Help center

Open a drawing

Press Open a drawing and choose a .DWG or .DXF file, or drag the file onto the page. The file is uploaded privately and prepared on our servers; this takes a few seconds. When it is ready, the link in the address bar is the drawing's own link.

Move around the drawing

• Zoom: scroll the mouse wheel, or pinch on a touch screen.
• Pan: drag with the mouse or one finger.
• Fit everything: press Z or the fit button in the toolbar.
• Overview: the small map in the corner shows where you are; click it to jump.
• Background: press B to switch between dark and paper.

Layers

The Layers panel lists every layer with its colour. Click a layer to hide or show it, type in the search box to filter, and use Show all to bring every layer back. To see a single layer, select an object and press Show only this layer in its properties card.

Model and layouts

The tabs at the bottom of the screen switch between model space and each layout of the drawing. TrattoCAD opens the same one AutoCAD would open.

Select objects

Click any line, arc, circle, polyline, text or hatch to open its properties card: type, layer, colour, length, angle, radius, area and more, depending on the object.

Measure distances and areas

1. Press D for distance or A for area.
2. Move the cursor near a point. A red marker shows the snap: square for endpoint, triangle for midpoint, circle for centre, cross for intersection.
3. Click to add points. The panel shows the total, the last segment and its angle; for areas, the area and perimeter.
4. Press Enter or double-click to finish, Esc to clear.

Comments

1. Press C or choose the pin tool.
2. Click the spot on the drawing and write your note. Your name is remembered on this device.
3. Click a pin to open its thread on the drawing, reply, or mark it resolved.

Share and delete

Press Share to copy the drawing's link. Anyone with it can view, comment and download the original file. If you uploaded the drawing from this browser, the Share window also lets you delete the drawing and all its comments from our servers.

Print to PDF

Press Print or P. Choose the paper, orientation, area (whole drawing or what you see), scale and the drawing units, then Download PDF. The window tells you how big the drawing will be on paper and warns you if it does not fit.

Keyboard shortcuts

If something goes wrong

• The file is refused: check that it is a .DWG or .DXF and smaller than 95 MB. .DWG files older than R13 cannot be opened yet.
• Text looks different: TrattoCAD uses its own fonts when the drawing's fonts are not available, so text may be slightly wider or narrower.
• The drawing does not appear: your browser needs WebGL 2; any recent Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari has it.
• Still stuck? Write to hello@trattocad.com.