SchematicStudio Help

Quick start

SchematicStudio runs in your browser. There is nothing to install. This is the shortest path from nothing to a printed drawing set.

1. Create an account. Sign up, confirm your email address and log in. Every new account gets 30 days of full Pro access with no card needed. More on accounts and plans.
2. Open the editor and set up your first sheet. Click Sheet Properties on the Project tab and choose the paper size (A4, A3 or A2), orientation, title and the other title-block details. Sheets and pages.
3. Place symbols. Drag symbols from the panel on the left onto the sheet. Press R to rotate one. Double-click a symbol to give it a designator, value, make and part number. Placing and editing symbols.
4. Wire them up. Choose the Wire tool, click a pin, click along the route and finish on another pin. Wiring.
5. Add terminals, cables and locations where the job needs them. Terminals, cables and locations.
6. Add the pages that make it a document set: a Title page, a Contents page and a Bill of Materials. They fill themselves in from the project. Pages.
7. Lay out the panel (Pro) by importing DXF drawings of the backplate and components and arranging them to scale. Panel layout.
8. Issue a revision when the drawings go out. Revisions.
9. Print or export. The printer button prints every sheet on its own correctly sized page. Printing and export.

Account, plans & billing

Signing up and logging in

• Sign up with an email address and password, or continue with Google if that option is shown.
• You are sent an email to verify your address. If it doesn't arrive, check your spam folder, then ask for it to be sent again from the login page.
• Forgotten password? Use the link on the login page to have a reset link emailed to you.
• The arrow button at the top right of the editor logs you out.

How long you stay logged in

You stay logged in for up to 14 days since you last used the editor, and the editor quietly keeps your login alive while it is open. If your login has expired anyway, for example after a long break or a laptop that slept, the save indicator at the top will say so with a Sign in again link. Click it, log in, and come back: your project is not lost, and the next save carries on from there.

Free and Pro

Buttons for Pro features are greyed out on the Free plan, with a note on what each one needs. Libraries of symbols are included during the 30-day trial and with Pro.

The free trial

Every new account starts with 30 days of full Pro access and no card is needed. A banner at the top of the editor shows the days left, with a button to subscribe and keep Pro. When the trial ends you drop back to Free unless you subscribe; your projects stay saved, and the Pro features simply become unavailable until you upgrade.

Billing

• Pro is a monthly subscription. Use the subscribe button in the banner (or Start Free Trial on the main site) to go to secure checkout.
• Once subscribed, the Manage Billing button at the top of the editor opens the billing portal, where you can update your card, see invoices or cancel.
• A banner appears if a payment has failed, with a link to put it right.

The workspace

The editor has five areas.

1. The top bar holds Save, Save As, My Projects, Undo, Redo, Print, the project name, the autosave indicator, Manage Billing, your account (your email address, which opens the My account page), the light/dark button and Log out.
2. The ribbon below it has six tabs: Home, Project, Insert, Draw, Reports and View. Each is a row of buttons in labelled groups.
3. The symbol panel on the left lists built-in symbols and your custom symbols and libraries, with a search box. Hover over a symbol to see a larger preview.
4. The sheet fills the middle. Everything is drawn on a paper-sized sheet with a grid reference border.
5. The tab bar along the bottom has a tab for each sheet, the Portfolio button, and buttons to add a new sheet, title page, contents page, locations page, BOM or panel.

The ribbon at a glance

Moving around the sheet

• Zoom with the mouse wheel. Zoom centres on the pointer. Fit on the View tab resets to show the whole sheet.
• Pan by holding Space and dragging.
• Select several things by dragging a box on empty sheet, or hold Shift and click to add or remove items. Drag any one of the selected items to move them all: a faint copy of the rest follows the pointer so you can see where the group will land.

Light and dark mode

The sun/moon button at the top right (next to Log out) switches the editor between a dark and a light colour scheme. The first time you visit, the editor follows your computer's own setting; after you click the button it remembers your choice on that browser. This help page follows the same choice. Only the editor's controls change: the sheet stays paper white in both so that what you print looks the same.

My account

Click your email address at the top right of the editor to open My account. It shows your plan, when you joined and how many projects you have saved, and lets you:

• Change your password. Enter your current password and the new one twice. Every other device is signed out and you get an email confirming the change. If you sign in with Google, you can set a password here too, and then log in either way.
• Delete your account. Enter your password and type DELETE (Google-only accounts type their email address). Your account, every saved project, your saved title blocks and your sign-in records are permanently deleted, and any Pro subscription is cancelled first. This cannot be undone, so download or print anything you want to keep before you delete. Payment records may be kept by our payment provider as the law requires.

Projects & saving

A project is your whole drawing set: every sheet and page, your custom symbols, cables, locations, terminal models, footprints and revisions.

Saving to your account

• Autosave: changes are saved to your account automatically a moment after you make them. The small indicator in the top bar shows Saving and Saved, or tells you if something is wrong.
• Save (the disk button) saves right now. The first time, you are asked to name the project.
• Save As (Project → File, or the Save As… button in My Projects) opens the My Projects window as a place to put a copy. Pro accounts choose a folder on the left (or make a new one), type a name and press Save here. Clicking an existing project uses its name and replaces it, after asking. The original is left untouched and you carry on working in the copy. Use it to branch a job.
• My Projects (the folder button) lists your saved projects. Click one to open it, or start a new one from there.
• The Project name box in the top bar renames the project.

Organising your projects Pro

My Projects gives a Pro account a proper library:

• Folders: the list down the left holds your folders (a client, a site or a job number). Drag a project onto a folder to file it, or use Details. + New folder makes one, and the pencil beside a folder renames it or empties it (the projects are kept). Unfiled shows projects with no folder.
• Search and sort: the search box looks through names, folders, tags and status. Sort by recently edited, name or oldest.
• Status and tags: Details sets a project’s status (Draft, In review, Issued or Archived) and up to eight tags. Archived projects are hidden unless you choose Archived or Everything in the status list. Filing a project does not change its “updated” date.
• Duplicate (the copy icon) makes a copy of a project to branch a job; it starts as a Draft.
• Templates: set a project up the way you start every job (title block, cable library, terminal models, standard sheets) and use Save as template. It keeps a copy as it is now. New project from this makes a fresh project from it, in the folder you are looking at.

A Free account keeps the plain list of projects.

Starting a new project

New (Project → File) starts a blank project. You are asked to confirm first, because anything not yet saved in the current project is lost.

Undo and redo

Ctrl+Z undoes and Ctrl+Y (or Ctrl+Shift+Z) redoes. Undo covers everything on your sheets, including moving, wiring, panel layout items, rails, trunking and dimensions, and moving a tab. It does not cover the revision log, your libraries or the terminal-model and cable-library lists, which are edited in their own dialogs.

Moving a project between accounts or computers Pro

Export file downloads the project as a JSON file; Import file loads one back in. Use it for backups or to hand a project to someone else. Everything travels in the file.

Sheets & pages

A project is a set of sheets (also called pages). There are several kinds, and you can mix them in any order.

Sheet Properties

Click Sheet Properties (Project tab) to set, for the sheet you are on: size (A4, A3 or A2), orientation (landscape or portrait), title, description, author, approved by, created date, site address, customer and (Pro) the sheet's default location. These feed the title block drawn in the corner of the sheet, and the Contents page.

Set your company logo once with Insert → Branding → Set. It appears in every sheet's title block.

The title block, revision table and grid

• Every sheet has a border with a letter and number grid reference. Wire references use it, for example Sh.4/C3 means sheet 4, square C3. Line numbers instead: choose Title Block (Insert tab) → Cross-reference style → Line numbers to number every line down both margins of a schematic sheet instead, the way ladder diagrams are usually done. The number is the sheet number followed by a two-digit line, so line 12 on sheet 3 is 312. Contact and wire references, the open-wire list and the Panel Layout parts list then all use it, for example → 312 instead of → Sh.3/B4. Switching back is just as easy, and nothing in your drawing moves. Two columns: on a wide sheet, open Sheet properties and set Line numbers to Two columns. A dashed line splits the sheet down the middle; the left half is numbered 1 to n in the left margin and the right half carries on (n+1 to 2n) in small numbers beside the middle line, so each half holds its own ladder and every line number on the sheet is still unique. A contact or wire reference works out which half it sits in. It is set per sheet, so other sheets can stay on one column.
• The title block shows the sheet's details, the sheet number and the current revision.
• Once you have issued a revision, a revision table appears above the title block. See Revisions.

The Contents page

It lists every page except itself and the title page, in tab order, each with its title and description. Schematic sheets are numbered 1, 2, 3…; Locations pages are L1, L2…; BOM pages B1, B2…; panel sheets P1, P2… Once revisions exist, schematic and panel sheets show their current revision on the right. Nothing needs updating by hand: add, rename or move a sheet and the page follows.

Switching, reordering and closing tabs

• Click a tab to go to that sheet.
• Drag a tab left or right to reorder the sheets. A blue bar shows where it will land. You can drag any kind of page. Sheet numbers, the Contents page and cross-references like Sh.2/3B all renumber to match. Ctrl+Z puts it back.
• Close a tab with the × on it. This only hides the tab: the sheet stays in the project, in numbering, in Contents and in the BOM. The last open tab can't be closed.

The Portfolio view

On a big project, click Portfolio (left of the tabs). It lists every sheet, including ones with closed tabs.

• Tick a sheet to give it a tab; untick to hide its tab.
• Click a sheet's name to go to it.
• Drag rows to reorder, the same as dragging tabs.
• The bin icon deletes a sheet from the project (you are asked first). A project must keep at least one sheet.
• The search box finds sheets by name, description or location. Show all tabs, Only this sheet and Tabs for matches only tidy the tab bar in one click.

Sheet groups Pro

Give sheets to a group (Power, Control, PLC I/O…) in the Portfolio view: type a name in a sheet’s Group box (names already used are suggested). Sheets in a group are kept together, so a sheet joins the end of its group’s run.

• In the tab bar each group shows as a coloured chip before its tabs. Click the chip to hide or show the group’s tabs. This only hides tabs; the sheets stay in the project.
• The Portfolio view lists the sheets under group headings, each with Hide tabs / Show tabs, and the search also matches group names.
• The Contents page lists the sheets under the group names.

Duplicate a sheet Pro

Repeating a motor starter, a drive or a lighting circuit? Open Sheet Properties and press Duplicate sheet…, or click the ⧉ icon on a row in the Portfolio view. Say how many copies you want (up to 20). Each copy is inserted straight after the sheet and is opened ready to edit.

• Designators take the new sheet’s number: 3K1 on sheet 3 becomes 4K1 on sheet 4. If that designator is already used somewhere in the project it numbers on to the next free one, so the project never ends up with two of the same.
• Relay contacts stay with their coil when the coil is on the same sheet. A contact whose coil is on another sheet becomes an independent part on the copy.
• Wire numbers are worked out again for the new sheet. Wires you named yourself (24V, for example) keep their names, and you are told which. Two open ends with the same name on different sheets are read as one wire continuing, so rename any that should be separate.
• Terminals come across without a block position, so none sits on a screw that is already in use. Assign them from the terminal dialog.
• Connectors are copied with the next free designator (CN1 becomes CN2). Cable assignments are not copied, because a cable belongs to the whole project; assign cables to the copy afterwards.
• The title is given “(copy)”, the revision starts at 1.0, and the review state and note are cleared. One Undo removes all the copies.

Review state and notes Pro

Mark where each sheet is in your checking process: Draft, Needs checking, Checked or Approved. Set it in Sheet Properties (Organising) or from the drop-down on each row in Portfolio. A coloured dot appears on the sheet’s tab, and the Note box holds a reminder for whoever checks it. Neither is printed.

In Portfolio, the review filter next to the search box shows only the sheets in one state, so Needs checking gives you a to-do list. Tabs for matches only then opens just those sheets. This is separate from the Status text in the title block (for example “For construction”), which is printed on the drawing.

Function and location prefixes Pro

For projects that follow IEC 81346 style references, give a sheet a Function in Sheet Properties (type P1 to get =P1). The location comes from the sheet’s Location setting, written +CP. They show up in these places:

• on the sheet’s tab and in Portfolio (3. =P1 Pump starter);
• on the Contents page, to the right of each title;
• in sheet references at wire open ends (=P1 Sh.3/B2);
• in the title block. In a custom title block (Design your own) the fields Function (=P1) and Function and location (=P1+CP) can be placed anywhere;
• in the document number: add {function} and {location} to the pattern in Project & title block, for example {project}-{function}-{sheet:3};
• in Find and the Portfolio search, so typing =P1 finds the sheets in that function.

Find in project Pro

Click Find (View) or press Ctrl+F to search every sheet at once: parts (designator, value, make, part number, description), terminals, wire IDs, connectors (designator, part number, description, pin names), cables, text boxes and sheet names. Type any words; each must match. Use the arrow keys and Enter, or click a result: Schematic Studio goes to that sheet, selects the item and centres the view on it.

Placing & editing symbols

Placing

Drag a symbol from the left-hand panel onto the sheet. The symbol itself follows the pointer, at the sheet's current zoom, and is placed where you drop it. It snaps to the grid. The panel has Built-in symbols (ground and the 3+N+PE, 1+N+PE and 3+PE supply symbols) and Custom symbols, which are the ones in your libraries. See Custom symbols and libraries to make or import more. The search box above the list filters by name. Each new component is given the next designator automatically (for example K1, K2…, from the symbol's prefix).

Selecting, moving and rotating

• Click a symbol to select it (it turns blue). Drag it to move it. Wires attached to it follow.
• Press R, or use Rotate, to turn the selection 90°. The drawing turns but the writing in the symbol (pin numbers and so on) stays upright.
• Use Flip left-right or Flip up-down (Home tab) to mirror the selected component, for example to put a pushbutton's actuator on the other side. The symbol is mirrored about the middle of its pins, so a two-pin symbol keeps its wires where they are and the pins swap sides; its text stays readable. Flip again to undo it.
• Duplicate (Ctrl+D) makes an independent copy with the next free designator. It is not linked to the original.
• Delete (Delete or Backspace) removes the selection.
• The designator and details text beside a symbol can be dragged to a clearer spot.

Edit Component Details

Double-click a symbol, anywhere on it, or its label, to open Edit Component Details.

Parents and child contacts

A relay or contactor often appears as a coil in one place and contacts in others. Tick Parent Component on the coil. On each contact, open Edit Component Details, choose the coil under Parent Designation and give the Contact No. / Terminal (for example 13-14). The contact takes the designator K1.13-14, and its make, model and description are taken from the parent, so the BOM counts one device, not several. The parent and its children show cross-references to each other.

Forward/reverse contactors (two coils, one device). Draw both coils and tick Parent Component on each. On the second coil, open Edit Component Details and choose the first one in Mechanically joined to. The second coil then shares the first coil's make, model and description (and shows them on the sheet). Each coil keeps a description of its own, so you can call them Motor FWD and Motor REV; a coil with no description of its own shows the first coil's. The BOM line uses the first coil's description, and the pair is a single line on the BOM (quantity 1) with both designators listed, for example KM1, KM2. The two coils are drawn with the same interlock link as the contacts (a line with a diamond between them) when they are on the same sheet, and each coil shows the other's designator under its own, and contacts can still be assigned to either coil. To draw the interlock between the two contact blocks (a line across with a diamond in the middle), open the contact block that belongs to the second coil, choose Mechanically linked to and pick the matching block on the first coil (the box appears once the coil it belongs to is joined to another). Blocks side by side are linked across, blocks stacked are linked down, and each link is drawn once. Contact blocks can only be linked to others on the same sheet. A Panel Layout sheet lists the pair of coils as one part. If you delete the first coil, the second keeps its details as a part of its own.

Wiring

Drawing a wire

1. Choose Wire in the Tools group.
2. Click a pin (it highlights) or any point to start.
3. Click to add corners. Wires run at right angles.
4. Finish by clicking on another pin or on an existing wire.
5. Press Delete or Backspace while drawing to take back the last corner. Press Esc to cancel the wire, or to leave the tool.

Wires snap to pins and to the grid. A wire that ends on another wire makes a junction.

If a wire (or a Multi Wire bundle) runs straight across a part that sits between its two ends, such as a contactor between a supply and a motor, it is broken at that part: each wire stops at the pin it reaches and carries on from the part's other pin, so you can draw the whole run in one go. Across a terminal, it becomes two wires that meet at the terminal. The same happens the other way round: place or drag a part onto wires that are already drawn and the wires are broken at it. The new wire takes the next number after the wire it came from, and later numbers move up one to make room, so the IDs count up along each conductor: 800 → K1 → 801 → K2 → 802 → motor, then 803, 804, 805 for the next conductor, and so on. A bundle drawn with Multi Wire is numbered the same way, and cable cores follow their wires to the new numbers. A net name you typed stays on both sides. Deleting a part from a run joins the wires on either side back together; the joined wire keeps the upstream wire's ID (or the name you typed) and the later numbers close up over the gap.

Drawing several wires at once (Multi-Wire)

For a three-phase supply, a motor feed, or any set of parallel wires, use Multi Wire in the Tools group instead of drawing each wire in turn.

1. Choose Multi Wire.
2. Start the drag on a pin of the part you are wiring from, and drag straight across the other pins in that row (horizontally or vertically). The pins you pass over are ringed in amber and a label shows how many wires you have picked: 3 for three-phase, 4 with a neutral, 5 with an earth, or any number from 2 up. Let go.
3. Now drag across the pins you want to connect to, the same way. A blue preview shows the wires that will be drawn. The destination needs the same number of pins as the source.
4. Let go, and one wire is drawn for each pair, side by side, leaving each pin the way the symbol points and turning on staggered lanes so the wires do not run on top of each other. The whole set is one step for Undo.

The pins in each drag are paired in the order you dragged over them: the first pin you passed in the first drag goes to the first pin you passed in the second. To swap the pairing, drag the second line the other way. If the preview shows wires crossing (this can happen when the two rows face sideways to each other), drag the second line in the opposite direction and the crossings disappear. Pins on separate parts, such as a row of single terminals, work too, but the two ends must be on different parts. Esc drops a half-made bundle; press it again to leave the tool. Right-click also drops it.

The routing is automatic and does not avoid other symbols, so on a busy sheet you may want to move a wire or two afterwards, just as with any other wire. Each wire is an ordinary wire from then on: select it, name it, add it to a cable or delete it individually.

Wire IDs and net names

Every connected run of wire gets an ID automatically, numbered through the project. To give a net a real name, double-click the wire, type a Wire ID / Net Name (for example 24V, 0V or PE) and save. It applies to every segment connected to it, and to wires on other sheets that already had the old name (so cross-sheet references stay together). Tick Rename only this net to leave other nets and sheets that share the name alone. A name you type on a wire outranks one that is only carried along the net, so if two named nets are joined by a wire by mistake, each goes back to its own name once the wire is deleted. Clear the box to return to automatic numbering. You can also hide the label for that wire (the ID is kept and still used in terminal tables), or hide every label with the same ID on the sheet.

Wires that start from a supply symbol pin pick up the pin's label as their net name.

Continuing a wire on another sheet

Give the wire the same net name on both sheets. Where a named wire ends in the open, the editor draws a reference such as → Sh.3/B2 pointing to the other end. Reports → Wire Refs (Wire Cross-References) lists every named wire that has two or more open ends across the project. It is the quickest way to find a missing match (the names must be identical) or an unexpected one (a typo shared by two nets).

A wire connected to a PE terminal is named PE automatically, on both sides of the terminal. Give it a name of your own and that name is used instead.

Wire markers for printing

Reports → Wire Markers saves a CSV for marker-printing software such as Weidmüller M-Print PRO. There is one marker for every connection point: a wire between two devices gives two markers (one at each device pin), and a wire that passes through a terminal gives a marker at each side of it. Open ends, T-junctions and supply or ground symbols get no marker, and wires without a wire ID are left out (the count is shown). Choose one per connection point or one per wire ID with a quantity, a detailed list (marker, sheet, device, pin, connection, far end, cable, core, core colour, reference) or the marker text only, a comma, semicolon or tab separator, and UTF-8 with BOM so accents and symbols import correctly. In M-Print PRO, import the file as a text/CSV list and map the Marker column to the marker text.

Reports → Terminal Markers does the same for terminals: one marker for each terminal on your blocks, taken from the same data as the terminal table. Choose all blocks or just one, position only (3) or block and position (X1:3), and one marker per position or one per level (5.1, 5.2) for multi-level terminals. The detailed list also gives the wire IDs, terminal model and block description.

If the other end is a PLC input or output, the reference also says which one: module, address and function, for example PLC1 I0.3 · Hydraulic. Switch that on or off with the PLC data button on the View tab.

Junction style

On the View tab, choose how real connections are drawn: a filled dot, or a hop where the through-wire hops over. In hop mode you can choose which way it hops. These set the whole drawing. To override a single junction, click it on the sheet; each click cycles its style (Shift+click cycles back).

Tidying

• Clean Up snaps loose wire ends onto nearby pins and wires.
• Delete Wire is a tool: click a wire to remove it. You can also select a wire and press Delete.
• Crosshair (View tab) draws a light guide line through the pointer, helpful for lining things up.

Terminals & terminal blocks

Terminals are placed as markers on the wires, then grouped into numbered blocks (X1, X2…) so that you get proper terminal schedules.

Placing a terminal

1. Choose Terminal (Home → Terminals) and click the sheet where it goes. The Place Terminal dialog opens.
2. Choose Standard or PE (protective earth).
3. Pick the terminal block or type a new block name such as X1.
4. Give the block a description (24VDC, 0V, Motor feeds…). It shows beside the block name in the list, so X1 (24VDC) and X2 (0V) are easy to tell apart when you allocate more terminals from any sheet. Changing it changes it for every terminal on that block, and it is also shown on generated terminal tables.
5. Choose the terminal model and its levels (single, double or triple level), and the position on the block and level.
6. Choose what the label shows: Automatic, Always show the location, Hide the location or Position only.

More details… adds the part number, make, description and fill colour. Double-click a placed terminal to edit it.

Terminal Blocks manager

Terminal Blocks (Home → Terminals) lists every block in the project. Rename a block, give it a description (shown in the block list and on the terminal table), change its location or label style, set its start number, or auto-position by wire ID. Changing a block changes all of its terminals on every sheet.

Terminal models

A terminal model defines a terminal type once: name, make, part number, description and number of levels. Every terminal that uses it follows any change, and the BOM takes its details from it. Save to file and Load from file let you reuse models in other projects, and Add standard set adds common ones.

Linking terminals

Use Link Terminals and click two terminals to show they are physically joined (for example the two sides of a terminal pair on different sheets). Terminals with the same number are highlighted.

Terminal Block Generator Pro

Insert → Symbols → Terminal opens the generator. It can make:

• a terminal table from the terminals you have placed: a column for each block, a row for each position (and level), showing the wire IDs and terminal model; or
• a blank numbered strip from a range: choose the name, prefix, number of terminals, start number, spacing and orientation.

Cables Pro

Bundling wires into a cable

1. Choose Cable (Home → Cables).
2. Drag a line across the group of wires that run together. A marker is added.
3. In Assign to Cable, create a new cable or pick one already defined. Enter or confirm the type (SWA, YY, LSZH…), the core count and the CSA (mm²), or pick one from the Cable Library.
4. Cores can be coloured in the standard order (BRN, BLK, GRY, BLU, GRN/YEL…).
5. Assign each core to the wire it carries.

Screened cables

The Shield tool works the same way but marks the group as a screened cable, and automatically places a real earth terminal wired to the screen at one end.

Connectors (plug and socket)

1. Choose Connector (Home → Cables) and drag a line across the wires that pass through the connector, just as for a cable.
2. Dragging left to right puts the plug (male, the arrowhead) above the line and the socket (female) below it; right to left reverses it. Dragging down puts the plug on the right, up on the left. Swap plug / socket in the dialog flips it afterwards.
3. Give the connector a designator (CN1, X5…). Each wire is given a pin number, starting in order with the first wire the line crossed. Pick a ready-made set under Name the pins (L1, L2, L3, N, PE; U, V, W; +, − and others) or type your own list. You can also type over any single pin, or use ▲ and ▼ to move a wire to the pin above or below.
4. The plug and socket symbol is drawn on each wire, with its pin number beside it and the designator at the start of the line. The wires are not cut, so their IDs are unchanged.
5. Give it a description and a part number. They are shown beside the designator (each can be switched off with its Show tick-box) and the connector appears on the BOM as a line of its own.
6. Double-click a connector to edit it (double-clicking a cable marker opens the Cable Manager with that cable highlighted). Select it and press Delete to remove it, or drag it to move it with its wires.

Cable Manager and Cable Library

• Rearranging the wires in a cable: in Reports → Cables, each wire sitting on a core has ▲ and ▼ buttons beside it. They move that wire to the next core up or down; if that core already has a wire, the two swap places. The core numbers on the sheet, the wire marker CSV and the cable colours follow (a wire takes on the colour of the core it moves to).
• Reports → Cables lists every cable. Edit any field in place: designator, type, cores, CSA and core colours and assignments. Deleting a cable also removes its markers from every sheet.
• From and To: the Cables list shows where each cable starts and ends, for example X1:1,2 to M1:U1,V1. It is worked out from the wires, so it follows the drawing and needs nothing typed. The ends are the devices and terminals the cable’s wires connect to; a wire that carries on to another sheet is followed there, and the sheet is shown, for example X7:3 (Sh.2). From is the left end of wires that run across the sheet, or the top end of wires that run up and down. Hover a core to see where that one core goes. A wire end that connects to nothing shows as open end.
• The Cable Library defines a cable once: type, cores, CSA, description and the colour of each core. Pick it whenever you bundle wires. It can be saved to a file and loaded into other projects, and there is an Add standard set button.

Locations Pro

An IEC location (for example +CP for a control panel) says where equipment is. It is shown in designators wherever a part's location differs from its sheet's.

1. Define locations with the abbreviation and description (for example CP and Control Panel). You can do this when you first pick one from a drop-down, or in Manage Locations.
2. Set a sheet's default location in Sheet Properties. It shows in the title block.
3. Set a component's own location in Edit Component Details if it differs. Its designator then shows a +ABBR- prefix.
4. Mark an area: choose the Location boundary tool (Draw → Shapes), drag a box, and pick or create the location. Every component inside the box is assigned to it.
5. Manage Locations renames, re-describes or deletes a location, and everything that uses it updates.
6. Add a Locations page to list every location and the sheets that use it.

Shapes, text & images

• Lines, rectangles and ellipses (Draw → Shapes): drag on the sheet. Hold Shift for any-angle lines, squares or circles. Click a shape to select it and drag its handles to resize. The Line style control (solid, dashed, dotted or dash-dash-line) applies to the selected shape and to the next one you draw.
• Arrows with notes (Draw → Arrows): drag on the sheet to draw an arrow at any angle (hold Shift for horizontal or vertical). Choose the Arrowhead (filled, open, dot or bar), which end has it (end, both ends or start) the Thickness (thin, medium or thick) and the Head size (small, normal, large, extra large or huge); the Line style control from Shapes also applies, so an arrow can be dashed or dotted. The dropdowns change the selected arrow and set what the next one is drawn with. The same four dropdowns are at the top of the Arrow note dialog (double-click the arrow), so you can adjust the arrow and its note in one place. To attach a note, double-click the arrow or select it and choose Arrow note. Type the text, pick the font, size, style (bold, italic, underline) and colour, choose whether the note has a box, and press Save (Ctrl+Enter also saves). The note appears at the arrow's tail; drag it anywhere you like and a thin dashed line joins it to the arrow. It moves with the arrow. To change the wording or the look later, double-click the arrow or its note (or select the arrow and choose Arrow note) and edit it in the same dialog. Remove note takes it away.
• Text boxes: choose Add Text and click the sheet. Choose the font, size and style (bold, italic, underline). Double-click a text box to edit it.
• Images: Insert → Images → Insert adds a picture to the sheet, such as a scanned drawing to trace. Drag to move, drag a corner to resize, R to rotate. Images sit at the very back, below your drawing.
• Logo: Insert → Branding → Set. Used in every title block.

Shapes sit underneath wires and symbols, so a boundary box never covers or blocks what is inside it.

Custom symbols & libraries Pro

Making a symbol in the Symbol Studio

Insert → Symbols → Create opens the Interactive Symbol Creator.

1. Give the symbol a name, a designator prefix (for example D for a diode) and a default value.
2. Draw with the tools: Line (solid, dashed or dotted), Rectangle, Circle and Arc (click for the centre, click for the radius, click for the end angle).
3. Add Pins where wires will connect. Pins always snap to the grid.
4. Add Text for labels. A dialog lets you set the text, font, size, bold, italic, underline and angle. Double-click any text in the studio to change these later. Symbols made before this keep their original plain text.
5. Choose the library to save into and click Save symbol.

Editing helpers: select with no tool by dragging a box (Shift+click to add or remove); Ctrl+C, X and V copy, cut and paste; R rotates the selection 90°; hold Space and drag to pan. Zoom with the wheel up to 1500%. Drawing snaps to a regular grid up to 1000% zoom, and above that snapping switches off so you can place fine detail freely.

To change a symbol later, find it in the Custom symbols list and edit it there. Symbols from the PLC module creator reopen in that creator instead.

Libraries

Custom symbols are kept in libraries (groups) of your choice. Under Custom symbols in the left panel:

• Browse Libraries lists the libraries made available on the server. Import one with a single click. New here? Start with the Basic library.
• Loading a library you already have asks what to do with the symbols that are already in your project. Overwrite replaces them with the version you are loading, so any already placed on your sheets change to match (and edits you made to them are lost). Keep mine leaves them as they are and only adds symbols you do not have yet. Your own symbols are never touched, and a symbol with the same name in a different library is always kept separately.
• Export Library saves one library, and only its symbols, to a file you can share or keep as a backup.
• Import Library loads a library file.

PLC modules Pro

A PLC module is a symbol made by a form instead of by hand: a label block on the left (model, make, description) with a pin for every input, output and supply connection along the top and bottom edges. Placed modules are numbered PLC1, PLC2… from the designator.

Creating a module

Open Insert → Symbols → PLC.

1. Fill in Make, Model (required) and Description, the Designator (default PLC) and the Library it will go into.
2. Set the number of Inputs and Outputs, their prefixes (default I and Q), the address style (Byte.bit such as I0.0…I0.7, I1.0, or Sequential such as I0, I1, I2) and the start number. Auto-address numbers everything with those settings.
3. Choose where function text is written: outside the box, beside each pin (the default for new modules) or inside the box, under each address.
4. Give each channel its address, whether it is digital or analogue (analogue is drawn with a small wave on the lead) and its function (Hydraulic, Pneumatic, Motor, Valve and so on; anything you type is allowed, and up to 20 characters).
5. The module starts with a supply (L+) and a common (M). Add more supply, common, analogue supply, analogue common, PE or other connections with the + Add drop-downs at the foot of each edge.
6. Choose which edge each pin sits on: drag a row by its grip to reorder it, or to move it to the other edge. The preview at the bottom shows the finished symbol.
7. Click Create module. It appears in the left panel, under your PLC modules library, ready to drag onto a sheet.

Different functions on each placed module

The same module is often used several times with different jobs for the same inputs and outputs. The functions you set in the creator are only the defaults. For a module on a sheet, double-click it and use Input and output functions in Edit Component Details: each address has a box with its own function for this module only. Reset to the library module's functions puts them back. The library module and your other placed copies are unaffected, and a duplicated module keeps its functions.

The functions drawn beside the pins, and the PLC data shown on wires that continue to another sheet, use the placed module's own functions. A function that is too long for the space is shortened with an ellipsis on the drawing, but is kept in full.

Panel layout overview Pro

A Panel Layout sheet is a to-scale drawing of your control panel's backplate. You bring in DXF drawings of the backplate, the components, DIN rails and trunking, and arrange them. Parts on the layout are linked to the schematic, so you can see what has been placed and what hasn't, and the BOM shows each part's panel.

Everything on a panel sheet is in millimetres. Coordinates are shown from the top-left corner of the backplate.

The panel dock

When you are on a panel sheet, the Panel layout box appears over the top right of the sheet. Its sections are cards with a bold title and a count; click a card's title to open or close it. Scroll inside the box if it is taller than your window. The ▾/▸ button on its title bar collapses the whole thing.

Importing DXF drawings

A footprint is a DXF drawing of a backplate or a component, kept in your footprint library. Click Import DXF… (in the Backplate card, or in the Footprint library card). You can pick several files at once. For each one the Import footprint dialog appears with a preview.

• Name and This is a: Component or Backplate / mounting plate.
• Drawing units: As the file says, millimetres, centimetres, inches or metres. Check the size shown against the real part.
• Make, Part number and Description are used to match the footprint to schematic parts (a part whose model number matches is offered automatically).
• DIN rail mount (components only): say whether the part does not clip onto a rail, or sits on a rail running left–right or up–down, then click the picture to place the rail's centreline (an orange dashed line). Parts with a marker click onto rails on the panel sheet. See DIN rails.

The Footprint library card lists everything imported. Use the pencil to edit details, and Save to file / Load from file to back the library up or move it to another project.

Placing & arranging parts

1. Choose the backplate in the Backplate card. It is drawn to scale. Leave the scale on Auto or choose one, and set the snap (off, or a size in mm).
2. Open Schematic parts. Each part from the schematic is listed with a footprint drop-down, pre-filled when a footprint's part number matches. Choose the footprint and click Place. A block of terminals has a single Place button that lays all its unplaced terminals side by side. The filter switches between Unplaced and All.
3. Drag parts into position. They snap to the snap size. Click to select; Shift+click adds to the selection and dragging one moves them all. To move a whole terminal block (X1, X2…), Alt+click any of its terminals, or select one and press Select whole block in the Selection card, then drag: every placed terminal of that block moves together.
4. Fine-tune in the Selected card, which floats over the sheet while something is selected and goes away when you deselect (drag its title bar to move it, or use its × to deselect): type exact X and Y (the centre of the part, in mm from the plate's top-left corner), choose a turn of 0, 90, 180 or 270°, or remove it.
5. Read the Checks card. Overlaps show in red on the sheet, parts off the plate in orange.

A part on the layout can be given back to the schematic: select it and use Go to schematic. A part whose schematic part has been deleted is flagged in Checks, with a Remove button. You can also place a footprint that isn't linked to a schematic part (the ＋ button in the Footprint library).

DIN rails & trunking

DIN rails

Open the DIN rails card, choose the rail type (35 × 7.5, 35 × 15 or 15 × 5.5), the length in mm and whether it runs left–right or up–down, and click Add rail. Drag it into place.

• A part with a rail marker snaps onto a rail as soon as it lies over the rail's body, not just near its centre line, and slots in along the rail.
• Moving a rail moves the parts mounted on it.
• With a rail selected you can type its X and Y, change its length, fit it to the full width or height of the plate, turn it 90°, or remove it.
• The card keeps a cut list, such as 2 × 35 × 7.5 rail, 450 mm.
• Checks warn of rails sticking out past the plate and parts that overhang the end of their rail.

Trunking (wiring duct)

Open the Trunking card, choose a size from 25 × 25 up to 100 × 80, the length and direction, and click Add trunking. Handle it the same way as a rail: drag it, type its position, fit it to the plate, turn it 90°, change its size from the drop-down, or remove it. A cut list totals the runs by size and length. Checks flag trunking sticking out past the plate, parts lying across trunking, and trunking crossing a DIN rail.

Measuring

Open the Measure card.

• Measure two points: press 📏 Measure, then click two points. Corners, edges and middles of the plate, parts, rails and trunking snap, and so does the centreline of a DIN rail along its whole length. A point that snaps to something follows it, so the dimension updates when that rail or part is moved. The dimension is drawn on the sheet. Esc turns measuring off.
• Gap between two objects: select two objects (for example two trunking runs) and the card shows the gap between them, with a Pin this dimension button to keep it on the drawing.
• Dimensions follow the parts. When you move a part, rail or trunking run that a dimension is attached to, the dimension updates as you drag.
• Drag a dimension line sideways to move it clear of the drawing for easier reading. It moves horizontally or vertically, whichever suits the measurement. Double-click it to put it back.
• Each dimension is listed in the card, with a bin to delete it and Clear all.

If an object a dimension is attached to is deleted, the dimension stays where it was rather than disappearing.

Title blocks & ISO 7200 Pro

The title block is the box in the bottom-right corner of every schematic and panel sheet. It is filled in from three levels of information, so you type each thing once:

A sheet's own value always wins over the project's default. A sheet's own Customer and Site Address, if filled in, are used instead of the project's.

Choosing a title block

Open Title Block and pick one from the Title block list.

• Standard is the original title block. It is on every plan.
• ISO 7200 Pro draws boxed, captioned fields in the layout ISO 7200 describes: legal owner and logo, title, description, project number, customer, site, location, document number, document type, status, created by, approved by, date, revision, language and sheet x of y.

The choice applies to the whole project. Switching changes how every sheet is drawn, and nothing you have typed is lost. On a Free account the standard block is always drawn.

Designing your own Pro

Open Title Block and click Design your own…. The designer starts from the title block you have now, so you can change it rather than start with a blank page.

• Add a Field (a boxed caption and value, like the ISO 7200 cells), free Text, a Line, a Box, or the Logo box. Click anything on the board to select it, drag it to move it, and drag the small square handle to resize it. Lines have a handle at each end.
• The panel on the right sets the exact position, size, caption, text size and bold. Use Insert a field… to put a placeholder such as {title}, {docNumber} or {legalOwner} into a text. It is replaced with the sheet's or project's value when drawn. Tick Show field names to see the placeholders instead of this sheet's values.
• Snap sets the grid items snap to while you drag. Width and Height set the size of the whole block (up to 700 × 300).
• Duplicate, Bring forward, Send back and Delete are under the item's settings. Start again from Standard or ISO 7200 reloads one of the built-in layouts into the one you are editing.
• Layout for lets A4, A3 and A2 sheets each have their own design. A paper size without one uses All sizes; click Give A3 its own layout to start a copy you can change.

Nothing changes in your project until you click Apply to project; Cancel throws the changes away. After applying, Custom design is chosen in the Title block list. You can switch back to Standard or ISO 7200 and return to your design later. It is kept.

Saving, reusing and sharing designs Pro

Three buttons at the top of the designer keep a design for later or hand it on.

• My designs… keeps designs in your account, so any project can use them. Type a name and press Save (saving under a name you already use replaces that design). Use puts a saved design on the board, File saves it as a file, and Delete removes it. You can keep up to 25.
• Export file saves the design on the board as a .titleblock.json file. Send it to a colleague, a customer or another office, or keep it as a backup.
• Import file opens one of those files onto the board. The file is checked as it is read, so a damaged or unrelated file is refused.

Opening a saved design or a file replaces what is on the board, after asking you, but nothing in the project changes until you press Apply to project. A design includes the layout for each paper size, but not the logo: that stays with the project (Set Logo), so the same design works for different companies.

Fields that work themselves out

• Revision is the latest revision from the Revisions log that covers the sheet.
• Sheet x of y is the sheet's number among the schematic sheets (panel sheets are counted among the panel sheets).
• Location is the sheet's IEC location, such as +CP.
• Document number is built from the Prefix and Pattern in the Title Block window. Use {prefix}, {project} (the project number), {sheet}, {sheet:3} (the sheet number padded to three digits, as in 007) and {total}. With Pro, {function} and {location} add a sheet’s =function and +location. The default pattern {project}-{sheet:3} gives P-1042-001 for sheet 1 of project P-1042. Type a number into Identification number in Sheet Properties to use your own for one sheet.

Revisions

The revision log is how a drawing office records what changed and when. It is kept for the whole project, covers the schematic and panel sheets (not the generated pages), and is drawn on your sheets.

Issuing a revision

1. Click Revisions (Project → Sheets). The window lists the revisions issued so far.
2. In the issue form, check the Rev (it suggests the next one: A, B, C… or 1, 2, 3…), the Date, By and a short Description of what changed.
3. Tick the sheets the revision covers. A sheet tagged changed has been altered since the last revision was issued. Changed only, All and None tick them in one click.
4. Click to issue it.

Each revision remembers what every sheet looked like when it was issued. That is how the editor knows which sheets are changed since. Existing revisions can be edited or deleted from the list.

Where revisions show

• Title block: the REV field shows the latest revision that covers that sheet.
• Revision table: above the title block, the last five revisions are drawn, newest at the bottom, with rev, date, description and who.
• Contents page: a Rev column.
• Title page: the latest revision.

BOM & reports

Bill of Materials

The BOM is always generated from the project, so it is always current. It groups identical parts, and for each group shows the quantity, designators, type, value, make, model no., description, the sheet(s) it is on (with grid references) and the panel it is placed on, if you have used Panel Layout. Child contacts count with their parent, terminals use their terminal model's details, and auxiliary items are added.

• Reports → BOM opens it on screen, with Export CSV to open it in a spreadsheet.
• BOM page adds it to the drawing set as a page that prints with the rest. If the list is too long for one page, add another BOM page to continue it.
• Where a part appears at a wire's open end and that net goes to a PLC channel, the BOM shows the module, address and function in brackets (switch this off with the PLC data button).

Other reports

• Wire cross-references (Reports → Wire Refs): every named wire that has two or more open ends. See Wiring.
• Wire markers and Terminal markers (Reports tab): CSV files for marker-printing software such as M-Print PRO. See Wiring.
• Cables (Reports → Cables): every cable with its cores and colours. See Cables.
• Terminal table: from the Terminal Block Generator. See Terminals.
• Contents and Locations pages, which update themselves.

Printing & export

• Print (the printer button in the top bar) prints every sheet in the project, each on its own correctly sized page, in tab order. Choose Save as PDF in the print dialog to make a PDF drawing set. Sheets whose tabs you have hidden are still printed, because they are still in the project.
• Export CSV from the BOM window saves the parts list.
• Export file Pro saves the whole project as a JSON file for backup or sharing.
• Save to file in the Cable Library, Terminal Models and Footprint Library saves those lists to reuse in other projects.

View & display options

These are on the View tab. They change how the drawing is shown for the whole project.

The light/dark button is in the top bar. See The workspace.

Keyboard & mouse

Troubleshooting & FAQ

It says “Autosave failed” or asks me to sign in

Your login has most likely expired (this can happen if the computer slept, or you were away for a long time). Use the Sign in again link next to the save indicator, log in, then come back. The page is not lost. Keep it open and the next save goes through. If it says Autosave failed with no sign-in message, check your internet connection; the editor retries when you are back online.

I can't save past two sheets

The Free plan saves up to two schematic sheets per project. Upgrade to Pro to save more. Your 30-day trial includes Pro.

A button is greyed out

It is a Pro feature (the tooltip says so). Libraries, cables, locations, panel layout, the PLC creator, the terminal block generator and file export/import are Pro.

A sheet has disappeared from the tabs

It still exists. Closing a tab only hides it. Click Portfolio and tick the sheet to show its tab again. The button reads “Portfolio (n hidden)” when tabs are hidden.

My wire ends don't connect

Try Clean Up, which snaps loose ends to nearby pins and wires. Make sure you finish a wire by clicking on a pin or another wire.

A “Sh.x/y” reference is missing or wrong

Open Reports → Wire Refs. Names must be identical on both ends, so check for a typo. A name used on only one wire has no match.

A DXF imports at the wrong size

Open the footprint's details (pencil) and set Drawing units to what the drawing was made in: millimetres, centimetres, inches or metres. Check the size in the preview against the real part.

A PLC's wires came loose after I edited the module

Editing a module can move its pins if the number of channels, or the height of its box, changes. Check the wires on its pins and re-connect where needed. Changing only a function on a placed module never moves pins.

Undo didn't bring a revision back

Revisions, libraries, the cable library and the terminal-model list aren't in Undo. Edit them in their own windows.

What should I use it on?

A computer with a mouse and keyboard, in a current browser. The editor is built around dragging, double-clicking and keyboard shortcuts.

Still stuck?

Email info@schematicstudio.co.uk and say what you were doing when it happened.