How does the auto-count work?

You click one instance of a repeated symbol. The tool rasterizes the sheet, extracts the symbol's shape, and matches every other symbol on the page by size, aspect, fill and a normalized shape signature, all locally in your browser, in about 100 ms.

Which symbols can it count?

Any repeated symbol that appears as a distinct shape on the drawing: downlights, GPOs/power points, switches, smoke alarms, ceiling diffusers, hydrants, columns and similar fixtures. It works best on isolated symbols in vector CAD plots; symbols that touch wall lines on cluttered or scanned sheets are handled by the ML detector that is being trained.

Is the symbol count free?

Yes, completely free and open source (Apache-2.0), no page limits, no account, nothing uploaded.

Do I need to upload my drawings?

No. The scan runs on your own machine with local computer vision; no model download, no server, nothing uploaded. Confidential tender drawings stay private by design.

Can it count across all sheets of a set?

Yes. Scan each sheet with one click; the markups list groups counts by label across the whole set, and the totals feed straight into the Excel export and the printable report.

Free & open source · files never uploaded

Count symbols in a PDF drawing automatically, free

Counting downlights across a floor plan by hand is how quantities get missed. With pdf2takeoff you click one symbol and the scan counts every match on the sheet in about a tenth of a second: numbered markers on the drawing, a running total in the list, ready for Excel. It runs entirely in your browser, so confidential tender drawings never leave your machine.

Free, no account Files never uploaded ~100 ms per sheet Open source · Apache-2.0

Count your symbols now →

How to auto-count fixtures on a drawing

Open the drawing. Drag any PDF floor plan into pdf2takeoff.
Click one symbol. Press S (Scan) and click directly on one instance of the symbol: a downlight, a power point, a smoke alarm.
Every match gets counted. The scan finds all instances of that symbol on the sheet and places a numbered marker on each, in reading order.
Group by spec name. Rename the group (e.g. Downlight DL-100) and scan the next symbol type; the list keeps one total per group.
Export. Take the counts to CSV or Excel, print the quantity report, or save the count markers into the PDF itself.

What it's good at, honestly

The scan is classic computer vision: it learns the shape of the symbol you clicked and matches every instance by size, aspect, fill and shape signature. That makes it fast, private and dependable for isolated symbols in vector CAD plots: lighting layouts, power and data schedules, fire services, ceiling grids. Symbols that touch wall lines, or dense scanned sheets, are harder: those are the target of the ML detector being trained on an open data pipeline, which drops into the same scan without changing how you use it.

Why count with a tool at all?

Fixture quantities are the classic takeoff error: 63 downlights on the lighting layout, 58 in the estimate, and nobody finds out until the electrician's variation arrives. A click-per-sheet count you can repeat on every revision and cross-check against the schedule turns that risk into a 30-second check. Pair it with the revision overlay compare to see exactly which fixtures moved between revisions before you recount.

FAQ

Is it really automatic?

One click teaches the scan what to count; every match on the page is found and marked automatically after that.

Does it work on scanned drawings?

Clear scans of distinct symbols usually work. Dense or low-contrast scans are where the ML detector (in training) will take over.

Can I count symbols on all pages?

Yes: scan each sheet, and the markups list totals every label across the whole set for the Excel export.

Do the count markers show in Bluebeam?

Yes. Save into the PDF and the count markers become standard PDF annotations that open in Bluebeam Revu and Acrobat.