Is DraftPlanar the same as Draft Planner?

DraftPlanar (sometimes searched as 'Draft Planner' or 'DraftPlanner') is a professional PDF viewer and plan markup app built for architects, engineers, and construction teams. It opens drawing sets on an infinite canvas, takes off length, area, angle and count from the vector geometry, and adds Apple Pencil markup, punch-list notes, revision compare and on-device text search. Available on macOS, iPad, and iPhone.

DraftPlanar is free to download and includes a 14-day free trial of every Pro tool. After the trial, importing documents, markup, measurement, compare, search, layers, notes and export need a DraftPlanar Pro subscription, monthly or annual. Canvases you created stay open to view.

Does DraftPlanar work on Mac and iPad?

Yes. DraftPlanar is one universal app for Mac, iPad and iPhone, and one subscription covers all three. On Mac it is built for a large display, keyboard shortcuts and trackpad; on iPad for Apple Pencil markup, touch measurement with a magnifier, and notes with photos or voice memos.

Can DraftPlanar do quantity takeoff from PDF drawings?

Yes. DraftPlanar measures length chains, area and perimeter, angles and counts directly from the PDF's vector geometry, keeps a separate scale for every sheet, and reads the scale printed in the title block. Takeoff items are listed beside the plan. Measurements are approximate and should be verified for critical dimensions.

Does DraftPlanar work offline?

Yes. DraftPlanar is built on a local-first philosophy. All rendering, measurement, OCR, and markup features work entirely offline. Your documents never leave your device.

New: takeoff for length, area, angle and count

The whole drawing set on one desk.Measured, marked up and tracked.

Name: DraftPlanar
Author: Draft Planar LLC

DraftPlanar opens construction PDFs side by side on an infinite canvas, on Mac and iPad. Take off quantities from the real vector lines, mark up with Apple Pencil, and pin every issue to the spot it belongs. Nothing leaves your device.

Download on the App Store Take the feature tour

14-day free trial
Works offline
No account

DraftPlanar on a Mac with a villa drawing set on the canvas — Five regions. Everything else in DraftPlanar lives in one of them.

Mac and iPad

At the desk on Mac. In the field on iPad.

One app, built for each, and one subscription covers Mac, iPad and iPhone.

Mac · at the desk

Lay the whole set out side by side on a large display.
A single-letter shortcut for every tool, and ⌘-scroll to zoom at the pointer.
Precise takeoff with a trackpad or mouse, snapped to the vector lines.
Present to the room over AirPlay, then export PDFs and punch-list reports.

iPad · in the field

Mark up with Apple Pencil. The ink is vector, so it stays sharp at any zoom.
Measure by touch, with a magnifier that shows the exact point under your finger.
Pin a note where the problem is, with a photo or a voice memo.
Works with no signal: nothing on the job site depends on a network.

And on iPhone, for a quick look during the walk-through.

New: takeoff

Quantities from the lines the architect drew.

Every point snaps to the PDF’s own vector geometry, not to pixels, and every sheet keeps its own scale.

Length
Place point after point to run a chain. Each segment and the running total update as you go.
Area
Trace a room to get its area and perimeter. Tap the first point again to close it.
Angle
Three points give the angle at the vertex, with an optional 15° snap.
Count
Make a series such as Doors, then tap each one. Numbers and totals carry across sheets.
Scale from the title block
DraftPlanar reads the sheet size and the scale printed in the title block and checks it against dimensions on the drawing, so many sheets are ready to measure without calibrating by hand.
Takeoff list
Every measurement lands in a list docked beside the plan, so totals are one glance away.

Measurements are approximate and depend on the PDF and its scale. Verify critical dimensions before relying on them. Terms

In one line

Four ideas behind every feature.

A drawing isn't a picture. It is hundreds of thousands of precise shapes on one sheet, and DraftPlanar treats it that way.

Fast
GPU rendering at 60 fps, even on 500-page sets.
Why drawing sets make PDF viewers slow
Precise
Real vector geometry. Snap to the line the architect drew.
Spatial
An infinite canvas instead of a page scroller.
Private
On your device, offline, with no account.

Feature Guide

Eight tools. Every shortcut.

The same Feature Guide that ships inside the app: what each tool is for, how to drive it on Mac or iPad, and how experts use it.

Before the shortcuts

How to read the keys

Symbol	Mac keyboard	PC keyboard
`⌘`	Command	Windows key ⊞
`⌥`	Option	Alt
`⌃`	Control	Ctrl
`⇧`	Shift	Shift
`⏎`	Return	Enter
`⌫`	Delete	Backspace
`esc`	Escape	Esc

ChordsHold the keys shown together. ⇧shift⌘commandZ means Shift and Command, then Z.

Everywhere⌘commandZ undo · ⇧shift⌘commandZ redo · esc leaves the current tool.

Single lettersV, P, M and the other tool letters switch tools. They never fire while you are typing in a text box.

Feature 01

Selection`V`

Every sheet, image and markup is an object you can arrange.

Shortcuts

`Drag`	Box-select on empty canvas
`⇧shiftClick`	Add to or remove from the selection
`⌘commandL`	Unlock / lock PDFs and images
`⌘command[`	Rotate left
`⌘command]`	Rotate right
`⇧shift⌘command]`	Bring to front
`⇧shift⌘command[`	Send to back
`⌫delete`	Delete the selection

Expert use

1
Mark up without nudging a sheetSheets start locked, so a box-select picks up only your markups. Press Command-L when you actually mean to rearrange sheets.
2
Build a review clusterUnlock, drag the plan, section and detail next to each other, then lock again. The layout is saved with the project.
3
Straighten a sideways scanSelect it and press Command-] until it reads upright. No round trip to another app.

Feature 02

Navigation`H`

Get anywhere on a 300-sheet canvas without losing your place.

Shortcuts

`H`	Hand tool: drag pans, never moves objects
`Two-finger scroll`	Pan (trackpad)
`⌘commandScroll`or`⌃controlScroll`	Smooth zoom at the pointer
`Mouse wheel`	Stepped zoom
`Pinch`	Zoom (trackpad and iPad)
`⌘command+`	Zoom in
`⌘command−`	Zoom out
`Click minimap`	Jump to that part of the canvas

Expert use

1
Pan a crowded canvas safelySwitch to H before sweeping across dense sheets. Every drag moves the view, never an object.
2
Cross the whole set in one moveClick the minimap near the sheet you want, then pinch or Command-scroll into the detail.
3
Read the smallest text on the sheetKeep zooming. Lines and text are vectors, so a 1 mm note is as sharp at 20× as the title block.

Feature 03

Pen`P`

Mark up naturally, with Apple Pencil or a mouse.

Shortcuts

`E`	Eraser: removes whole strokes
`⌘commandZ`	Undo the last stroke
`esc`	Leave the tool
`Context bar`	Colour and width

Expert use

1
Cloud a clash on siteOn iPad, draw straight on the sheet with Apple Pencil. The ink is vector, so it stays sharp when you zoom in to check it.
2
Clean up without touching the drawingThe eraser only removes your strokes. The PDF underneath can never be damaged.
3
Sketch the alternative next doorDraw in the empty canvas beside the sheet. There are no margins to run out of.

Feature 04

Measurement`M`

Exact numbers from the vector geometry, not from pixels.

Shortcuts

`⏎return`	Finish a length chain or polyline
`⌘commandZ`	While placing: remove the last point
`⇧shift`	Angle: snap to 15°
`esc`	Cancel the measurement in progress
`⌫delete`	Delete a measurement selected with V

Expert use

1
Calibrate every sheetTrace a known dimension on each page. Each sheet keeps its own scale, so mixed-scale sets just work.
2
Zoom in before you clickSnapping to real line ends and corners turns on once you are close. The iPad magnifier shows the exact point under your finger.
3
Take off countsCount mode: make a series such as Doors, then tap each one. Numbers and totals carry across sheets.

Measurements are approximate and depend on the PDF, its calibration and scale settings. Independently verify every dimension before relying on it. Draft Planar LLC is not liable for losses arising from reliance on measurements. See Terms of Service §3.

Feature 05

Search`⌘commandF`

Find any word, even in a scan, without a network.

Shortcuts

`⏎return`	Next match
`⇧shift⏎return`	Previous match
`⌥option⏎return`	Open the matched text box with the match selected
`esc`	Close search

Expert use

1
Search a scanned setText recognition runs on the device, so scans and photos on the canvas answer the same search as native PDFs.
2
Find your own labels firstText you typed ranks ahead of recognised text, so your own notes come up before the drawing's.
3
Work with no signalRecognition and search never leave the device. Airplane mode changes nothing.

Feature 06

Text marker`I`

Select, copy and highlight the text in any document.

Shortcuts

`Drag`	Select text, snapped to its lines
`⌘commandC`	Copy the selected text
`Context bar`	Switch Selection ↔ Marker, pick a colour
`⌘commandZ`	Undo a highlight

Expert use

1
Pull a spec clause into an RFIDrag across the clause, press Command-C, and paste into the email. The text is copied, not a picture of it.
2
Colour-code a reviewPick a colour per meaning: yellow to check, red for a problem. The code reads at a glance when zoomed out.

Feature 07

Text input`T`

Type directly on the canvas, in any language.

Shortcuts

`Click`	On empty canvas: a new text box
`Click`	Inside existing text: place the caret there
`⌘commandZ`	Undo
`A–Z`	While typing, letters type. They never switch tools

Expert use

1
Label a detail in your languageChinese, Japanese and Korean input work in place, with the candidate window beside the caret.
2
Find it again laterCommand-F finds typed text too. Option-Return drops you inside the box with the match selected.
3
Keep labels legible at any zoomText is drawn as vector shapes on the GPU, as sharp at 20× as at fit-to-screen.

Feature 08

Notes`N`

Capture an issue where it is, and send the report.

Shortcuts

`Click`	Drop a note on the drawing
`Notes panel`	List, filter, and jump to a note
`Export`	Punch-list PDF report

Expert use

1
Walk a punch listOne note per issue: category, priority, status, owner and due date. Add a photo or a voice memo instead of typing.
2
Return to the exact spotOpen a note from the list and the canvas returns to the view where you created it.
3
Send a report anyone can readExport a numbered PDF with photos and drawing snapshots. The recipient needs nothing but a PDF viewer.

Notes and punch lists

The issue stays with the drawing.

Replace scattered photos and follow-up spreadsheets with notes pinned to the exact place on the plan.

01
Pin it
Drop a numbered note on the room, detail or dimension.
02
Describe it
Category, priority, status, assignee and due date. Add a photo or a voice memo instead of typing.
03
Track it
Filter the list by status or category, and open any note to return to the view where you made it.
04
Report it
Export a numbered punch-list PDF with photos and drawing snapshots. Anyone with a PDF viewer can read it.

Also in DraftPlanar

The rest of the review kit.

Compare revisions
Pick two versions of a PDF and DraftPlanar overlays them page by page, so what changed stands out. Export the result.
PDF layers
Turn individual layers on and off, such as architecture, structure or MEP, and filter long layer lists by name.
Adaptive dark mode
Adaptive mode recolours drawings to match your theme, so a white sheet does not glare in a dark room.
Present on a big screen
Show the canvas on a TV or projector over AirPlay, with a pointer so the room sees what you are pointing at.
Export
Export marked-up sheets as PDF, with sharp vector text and your markups in the order you stacked them.
In your language
The app speaks 14 languages, and Chinese, Japanese and Korean input work right on the canvas.

Private by design

Your drawings do not become our data.

No account, no tracking and no cloud upload. Rendering, text recognition, search and measurement all run on your device, and the app works in airplane mode.

Read the privacy policy

Bring your next plan review into one workspace.

Open the PDFs you already have, keep the whole set in view, and turn every observation into a clear next step.

Download on the App Store

Every Pro tool is free for 14 days. After that, DraftPlanar Pro is a monthly or annual subscription, and canvases you made stay open to view.

Download on the App Store

The whole drawing set on one desk.Measured, marked up and tracked.

At the desk on Mac. In the field on iPad.

Mac · at the desk

iPad · in the field

Quantities from the lines the architect drew.

Length

Area

Angle

Count

Scale from the title block

Takeoff list

Four ideas behind every feature.

Fast

Precise

Spatial

Private

Eight tools. Every shortcut.

Shortcuts

Expert use

The issue stays with the drawing.

Pin it

Describe it

Track it

Report it

The rest of the review kit.

Compare revisions

PDF layers

Adaptive dark mode

Present on a big screen

Export

In your language

Your drawings do not become our data.

Bring your next plan review into one workspace.