"I uploaded a PDF and nothing happened"
The most common cause is a WebSocket connection drop. ZeroCount uploads files over its WebSocket — if the connection isn't established, the upload silently fails.
- 1
Check the WebSocket indicator in the toolbar — it shows whether you're connected.
- 2
If disconnected, wait a few seconds — ZeroCount tries to reconnect automatically up to five times with exponential backoff.
- 3
If reconnection doesn't happen, reload the page and try uploading again.
You'll also see this if you try to upload a non-PDF file — .dwg, .png, .jpg are silently rejected because the upload zone only accepts application/pdf. See Supported file types.
"Detection finished but I see no markers"
Two common causes:
- The AOI didn't cover the working drawing. Check Stage 1's AOI placement — the polygon should hug everywhere you want counted.
- The legend marker missed the legend. The pipeline only finds symbols defined in the legend. If the legend marker isn't on the legend, nothing useful is extracted.
Reset Drawing and try again with corrected AOI / legend placement. See:
"My counts look way off"
Three usual suspects:
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Counts are roughly double what you expected | The AOI covers the legend; legend symbols are being counted as well as real ones | Adjust the AOI to exclude the legend, then re-run detection on a reset drawing |
| Counts include items in coloured zones / shaded areas | Background colour confused the matcher | Turn on Remove Background, or Ignore specific colours |
| Counts include symbols outside the working area | Drawing has multiple plans on one sheet | Split into multiple AOIs covering only the in-scope plan |
"Linear / Area measurements come out wrong"
Almost always scale-related.
- 1
Check the scale dropdown in the toolbar — it should show a sensible ratio (e.g.
1 : 50), notNone. - 2
If the scale is set but values still look wrong, the drawing may not be at the labelled scale. Calibrate against a known dimension — see Calibrating a drawing.
- 3
If a specific group is wrong but others are right, the group may have a per-group scale override. Click the scale value next to the group label to check.
"Excel export is missing items / files"
Run through the pre-flight checklist. Common gaps:
- A file is still in Stage 1 — it won't contribute groups to the export.
- The project marker summary hasn't refreshed for a file you've been editing elsewhere. Open each file briefly and return to refresh the cache.
- Annotation markers don't appear in the export by design — only Detection, Unit, Linear, and Area markers do.
"Cross-file delete or merge happened by accident"
There's no cross-file undo. Recovery options:
- The per-drawing undo stack on the affected files may help if you act immediately on each affected file.
- If you'd duplicated the project before the action, restore from the duplicate.
- Otherwise, contact your administrator about a server-side backup.
Habit-forming pattern: duplicate the project before bulk cross-file operations.
"Drawing is sideways"
Rotate it. See Rotating files. Rotation can be done from three places: the file card's dotted menu, the service Actions menu (rotates every file in the service), and the editor's Actions menu (rotates just the open file).
If you only realise after running detection, rotate and then re-run — markers stay anchored to page coordinates, so they may end up off-position relative to the rotated drawing. Reset Drawing if it's badly off.
"I can't pan the canvas"
Two reasons:
- Your cursor is over a marker. ZeroCount disables panning while hovering a marker. Move off the marker.
- You might be using the Legacy Controls scheme without realising. Check User Preferences — Legacy Controls swaps the Alt and Ctrl roles.
"The action menu has disabled buttons"
Several toolbar actions are disabled in certain states:
- Export — only available in Stage 3.
- Import from Files — only available when multiple files are selected for review.
- Reset Drawing — available in Stages 2 and 3, but not Stage 1.
- Merge icon on a group — disabled when the group has zero markers.
Move to the right stage or select the right files, and the action becomes available.
"I keep seeing toasts I don't understand"
A few common ones and what they mean:
| Toast | Meaning |
|---|---|
Upload Failed | A file upload didn't complete — try again. |
API Error | A REST call failed — usually a network blip. |
Cannot export — marker area not initialised | The drawing editor hasn't finished loading. Wait, then try the export again. |
Cannot export — no image loaded | Same as above — the drawing isn't ready. |
Connection required | The WebSocket is offline. Wait for reconnection or reload. |
Failed to process ignore colours | An ignore-colour mask couldn't be applied. Try removing and re-adding the colour. |
No source image available for reimaging | You tried to Reimage Group on a group without matched markers. Add at least one marker first. |
Some colour masks failed to load | A partial failure on cross-file mask import. Some masks went through, some didn't. |
Calibration applied | Confirms your scale calibration was successful. |
Still stuck?
If something's not behaving as documented:
- Reload the page — the simplest fix for transient WebSocket issues.
- Try in a different browser to rule out browser-specific issues.
- Check the in-app version number against this documentation's
updatedAtdate — features may have changed. - Contact your administrator if the issue is reproducible.