Feature Requests
Kyle Bonde - Vertical GC Scroll & Navigation Customization (Bluebeam/OST-style controls)
Summary:
Improve navigation flexibility by allowing users to customize scroll and zoom behavior similar to Bluebeam and OST. This would significantly enhance usability and reduce friction when switching between platforms.
Details & User Feedback:
Users transitioning from Bluebeam or OST find it difficult to navigate within ZZTakeoff due to the lack of modifier-based scroll options. Currently, navigation requires more clicking and dragging, which slows down workflow and makes it harder to move around large drawings efficiently.
User Expectations:
- Ctrl + Scroll = Pan up an down
- Shift + Scroll = Pan left/right
- Scroll (no modifier) = zoom in/out
This setup mirrors common design and takeoff tools, making it more intuitive and muscle-memory-friendly for estimators.
Additional User Notes:
“I use those combinations a lot, and not being able to do that was pretty big for me.” “I don’t mind Bluebeam or OST navigation, as long as I can move around without clicking and dragging. I like the scroll as prime navigation, with Ctrl for zoom. If ZZTakeoff had that, it would actually be faster than OST.”
Why It Matters:
- Reduces learning curve for new users coming from OST or Bluebeam.
- Increases speed of movement and precision during takeoff.
- Aligns ZZTakeoff navigation with industry norms, enhancing adoption and user satisfaction.
Priority:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (High) — Impacts usability and workflow speed for all estimators.
Good feedback. Should be pretty easy for us to add, too.
We just deployed an update for this. Does it work as you would expect? There's also a setting in Settings -> Mouse to control the pan speed.
@Jesus over in our office made the suggestion and I want to get him to chime in on this. I happen to love it and kind of floored you deployed this the same day we suggested it!
Only 2 things left to do is put this in the Keyboard Hotkeys under the help and make fun post on LinkedIn about this!
This is great! It works just as needed. If possible, it would be great to add the option to be able to switch the Ctrl function. For example, if I wanted to change Ctrl + scroll to zoom. No worries, otherwise, this method of navigating through the sheet helps the take-off flow a little better when fully engaged in take-offs.
Thanks for the feedback. Sounds good. I'm assuming the option you just described more closely matches the Bluebeam navigation.
Yeah, it's preference at this point :) I think I know more people that do it the other way around. Overall, as is with this new update, it's great! Thank you for the help!
We want to win over a lot of Bluebeam users, so we're planning to do it to make the switch easy. Any other key features from Bluebeam you guys would need? I'm aware that image search is a key feature people want. Feel free to let us know of anything else needed. We want to add any features needed to make takeoff + collaboration happen in side zzTakeoff.
Auto Hyperlinks to detail sheets using bookmarks!
Also wondering if I get a PDF from anybody, how can I view it if I don't have bluebeam? I want to beable to double click on the thing and it opens in a "zzTakeoff" type PDF viewer.
Bluebeam was the first construction related software I used, so I can definitely provide you guys with feedback on that.
Image search is pretty good. Auto hyperlinks are great, as Kyle mentioned - I don't believe OST has this, but bluebeam does. This make reading plans on bluebeam much easier, but doing takeoffs and being able to reference a detail would be really helpful.
As I use it more, I will have some feedback for you guys.
I have quick one I've wanted for some time on OST or bluebeam. Can we do any custom hotkeys?
As an example (1-4 are taken), perhaps assign "1" to curb and "2" to curb and gutter to able to switch between them quickly.
Ideally, these could be user-customizable, so I can change them as needed - say, switching between 5" PCC and 6" PCC depending on the area I’m working on.
Having that flexibility would be a huge help.
Also, are there any hotkeys for the annotations?
Lastly, is there an option to get the arrow keys to work when zoomed in - That’s really useful for navigation.
Thank you!