Measure

The Measure tool tells you how far apart two points of the plan are. It changes nothing in the home, unless you ask it to keep the measure as a dimension.

Picking it

Measure in the dock, or TT. It is in the dock of Structure and of Furnish, and in a viewer’s too: whoever can open the project can measure it.
The search (⌘KCtrl+K): type Measure.

The tool has no options: its bar shows its name, what to do, where the pointer is (x 5.20 · y 3.80, metres from the plan’s origin) and Done (✓).

Using it

Pick the tool. The bar says Click two points to measure (snapping on) · EscEsc to clear.
Click the first point. From there a line follows the pointer, with the distance on a pill in its middle; the bar now says Click the second point · ⇧Shift-click to keep it on the plan as a dimension.
Click the second point. The line and its pill stay on the plan. When the two points are neither level nor one above the other, a line beside the end says how far across and how far down they are (Δx 7.00 m · Δy 4.00 m).
Click again to start another measure: the first one goes. EscEsc clears it.

The first point clicked in the living room's corner: a line to the pointer with 6.44 m on its pill

The measure taken across the living room: 8.06 m on the pill, and Δx 7.00 m · Δy 4.00 m by its end

Keeping it as a dimension

Hold ⇧Shift while you click the second point: the measure is not left on the plan as a measure, it is added to it as a dimension between the two points, exactly as measured, its label in the middle. It is one step in the history (Dimension added) and stays on the plan and in print; the left panel lists it under Dimensions and notes, and the Dimensions layer shows or hides it. Selected, it says how long it is now, and can take a measure taken on site and its source: Measures and notes.

The south side of the living room kept as a dimension of 7.00 m along the stair

Keys inside it

EscEsc: clears the measure, the one being taken or the one left on the plan. With none, back to Select. Done (✓) in the bar goes back to Select too.
⇧Shift + click on the second point: keep it as a dimension.
⌘Ctrl held: no snapping, the point goes exactly under the pointer.
␣␣ held: move the view; ⌘Ctrl with the wheel: zoom.
Any other tool’s key picks that tool.

What it snaps to

Both points snap as the plan’s snapping is set (Snapping): a wall’s end, a wall’s middle, a point on a wall (on its axis), the alignment with ends already there, and the grid when it is on. A small mark with its name (end, middle…) shows what the point caught. Measure has no angle steps: the second point is not pulled to 45° or 90° from the first.

What it refuses

Nothing: any two points can be measured, the same one twice too (0.00 m). Viewers measure, but a measure kept as a dimension is a change to the home, so only who can edit keeps one.

After

A plain measure is not part of the home: it is not saved, not printed and not seen by others in the project, and it goes as soon as you start another, press EscEsc or leave the tool. A dimension kept is part of the home like any other change.

Example: across the living room

On the finished example flat, from the corner where the north and west walls’ axes meet to the corner of the bedroom’s wall.

Press TT.
Click the north-west corner (x 0.00 · y 0.00): the mark says end.
Click where the wall between the living room and the bedroom meets the hall’s (x 7.00 · y 4.00). The pill reads 8.06 m, and Δx 7.00 m · Δy 4.00 m beside the end.
To keep the living room’s south side as a dimension: click x 0.00 · y 5.00, then hold ⇧Shift and click x 7.00 · y 5.00. A dimension of 7.00 m is added along the stair.

If something goes wrong

The point jumped somewhere you didn’t want: something near it caught it. Hold ⌘Ctrl while you click, or zoom in.
A dimension kept by mistake: ⌘ZCtrl+Z, or select it and delete it (⌫⌫or⌦⌦).
The measure is between walls’ axes, not their faces: the ends and the points on a wall are on the axis. For the clear distance between two faces, see Measures and notes.