Rulers and Construction Guides
Rulers run along the top and left edges of the canvas and show coordinates in your project's unit system. Drag from a ruler to create a construction guide line for alignment.
The horizontal ruler runs across the top of the canvas; the vertical ruler runs down the left edge. Both use your project's unit system (metric or imperial) and subdivide tick marks automatically as you zoom in and out. The canvas origin (0,0) is at the bottom-left of the page boundary.
Reading the rulers
Major ticks with labels show coordinates at the current zoom scale. Minor ticks appear between major ticks at finer intervals. In metric mode, labels show metres or centimetres. In imperial mode, labels show feet and inches.
Creating construction guide lines
Click and drag from the horizontal ruler downward to create a horizontal construction guide line. Click and drag from the vertical ruler rightward to create a vertical guide line. The guide line snaps to the ruler position as you drag. Release to place the guide line. Construction guide lines are non-printing reference lines.
Moving and deleting guide lines
Click and drag an existing guide line to reposition it. To delete a guide line, drag it back onto the ruler it came from.
Move a guide to a new position
Drag the dot on the ruler to reposition its guide. The line follows your cursor in real time so you can fine-tune the position while watching how it lines up with your plan. Release the mouse to commit the new position.
Delete a guide you no longer need
Click the dot on the ruler without dragging to delete that guide immediately. A click removes the guide; a drag moves it. If you remove a guide by mistake, press Ctrl+Z (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Z (Mac) to undo.
The top ruler creates vertical guides (setting an X position) and the left ruler creates horizontal guides (setting a Z position). This is the standard drafting convention: you pull a vertical line out of the top ruler, just as you would slide a T-square down from the top of a drawing board.
Use a pair of guides — one vertical and one horizontal — to mark a precise corner point. Place any shape so its corner snaps to the guide intersection and you get exact positioning without needing to type coordinates.
Construction guides are per-page. If you switch to a different page in a multi-page plan, the guides from the previous page are hidden. Switch back to that page to see and edit them again.
Frequently Asked Questions
I clicked the top ruler and got a vertical line, not a horizontal one. Is that correct?
Yes, this is the expected behavior. The horizontal ruler at the top sets X positions, so clicking it produces a vertical guide. The vertical ruler on the left sets Z positions, so clicking it produces a horizontal guide. Think of it as pulling a guide line away from the ruler edge.
How do I delete a guide without accidentally moving it?
Click the dot on the ruler with a single, still click — no dragging. If you drag even a little the guide moves instead. If you accidentally move a guide, press Ctrl+Z (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Z (Mac) to undo.
Why do my guides disappear when I switch pages?
Guides are scoped to the page they were created on. When you switch pages, only that page's guides are shown. Switch back to the original page and all its guides reappear exactly where you left them.
Can I snap objects to a construction guide?
Construction guides act as visual alignment aids. You can line objects up by eye against them. For precise snapping, enable Object Snap and draw near the guide — objects will snap to each other and to the grid, which you can align with the guide position.
Why don't my guides appear in the exported PDF or presentation image?
Construction guides are editor-only reference lines. They are intentionally hidden in presentation mode and excluded from all exports and prints so they do not appear in deliverables sent to clients.