Set scale then marks the points.

Saving a scale also sets the sheet's icon size to suit it, so a 1 : 50 drawing gets icons twice the size of a 1 : 100 one. Device numbers scale with their icons, so they move too. A line says Icon size matched to this scale. with Revert beside it if you would rather keep the size you had; one Undo takes back the scale and the size together. Shades, draperies, TVs and soundbars keep their length whatever the icon size. If the new size would not fit — a larger icon would leave the sheet, or a shade, TV or soundbar could not keep its length at that size — the scale is still set and the line says Icon size left as it was. On a sheet with several blueprints the icons follow the page you have just measured. See adjust icon and label size.

With a scale set you can measure a distance and add a scale bar.