Shapes, Text Boxes & Drawing Tools

Devices are the heart of a markup, but a clear plan usually needs more: a rectangle around the IDF closet, an arrow pointing at the demarc, a note explaining a cable path. FieldMarkup has a full set of drawing tools alongside the icon library, all in the editor toolbar.

Every drawing tool shares the same color and size controls in the toolbar, so your annotations stay visually consistent.

Pick a shape from the toolbar (or use the keyboard shortcut), then press and drag on the plan to draw it:

• Rectangle (R) boxes off an area such as a room, a zone, or an equipment closet. Choose a solid, dashed, or revision-cloud outline.
• Ellipse (O) circles a detail or calls out a coverage area.
• Line (L) draws a straight run for cable paths, property lines, or boundaries.
• Arrow (A) points at something specific: "mount here," "existing panel," "route conduit this way."

Set the color and line weight in the toolbar before you draw, or select a shape afterward and change them. Rectangles and ellipses can be filled or left as an outline.

The Pen tool (P) is freehand drawing: circle a problem area, sketch a quick cable route, or jot a checkmark. On an iPad it's pressure-aware with the Apple Pencil; with a mouse, just click and drag.

Ink is great for the kind of marks you'd make with a highlighter on a printed plan. For anything you want to look clean on a customer-facing export, a shape or a text box usually reads better.

The Text tool (T) adds a note to the plan. Click once to drop a callout where you click, or drag to draw a fixed-width text box, then type. Enter saves; Shift+Enter adds a line break for multi-line notes.

New text boxes have a white background by default so they stay readable over a busy floor plan. You can switch the background to "None" in the toolbar if you'd rather the text float over the plan.

Automatic numbering: every text note gets a small numbered badge (1, 2, 3…). This drives the optional Punch List appendix on export, a page that lists each numbered note in order so a GC can work down the list. Delete a note in the middle of the chain and the rest renumber automatically, so your punch list never has gaps.

The Count tool (C) drops colored checkmarks for quick counting: verifying how many devices are on a plan, tallying drops, or double-checking a takeoff. Each color is its own running tally, so you can count cameras in one color and readers in another.

Count marks are a private review aid: they show in the editor but are never included in exports, so they'll never clutter a customer-facing PDF.

Normally, after you place an icon or draw a shape, the editor switches back to the Select tool so you can adjust what you just made. When you have a lot of the same thing to drop (twenty ceiling domes, a row of card readers), that's a click too many each time.

Rapid place keeps the current tool active after each placement. Turn it on with the toggle in the toolbar, or hold the Z key. Drop as many as you need, then release Z (or toggle it off) to go back to normal. It works for device icons, count marks, and shapes.