The three-stage workflow

Why three stages?

Every drawing in ZeroCount moves through the same three stages. The split exists because each stage has a different job:

• Stage 1 asks ZeroCount a question ("find these symbols, in these areas").
• Stage 2 is your chance to correct what came back.
• Stage 3 is the final tidy-up before the count leaves ZeroCount as an Excel file.

You'll see the stage indicator at the top of the editor — three pills separated by chevrons . The current stage is highlighted. Hover any stage for a short description.

Stage 1 — AOIs and Legends

Amend the auto-detected areas of interest (AOIs) and legends, or create new ones. Submit to detect any legend symbols found within the AOIs.

This is the input stage. You're telling ZeroCount two things:

1. Where on the drawing to search. These are the Areas of Interest (AOIs).
2. What to search for. This comes from the legend — the symbol key on the drawing.

What you'll see

When a drawing first opens, ZeroCount runs a quick OCR pass and tries to auto-detect both the AOIs and the legend. You'll usually find:

• One or more AOI polygons covering the working drawing.
• A legend marker over the symbol key.
• Sometimes ZeroCount misses or misplaces these — you'll need to correct them.

What you'll do

1. 1

   Check the auto-detected AOIs. Adjust the corners so they cover the area you want counted but exclude the legend.

2. 2

   If ZeroCount didn't auto-detect an AOI, draw one with the AOI tool . See Manual AOIs.

3. 3

   Check the legend marker. It should sit exactly on the symbol key so ZeroCount can read the symbols out of it.

4. 4

   When everything looks right, press Submit in the bottom-right corner of the canvas.

What happens when you submit

ZeroCount sends the AOIs and legend to the detection pipeline. The pipeline:

1. Extracts the individual symbols from the legend.
2. Searches inside the AOIs for matches against each symbol.
3. Groups matched instances together.
4. Returns the results, and the editor automatically advances to Stage 2.

A loading indicator sits in the toolbar while this runs. Don't reload the page — the connection is via WebSocket and reloading will lose your place.

More on each part of Stage 1:

• AOIs
• Manual AOIs
• Legends
• Running detection

Stage 2 — Review and amend symbols

Review and amend the detected legend symbols. Create new markers to highlight any missed components. Create a new group to manually mark any missed legend symbols. Or, rearrange existing markers assigned to the wrong group.

This is the correction stage. ZeroCount has done its best — now you tidy up.

What you'll see

• The drawing with every detected symbol highlighted as a marker.
• A sidebar of marker groups — one per symbol type found.
• Counts next to each group label so you can see at a glance how many of each were found.

What you'll do

The four operations that come up most often:

1. 1

   Delete false positives. Click a marker on the canvas, press DEL. Hold CTRL and drag to select several at once.

2. 2

   Find missed symbols. Use the Detect Symbol Marker tool — drag a box around a symbol you can see on the drawing and ZeroCount searches for more like it. New matches join the existing group, or create a new one.

3. 3

   Move markers between groups. Drag a marker from the canvas onto a different group in the sidebar — useful when ZeroCount has split one symbol across two groups, or mixed two similar symbols into one.

4. 4

   Add a marker manually. Use Auto Count Symbol or Auto Count at the top of the toolbar to drop a marker where ZeroCount missed something obvious.

When the groups look right, advance to Stage 3 by clicking the Stage 3 pill in the indicator.

More on Stage 2 operations:

• Selecting and moving markers
• Dragging markers between groups
• Manual symbol detection
• Merging groups

Stage 3 — Organise and export

Focus on reviewing and organising detections and detection groups ready for export.

This is the output stage. You're preparing the count to leave ZeroCount.

What you'll see

• The toolbar's Actions menu is hidden and replaced by a single Export dropdown.
• The sidebar shifts focus to group naming, database linking, and totals.

What you'll do

1. 1

   Name your groups. Replace any default Group 1 / Group 2 labels with the real symbol names. These names go straight into the Excel export.

2. 2

   Link to database items where you want pricing. Groups link to database items, Contractor's Choice items, or assemblies.

3. 3

   Set up zones if you want the export split by room or area. See Zones.

4. 4

   Export when you're ready. The full export walkthrough is in Exporting a project to Excel.

Navigating between stages

• Stage 1 → Stage 2 — happens automatically when you press Submit and detection completes. You can't manually advance to Stage 2 without running detection.
• Stage 2 ↔ Stage 3 — click the pill in the stage indicator. Free movement in both directions.
• Stage 2/3 back to Stage 1 — you can't go back to Stage 1 on a file that's already been detected. If you want to re-run detection from scratch, use Reset Drawing in the file's menu. See Resetting a drawing.

Skipping Stage 1

If your drawing has no legend, or you'd rather mark every symbol manually, you can skip Stage 1 entirely.

1. 1

   Open User Preferences .

2. 2

   Turn on Skip Stage 1.

3. 3

   From now on, new files open straight into Stage 2 with an empty marker sidebar, ready for manual takeoff.

More detail: User preferences.