Canvas layers — alternates and options on one sheet

A sheet often needs more than one takeoff: a base bid and an alternate, a first pass and a check pass, two options the owner is deciding between. Canvas layers let one page carry them all — each layer its own independent set of marks over the same drawing.

Working with layers

The layers control in the bottom bar shows the current page's layers. Add Canvas creates a new one — empty, or a duplicate of the current layer when you want to riff on what's already counted.

Add Canvas: ① a new empty layer, or ② a duplicate of the current one — named whatever makes sense, like "Alternate — cast iron".

Switch layers with ↑/↓ or from the layers menu. Each page remembers which layer is active.

The footer canvas switcher: the active layer's name, the layer count, and the show-all peek eye — everything layer-related lives in one spot.

Rename a layer from its details (the edit pen in the canvas switcher) so "Canvas 2" becomes "Alternate — cast iron".
Deleting a layer asks first, names the layer, and tells you what it holds.

Everything you place lands on the active layer only, and the sidebar tallies, footer totals, and reports follow the layers you scope them to — the export dialogs let you choose this canvas, all canvases on a page, or everything.

Compare layers at a glance

The show-all peek (the eye-on-layers button next to the layer selector, shown when a page has two or more layers) temporarily draws every layer at once so you can compare options in place. It's purely visual — editing still targets the active layer, and nothing is saved differently. The sidebar totals stay on your active layer during the peek; the on-sheet legend is where you read the merged picture.

On a sheet with several layers, showing everything can be its own kind of noise. Right-click the peek button to choose exactly which layers to show: the current layer is always on, and you check just the one or two you want to compare against ("All canvases" brings the full merge back). A small dot on the button reminds you a subset is showing. The selection is temporary — it isn't saved with the project, and it clears when a page is back to a single layer.

Move marks between projects: canvas JSON

The Export Canvas option writes your marks — palette, groups, and all — as a small JSON file, without the PDF. Import Canvas loads one into another project. Because the file is tiny, it's the easy way to hand a takeoff to a colleague who already has the plan set, or to reuse a typical layout.

Good to know

Viewers on a view link can browse layers too — it doesn't modify the project.
Undo/redo and auto-save cover layer operations like everything else.
The per-page breakdowns in the Summary respect layers, so an alternate never contaminates the base bid's numbers.

Related: Reports & exports for scoping output to layers.