AI-Powered Tools

Symbol Search

Find and count a repeated symbol on your floor plan: fire sprinklers, electrical outlets, plumbing fixtures, dimension callouts, anything that appears multiple times. Draw a box around one example and Yanno searches the current sheet for matches.

Steps

1. Open the Auto Takeoff (lightning bolt) menu on the toolbar and choose "Symbol Search".
2. On the drawing, click and drag a tight box around one instance of the symbol you want to count.
3. The Symbol Search dialog opens. Give the symbol a name (e.g., "Fire Sprinkler") and adjust the Match Threshold if needed.
4. Click Search. When the search completes, a count marker appears on each match. If nothing reaches your threshold, Yanno keeps the closest matches (down to 0.12 below it, never below 0.50) and tells you so; delete any wrong ones. While a search runs you can click Cancel search to stop it.
5. Results show up as a new takeoff named with the symbol name and total count, e.g., "Fire Sprinkler (47)". The number in the name is the count when the search finished; it does not change when you delete or add markers.

Notes

• •The Auto Takeoff menu opens only after the sheet scale is confirmed, so set the scale first.
• •The Match Threshold slider trades off false positives vs. missed instances. The default is 0.65 (range 0.55 to 0.95). Lower it for "More matches"; raise it for "Stricter".
• •Rotated symbols match: the search checks every 30 degrees of rotation.
• •Mirrored symbols match too. The search also checks a flipped copy of your box, so a fixture placed on the opposite hand of the plan is found.
• •If a symbol has a tag drawn next to it (a callout like "SNK" or "S-1" sitting outside the block), box just the symbol and leave the tag out. Drafters keep tags readable when they mirror a block, so a box that includes the tag will not match the mirrored copies.
• •Size tolerance is roughly plus or minus 8% for upright symbols. Symbols drawn at meaningfully different sizes need a separate search per size.
• •Each search runs against the current page only. To count symbols across multiple pages, repeat the search on each sheet.
• •Results are regular count markers: delete false positives, or select the takeoff in the Takeoffs tab and click to add missed ones. Count markers can't be dragged.
• •Found symbols are included in the PDF export and the Excel export, same as manual counts.
• •Searches are limited to 40 per hour per account. If the box you draw is blank or too small to hold a symbol, Yanno tells you and does not search.