What it does
A project usually holds several drawings that share the same devices — the same detector on every floor, the same pipe service across a run of sheets. Counting the symbol once on each drawing is repetitive work.
When Search all files in category is on, ZeroCount does it for you. After you count a symbol on a vector drawing with Detect New Symbol, or capture a linear takeoff sample, it works through the other drawings in the same category in the background and adds the matching group to each one where it finds the symbol or the service.
You carry on working. Nothing blocks, and the search waits until you stop panning and clicking before it does its heavy work.
The setting is on by default.
What you see
Two messages, at the start and at the end.
When it starts, after a symbol capture:
- Searching service files — "Looking for the same symbol on 5 other files in this service..."
Or after a linear sample:
- Taking off service files — "Looking for the same service on 5 other files..."
When it finishes, a summary listing what happened on each drawing:
- Service search complete — 68 markers added, with lines such as
Level 02.pdf: 24 added,Level 03.pdf: no matches,Roof.pdf: skipped (raster-only drawing). - Service takeoff complete — 41 markers added, with lines such as
Level 02.pdf: 11 runs, 4 fittings. - Service search complete — no new markers or Service takeoff complete — nothing added when nothing was found anywhere.
- Service search stopped or Service takeoff stopped if you moved to a different project, or started another capture, before it finished.
Long lists are shortened with a line reading "...and N more".
These messages still use the older word "service" for what the project page now calls a Category. They mean the drawings filed under the same category heading as the one you are working on.
Which drawings are skipped
The summary names the reason against each drawing, so you can see exactly what was left out.
| Reason shown | What it means |
|---|---|
N completed files skipped | Drawings marked Completed are never written to. This is the one you will see most. |
raster-only drawing | The drawing is a scan or a flattened export, so the vector search cannot run on it. |
no scale set on this drawing | Linear takeoff only. Without a scale the run lengths would be meaningless. |
no paper-size info | The drawing was uploaded before ZeroCount recorded paper size. |
a takeoff in this colour already exists here | Linear takeoff only. That drawing already has a takeoff in the same colour, so it is left alone. |
this service isn't on that drawing | The line pattern that was sampled is not present on that sheet. |
drawing too complex / couldn't read drawing / couldn't load drawing size / drawing data not loaded | The drawing could not be read this way. Open it and count on it directly. |
file was opened during the search | You opened that drawing while the search was running, so it was left for you to work on. |
The rule about Completed drawings is worth knowing: marking a drawing Completed is how you protect finished work from later background searches. See Drawing status.
Where the results land
Each drawing that matched gets a new Detection group (or, for a linear sample, a Linear group plus its Bends and T-Junctions groups) with the same name, colour and template as the one on the drawing you were working on.
You will not see them until you open that drawing, or look at the cross-drawing summary in Review mode. See The cross-drawing summary.
Two things to expect:
- Groups created in the background are not filed into a Service. Assign them when you open that drawing.
- Each drawing measures at its own scale. A drawing that has had its scale set uses that; one that has never had a scale set uses the scale of the drawing you were working on. If a sibling drawing is at a different scale and has never been opened, set its scale before you rely on its lengths. See Setting the scale.
Check a background result before you trust it. The search adds markers to drawings you are not looking at, so a capture that over-matched on one sheet will over-match on the others too. Open one of the siblings and glance at the count.
Turning it on or off
- 1
Open the user menu at the bottom of the sidebar and choose User Preferences .
- 2
Select the Detection tab.
- 3
In the Symbol Detection card, switch Search all files in category on or off.
- 4
Click Close. The setting applies from your next capture.
The setting's own description reads: "When you detect a new symbol on a vector drawing, or capture a linear takeoff sample, also search every other file in the same category in the background and add the matching groups to them. Files marked Completed are skipped, as are drawings that can't be searched this way (raster-only, or with no scale set)."
Turn it off when a project holds drawings that look alike but are not meant to carry the same takeoff — a set of tender options, for example, or a category holding both a proposed and an existing layout.
Next steps
- Detect New Symbol — the capture that triggers the symbol search.
- Auto Takeoff from one sample — the linear sample that triggers the takeoff search.
- Drawing status — mark a drawing Completed to keep background searches off it.
- Organising with categories — which drawings count as siblings.
- The cross-drawing summary — see what landed on the other drawings.