The workspace tour

The menu bar

• File — new, open, save, and every kind of import and export.
• Edit — undo/redo, delete, mirror/array/rotate/scale, the drafting modify tools, Preferences and Default Properties.
• Reports — project summary, hydraulic calc package, sealed submittal, takeoff and fabrication exports, DXF exports.
• Tools — the one-off jobs: detect walls and columns from linework, unit blocks, the sprinkler catalog, hatching, room nameplates, the NFPA 1142 calculator, PDF merge.
• Auto — anything that generates work for you: auto route piping, auto generate heads, ceiling grid layout, hangers, dimensions, Resolve Connections.
• Select — select all, invert, and the “select all like this” family.
• View — camera views, coverage shading, node tags, layer view modes, seismic overlays.
• Help — Run Command, Report a Bug, Create Repro Bundle, Performance Tracker, Refresh License, About.

The toolbar rows

Under the menus sit labelled groups — FILE, MODE, DRAW, SUPPLY, HYDRAULICS, FITTINGS, DEVICES, ANNOTATE, AUTO, SNAPS, MODES, PIPE ADD-ONS, BUILDING. Groups show and hide themselves based on what you are doing; View → Always Show All Toolbar Groups pins them all open if you would rather they stopped moving.

The second row is the settings strip: Elev Lock and the elevation box, grid size, snap tolerance, the active pipe size, and a Display & Defaults dropdown holding theme, performance mode, render styles, and default sprinkler values.

The side panel

The Layers pane sits at the top — visibility, lock, colour and weight overrides, isolate, and saved layer states. Below it, tabs:

• Properties — everything about whatever is selected. Edit, then press Apply; nothing changes as you type, and your selection survives.
• Project — the job's default values, split into Pipe, Sprinkler, Hanger, Drafting and Building. Set these once at the start and every tool inherits them.
• Catalog — Parts and Datasheets. Search, load, apply.
• Sheets — paper space: sheet list, viewports, title block fields.
• Graphics — render style, display mode, edges, shadows, anti-aliasing, projection.
• Commands — recently used commands with a re-run button each.
• Seismic and Hangers — generation and normalisation for bracing and hangers.
• Analysis — the results tabs: Takeoff, Estimate, Schedule, Nesting, Runs, Links, Nodes, Demand, Remote Areas, Issues, Clashes, Calc, Warnings, Hydraulics, and the fabrication set.

Moving the camera

The same gestures work everywhere, including inside a sheet viewport once you are framing it.

The marking menus

The mouse buttons do more than open menus. A short drag with a button held picks from a ring of six choices by direction — you do not have to hit anything, you just flick the way you want and let go. The ring stays hidden for a fifth of a second, so once you know the stroke you never see a menu at all.

• Right-drag — the tool ring: Pipe, Sprinkler, Fitting, Support, Valve, Annotate.
• Right-click on an object — that object's ordinary context menu. This is where a surprising amount of the program lives; right-click a pipe, a head, a layer, a dimension, a viewport.
• Middle-drag — the view ring: the four isometric corners, plan, and previous view.
• Esc or a click outside cancels either ring.

Both rings are always in the same clockwise order, so the gesture for “pipe” is the same gesture forever.

Three keys worth memorising now

• F3 — turns every snap and magnet off, and back on. When something refuses to land where you click, this is the first thing to try.
• F5 — reloads the drawing view. Cheap, safe, and fixes most “the screen looks wrong” moments without touching your drawing.
• F12 — reports a bug, from anywhere, with a screenshot you can draw on.