Area measurements calculate square footage for surfaces like flooring, patios, landscape beds, and roofing. Choose from three drawing methods to match the shape you need to measure. Check your scale before measuring, since an incorrect scale produces inaccurate results.

Click the Area button in the canvas toolbar or press Q. The Symbol panel appears, where you can name your measurement, choose a color, and select a drawing method: Polygon, Box, or Circle. Click Start to begin drawing. Zoom in before placing points for better accuracy at corners.

The Polygon tool traces irregular shapes point by point. Click to place your first point, continue clicking around the perimeter, then press Escape or click Stop to complete the shape (you need at least three points). Hold Shift while clicking to snap edges to common angles like 0, 45, and 90 degrees, and press A after placing a point to curve the next segment into an arc. This works best for complex outlines like landscape beds or building footprints.

The Box tool creates rectangles with just two clicks. Click to place one corner, then click the opposite corner to complete the shape. Use this for quick rectangular measurements like patios or rooms.

The Circle tool measures round areas. Click to place the center point, then click again to set the radius.

Each area symbol has appearance and dimensional settings. For appearance, you can adjust the fill Color, Opacity, and add diagonal stripe patterns to visually distinguish overlapping areas. Set the Stripe gap to enable stripes, then adjust the Stripe angle and Stripe thickness.

For dimensions, set Wall height to calculate vertical surface area (useful for retaining walls), Depth for volume calculations (excavation or fill), and Slope adjustments using pitch ratio, degrees, or percentage grade. Use slope for pitched roofs or graded surfaces to calculate true surface area.

The Unit setting lets you display measurements in square feet, square meters, square yards, or acres. The Offset expands or contracts your measurement from the drawn boundary.

To correct a drawn measurement without redrawing it, open the measurement's actions menu in the sidebar and choose Set manual value. The entered value replaces the computed one everywhere it appears and aggregates, marked with a blue indicator. Choose Use calculated value to revert to the drawn measurement.

To subtract areas from a measurement, select an existing area symbol, right-click it, and choose Draw Cutout, then click to outline the area to subtract. The cutout creates a hole and its area is subtracted from the total. Cutouts appear as child items in the sidebar showing the negative area value.

Use descriptive names that include the material type, like "Decomposed Granite - Front Yard," to keep measurements easy to identify.