What you've got
The file downloaded from Export Quantities (.xlsx) is a single workbook named {Project Name} - quantities-export.xlsx. Inside it:
- One worksheet per drawing, named after the drawing filename.
- A
Totalsworksheet at the end aggregating every group across every drawing.
The active file's worksheet is first; other files follow in their project-panel order; Totals is last.
If your filename has special characters (\, /, ?, *, [, ], :), they're replaced with _. If the resulting name is longer than 31 characters, it's truncated (Excel's worksheet name limit). If two files end up with the same sanitised name, the second gets (2), (3) suffixes.
Per-file worksheet anatomy
The header block (rows 1–6)
| Row | Column B | Column C |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | (blank) | (blank) |
| 2 | Date: | The export timestamp |
| 3 | Project: | The project name |
| 4 | File: | The drawing filename |
| 5 | Client: | The project's client |
| 6 | (spacer) | (spacer) |
This block sits at the top of every per-file worksheet so the sheet is self-contained when extracted or shared.
Column headers (row 7)
| Col | Header | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A | (blank) | Colour swatch column. Each data row shows the group's colour as a solid fill — Detection groups also carry an inline thumbnail of the matched symbol image (up to 22 × 22 px). |
| B | Scale | Populated for Linear and Area rows (e.g. 1:50). Blank for Detection and Unit. |
| C | Type | One of Detection, Unit, Linear, Area. Annotations never appear. |
| D | Takeoff Description | The group's label. |
| E | Code | Linked product code (DB / CC / Assembly). Blank if unlinked. |
| F | Description | Linked product description. |
| G | (spacer) | Holds Element Quant: label on group rows. |
| H… | (zone names) | One column per zone defined on this drawing. |
| … | Uncategorized | Quantity not falling inside any zone (only present when zones exist). |
| … | (spacer) | |
| … | Total Quant | The group's total. |
The header row is bold, Calibri 11pt, no fill — easy to spot when scrolling.
Data rows
One row per group, followed by child rows for the individual markers in some types:
- Detection — one group row, no child rows. Just the totals.
- Unit — one group row plus one child row per marker, labelled
Unit 1,Unit 2, etc. - Linear — one group row plus one child row per marker, labelled
Linear 1,Linear 2, etc. Lengths are in metres (or feet for architectural), already multiplied by the drawing's calibration factor. - Area — one group row plus one child row per marker, labelled
Area 1,Area 2, etc. Areas are in m² (or ft²), with the calibration factor squared.
Child rows for Linear and Area markers that cross a zone boundary are clipped — the portion inside each zone goes into that zone's column, the rest into Uncategorized.
The Totals worksheet
Sits at the end of the workbook. Same structure as the per-file sheets but with one extra column.
Header block
The metadata block is identical to per-file sheets minus the File: row (because the sheet spans all files).
Column headers
The only difference from a per-file sheet:
- An extra File column (column B) showing which drawing each row comes from.
- The Scale column moves to C, Type to D, and so on — same set of columns, just shifted one to the right.
Zone columns are the union of zones across every drawing — a zone named Office 1 on two drawings rolls into a single Office 1 column. Different zone names get their own columns.
Data rows
One row per group per file. So C-type fitting appearing on three drawings produces three rows with the same code/description but different File values. This is the sheet to send to a QS or estimator for a top-down view of the job.
How the maths works
A few points worth understanding so the numbers make sense:
- Linear length in metres:
(pixel length) × (1 / scale) × (calibration factor). ZeroCount handles this for you — what you see is real-world metres. - Area in m²: same formula but with both terms squared.
- Zone clipping for Linear: a Linear marker is split at every zone boundary it crosses; each segment is attributed to the zone containing it.
- Zone clipping for Area: the area inside each zone polygon is computed as the geometric intersection of the marker polygon with the zone polygon.
- Detection / Unit counting: a marker is "in" a zone if its centre point is inside the zone polygon. No fractional counts.
What's NOT in the export
- Annotation markers — Rectangles, ellipses, arrows, text, custom images, polygons, multipoint lines. These are visual notes only.
- AOIs — they're a Stage 1 input, not an output.
- Per-marker costs — codes and descriptions are exported but not unit costs. For pricing, use Export Job to produce a
.sqlitefor the estimating software.