Objects
There are different types of objects in Free Drawing:
Symbols
Symbols can be found in the menu on the left, e.g. in the “Wiring Diagram Symbols” or “PV Symbols” folder. They represent technical symbols that can be used in Free Drawing.
They can be placed by dragging and dropping them from the side menu into the drawing area
The editing menu can be opened by double-clicking on a placed symbol. Depending on the type of symbol, various properties can be edited here, such as short characters, long text and placeholders. For terminal blocks, for example, the terminals can be configured in this way.
General devices
Like symbols, general devices can be found in the menu on the left and can be placed in the drawing area using drag and drop. The editing menu can also be opened by double-clicking.
The bottom right-hand corner of general devices is highlighted in orange; the corner can be moved by clicking the left mouse button to change the size.
General devices support different colours, line widths and line styles. Text can be placed in the centre of the “device” and item designations and brief descriptions to the left of the device (as with the other symbols)
Lines
Segments can be drawn using the line drawing mode; these segments can merge with existing segments (if they overlap) or connect (if they are adjacent to each other). If the colour of a segment is changed, this affects the entire line (all other segments of the line). If a segment is moved, connected segments are pulled along.
Frames
Frames are drawn using the frame drawing mode.
Frames can also have different colours, line thicknesses and line styles and, like general devices, their size can be changed using the orange corner at the bottom right. Frames also have the option to configure a heading.
Texts
Texts can be created in text mode, they can be placed freely in the drawing area and do not have to be in the grid.
Its size can be changed using the orange corner at the bottom right. Notes will always try to fit the text into the set size as well as possible (with text breaks) and then automatically resize their frames so as not to take up any unnecessary space around the text. Texts can be displayed with or without a visible frame (see editing menu by double-clicking on a text)
Tables
The “Table” element is located on the left in the tree, directly below the general device. From there, it can be placed directly on the drawing area using drag and drop.
As soon as a table is selected, the following editing options appear:
- Edit entire table – clicking the icon opens a menu in which the following properties can be changed for the entire table:
- Text size
- Alignment
- Draw cells / do not draw cells
- Edit columns – clicking the icon opens a menu in which the following properties can be changed for the column:
- Text size
- Alignment
- Insert column to the left/right
- Delete column
- Edit rows – clicking the icon opens a menu in which the same properties as editing columns.
- The familiar options such as “duplicate” and “delete”, which other elements such as frames and notes have, are also available for tables.
- Between the columns there is a line that can be dragged left or right with the mouse to change the column widths.
- Additional columns and rows can be added directly to the right of and below the table.
By double-clicking a cell, the text of the cell can be edited directly. Pressing “Tab” jumps directly to the next cell, allowing cell contents to be edited quickly.
