When you need the picture, not the numbers
The Excel workbook answers "how many". A marked-up image answers "where". Send one back to the design team to show what you have counted, keep one on file as a record of the takeoff, or attach one to a query about a symbol you could not identify.
ZeroCount renders the drawing at its full resolution with the markers drawn on top, as a PNG or a single-page PDF.
Where the command is
In Review mode, click Export in the header. In Takeoff mode, open Actions and hover Export .
Both menus offer two image items, each with the same pair of choices:
- Export Image (.png) then Active File or All Files (.zip)
- Export Image (.pdf) then Active File or All Files (.zip)
Exporting the drawing you have open
- 1
Set the drawing up as you want it seen. Hide any groups you do not want in the picture, and decide whether AoIs should be visible.
- 2
Open the Export menu and hover Export Image (.png) or Export Image (.pdf).
- 3
Click Active File.
- 4
Wait for the Exporting image... overlay to clear. The file downloads when it does.
The result is named:
{Project name} - {drawing name}_export.png{Project name} - {drawing name}_export.pdf
The PDF is a single page sized to the image, laid out landscape where the image is wider than it is tall and portrait otherwise. The picture inside it is re-encoded as a JPEG to keep the file a sensible size, so a PDF is not quite as crisp as the PNG at full zoom. Where the image is going to be examined closely, choose PNG.
What is drawn
| Element | In an Active File export |
|---|---|
| Detection, Count, Linear and Area markers | Drawn, in their group colours, at their configured widths and opacities. |
| Groups hidden with Hide | Omitted. |
| Groups covered with Cover | Drawn as their white cover boxes, exactly as they appear on the canvas. |
| Zones | Always drawn. Where Hide zones is on, they are drawn transparent so the export matches the canvas. |
| AoIs | Follow the Display AoIs toggle. Shown, they export at their configured opacity; hidden, they are invisible. |
| Annotations | Drawn. |
| The Live Legend | Drawn at full opacity, even if the marker itself is set to a lower opacity on the canvas. |
| Ignore colours and Remove Background | Included. The export shows the drawing exactly as your cleaning settings leave it. |
Linear takeoffs are drawn as open polylines, so a run does not get a closing edge joining its last point back to its first.
Rotation is preserved: if you have rotated the drawing in the app, the export comes out at the same orientation and at the matching page dimensions.
Working notes make poor client deliverables. Annotation groups and the Live Legend are drawn in these exports even though they never reach the Excel workbook, so hide or delete anything internal before exporting images. See Group visibility.
Exporting every drawing as a zip
- 1
Open the Export menu and hover Export Image (.png) or Export Image (.pdf).
- 2
Click All Files (.zip) .
- 3
Wait for the Exporting all files... overlay. Larger projects take a while, because every drawing has to be rendered.
The download is named {Project name} - Export.zip and holds one file per drawing, each named after the drawing itself with a .png or .pdf extension — no project prefix and no _export suffix inside the zip.
Only the drawing you have open is exported in full. The other drawings in a zip carry their markers only — detection boxes, linear runs, area polygons and count markers, in their group colours. Zones, AoIs, annotations and the Live Legend are not drawn on them. Where those matter for a particular drawing, open it and export it as Active File.
If a drawing cannot be rendered, its plain image is used without markers, or the drawing is skipped and named in the toast.
The messages you will see
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
Exporting image... | Overlay while a single drawing renders. |
Exporting all files... | Overlay while a zip is built. |
Image exported successfully | The single-drawing export finished. |
All files exported successfully | The zip finished with every drawing included. |
Export completed with skipped files | The zip downloaded, but some drawings could not be rendered. The message lists them under Could not export. |
Failed to export image | The render failed. |
Failed to export all files | The zip could not be built. |
Cannot export — marker area not initialised | The drawing has not finished opening. Wait, then try again. |
Cannot export — no canvas available | The same cause. Give the drawing a moment to load. |
Cannot export — no image loaded | The drawing image has not arrived. Reopen the drawing. |
Cannot export — marker area or project not available | Seen on a zip export before the project has finished loading. |
Common issues
A group I can see on screen is missing from the export
Check whether it is set to Hide in its menu under Visibility, or hidden by mask view. Hidden groups are deliberately left out, and the mask is a viewing filter rather than a change to the drawing — leave the mask before exporting so you are looking at the real state.
The zones are missing
Hide zones is on in the AoIs, Legends & Zones dropdown, so the export matched the canvas. Switch Show zones on and export again.
The AoIs are missing
AoIs follow the Display AoIs toggle in the same dropdown. They are also locked and hidden automatically the first time you start a takeoff on a drawing that has them, so this is common. Show them again before exporting if you want them in the picture.
The other drawings in my zip have no zones on them
That is expected. Only the drawing you had open renders with zones, AoIs, annotations and the Live Legend. Export those drawings individually.
Some drawings were skipped
The toast names them under Could not export. Open each one, confirm it displays properly, and export it as Active File.
Next steps
- Exporting to Excel — the quantities the images accompany.
- Group visibility — Cover and Hide, and what each does to an export.
- The Live Legend — the key that is drawn on the exported image.
- Rotating drawings — the rotation the export preserves.