It is important to understand how to get around the Digital Production Control (DPC) interface - which buttons do what, how to set percents, how to send/receive information. In the next few articles, we will talk about the program itself - please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the DPC controls, menus, and toolbars.

There are seven toolbars available in Digital Production Control: Main, Navigation, Tools, Zoom, Work Date, Quick Takeoff (Measurements), and Annotations. The Main, Navigation, Tools, Zoom, and Annotation toolbars are the same as On-Screen Takeoff.

Many Toolbar functions are repeated on the File, Edit, View, Tools, Image, and Bid menus, discussed in the next article.

Main Toolbar

The Main toolbar provides application functions such as opening databases, printing, and deleting. Some functions are not available depending on your license and role.

Button	Name	What it does/How it is used...	Shortcut Key
	New	The New button is a multi function button - you can add a new condition, database, bid, or child bid, or folder, depending on your current focus.	<Ctrl> + <O>
	Open	Opens the Open Databases window.	<Ctrl> + <O>
	Print	Prints whatever currently has focus.	<Ctrl> + <P>
	Print Preview	Previews whatever has focus (before sending to a printer)	<Alt>, < F>, <V>
	Delete	Deletes whatever currently has focus. Be careful when deleting - some deletions are permanent and cannot be 'undone'	<Delete> Key
	UnDo	Undoes the last action	<Ctrl>+ < Z>
	ReDo	Redo the last UnDone action	<Ctrl> + <Shift> + <Z>
	Cover Sheet	Opens the Cover Sheet for the selected project.
	Send	Allows user to send the project or DPC Changes to another user.
	Bid View Indicator	Displays the Base Bid or accepted Change Order name current selected in the Bid View tab. You can also use the Bid View tab in the Cost Code window to quickly switch between a Bid and its Change Orders.

Navigation Toolbar

The Navigation Toolbar is how you flip through the pages of your project. You can use the drop down list to select a specific page; use the black arrow keys to go to the next or previous page or; use the green Back/Forward buttons; or to go to the last view. When you click on the Pages Drop Down list, you can use the scroll wheel on your mouse to quickly cycle through the pages.

The drop down lets you choose a specific page quickly (hit Ctrl+G to open a "GoTo" box).

Button	Name	What it does/How it is used...	Shortcut
	Back	Last view (may be a different page or a different zoom)
	Forward	Return to the previous view after the Back button (above) is used
	Previous Page	Go to previous page in project	<Page Up>
	Next Page	Go to next page in project	<Page Down>

Tools Toolbar

The Tools Toolbar houses basic application function buttons for interacting with the plan/takeoff on the Image Tab.

Button	Name	What it does/How it is used...	Shortcut
	Select Mode	Selects objects or takeoff	<Spacebar>
	Takeoff	Performs takeoff	<Spacebar> the Spacebar toggles between the Takeoff and the Select Tools
	Zoom (to Region) Tool	Used to Zoom In or out on the current page - left-click to Zoom In and right-click to Zoom Out or rope an area to zoom into it	<Ctrl> + Left (IN) or Right (OUT) mouse button Scroll Wheel on mouse
	Zoom Full Page	Zooms to a full page view of the current page (fits to page)	<*>
	Magnify Tool is a rectangular magnifying glass	Magnify is a tool used to magnify a region of a plan without zooming in. Select the tool and click on the area to magnify.
	Pan Tool	Click and drag to pan around the image	<Alt> + Scroll Wheel up/down < Shift> + Scroll Wheel - side to side

Zoom Toolbar

The Zoom Toolbar changes how the image is currently displayed to see more/less detail as needed.

Button	Name	What it does/How it is used...	Shortcut
	Zoom Full Page	Sets zoom so the full page is viewable in the Image Window	<*>
	Zoom In	Zoom in one level	<+> or < Ctrl> + Right-click or < Ctrl> + Scroll Wheel forward
	Zoom Out	Zoom out one level	<-> or < Ctrl > + Left-Click or < Ctrl> + Scroll Wheel backward
	Zoom 100%	Zooms to 100% (full size) of the current page based on the page size	</>
	Custom Zoom	Custom Zoom to a customized percentage. User sets the percentage by typing the amount or selecting from the drop down list.
	Zoom drop-down	The Zoom drop-down allows you to select from a list of predefined zoom levels.

Work Date toolbar

The Work Date Toolbar allows the user to select a specific time period for the Image (Percenting), Budget, and Timecard Tabs.

Clicking the black forward and back arrows changes to the next/previous week. Clicking the drop down arrow next to the date opens the Calendar widget where a particular date can be selected.

Quick Takeoff (Measurements) Toolbar

The Quick Takeoff Toolbar is available to DPC-Foreman licensees. With these tools, a user is able to take simple linear, area, or count measurements but these quantities are not stored in the project (when you switch tools or leave the page, the values are cleared). You must switch to "TKO Mode" to use quick measurements.

Button Icon	Description	What it does/What it means...
	Line	Measure a linear object or objects
	Area	Measure area objects
	Count	Count a number of objects
	Quantity	Indicates measurement quantity
	Delete	Deletes all measurements
	Units	Select unit of measure to use

Quick Takeoff Quantities are cleared when you...

• Select a different measuring tool (going from Line to Area, for example)
• Switch pages
• Close the program or open a different project

The Quick Takeoff Toolbar is only active when the product is in PlanViewer (no-License) mode or in a Bid that has been 'flipped' to DPC mode and the user only has a DPC-Foreman license. If you are a takeoff-licensed user, you have access to many more robust tools.

Annotation Toolbar

The Annotation Toolbar includes options to add Text, Callouts, Highlighting, Dimension lines and Hotlinks/Named Views to a project. These elements are considered Annotation because they do not affect the takeoff quantities - they are simply markups on the image to call out important information or make the plans easier to navigate.

By default, this toolbar is docked to the right of the Tools toolbar.

Button Icon	What it does/What it means...	Function
	Dimension Tool	Creates dimension line
	Text Tool	Insert text
	Highlighter Tool	Highlight object or text - click the drop down to select a color (defaults to yellow)
	Callout Tool	Draws a text box with an attached arrow to draw attention to something important on the plan (defaults to red)
	Arrow Tool	Draws a single-ended arrow (defaults to red)
	Line Tool	Draws a line (defaults to red)
	Rectangle Tool	Draws a rectangle (defaults to red)
	Oval Tool	Draws an oval (defaults to red)
	Freehand Tool (Polygons)	Allows an estimator to click several points surrounding a region of the plan and draws a border around the region (defaults to red)
	Cloud Tool	Allows an estimator to click several points surrounding a region of the plan and draws a cloud around the region (defaults to red)
	Ink Tool	Allows an estimator to draw freehand markups on the plan
	Hot Link	Creates Hot Links
	Named View	Creates Named Views

See Related Articles for more information on using the Annotation tools.

Getting Around DPC - Shortcuts

Program Menus